2002 Hurricanes-Stars Stanley Cup Final

Lore & Background

The Hurricanes finished the regular season with 91 points, clinching the Southeast Division and the third seed in the Eastern Conference. In the first round, the Hurricanes defeated the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils in six games. In the second round, the Hurricanes dispatched the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens in six games to reach their first Eastern Conference Final since moving from Hartford. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hurricanes defeated the fourth seeded Toronto Maple Leafs in six games apiece to advance to the Finals for the first time in franchise history, becoming the first team from North Carolina to ever play for a major professional sports championship. The Hurricanes stunned the Red Wings in the first game on the strength of Ron Francis's overtime goal. That would be Carolina's only win in the series as the Red Wings won four straight, including a triple overtime win in game three.

In Their Own Story

The ice in Raleigh was already scarred by the time the third period of Game Seven began. Tugnutt pulled a glove off, shook the rubber from his fingers, and slid back under the crossbar. The noise was a single, sustained roar—ten thousand voices compressed into one frequency. A Stars player wound up in the corner, and the crowd held its breath the way you hold it before a wave breaks. The shot came, high and wide, and Tugnutt didn't even track it. He just stood there, stick dragging, listening to the building detonate. Francis was already skatedown the ice, arms wide, and the confetti hadn't even started falling yet. The city outside the arena was already screaming.

Reader's Guide

The 2002 Stanley Cup Final was between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings. The Hurricanes' goaltender in the 2002 Final is not specified in the source article. The Hurricanes did not win the Stanley Cup in 2002; they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. The Hurricanes' first Stanley Cup championship is not mentioned in the source article.

Did You Know?

• The Red Wings became the first team in NHL history to win the Cup after starting the playoffs with two losses at home.
• It was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team.
• The 25-point differential between the Red Wings (116 points) and the Hurricanes (91 points) was the largest between two teams in a Stanley Cup Final since 1994.