2002 Stanley Cup Final

Lore & Background

The Red Wings became the first team in NHL history to win the Cup after starting the playoffs with two losses at home. After losing the first two games in the Conference Quarterfinals to the Vancouver Canucks, the Red Wings won 16 of their next 21 games en route to win their third Cup since for coach Scotty Bowman. Bowman won his ninth Cup as a head coach, surpassing the mark he held jointly with Montreal coach Toe Blake. It was his final game as a head coach, as he announced his retirement immediately after the Game 5 victory. It was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team.

In Their Own Story

The ice at the Ottawa Civic Centre was scarred and grooved, a palimpsest of a hundred shifts. Darcy Tucker stood at the blue line, stick dragging a thin white line into the snow, watching the Zamboni erase the previous period's chaos. The crowd noise was a living thing—thirty-five thousand voices layered in red and black, a wall of sound that vibrated in the sternum. He could feel the pucks in his bag, each one a small black disc of responsibility. Daniel Brière skated past, taping his stick with the quiet precision of a man who had done it ten thousand times. The horn would sound in two minutes. Somewhere in the stands, a child in an oversized Senators jersey was pressing her face against the glass. Tucker looked up, met her eyes for a second, and went back to dragging his line. This was what it was for. Not the Cup, not the record, not the history books. This. The ice, the stick, the roar, the city breathing together in the dark.

Reader's Guide

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. The Red Wings finished with the league's best record at 116 points, clinching the Presidents' Trophy and the overall #1 seed in the playoffs. In the first round, the Red Wings survived an early scare against the eighth-seeded Vancouver Canucks as they lost the first two games at home, but recovered to win four straight games and advance to the next round, where they defeated the fourth seed St. Louis Blues in five quick games. In the Western Conference Finals, the Red Wings faced the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. After dropping Game 5 at home in overtime, Hasek posted two shutouts in Games 6 and 7, including a 7–0 blowout win in Game 7 at home, to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time in eight years.

Did You Know?

• The 25-point differential between the Red Wings (116 points) and Hurricanes (91 points) was the largest between two teams in a Stanley Cup Final since when there were 27 points between the New York Rangers and the Canuc
• The Hurricanes stunned the Red Wings in the first game on the strength of Jeff O'Neill's overtime goal. It was the first time the team had won a game in Detroit since 1989.
• The Cup win was the first for many veterans on the team, including goaltender Dominik Hasek, forward Luc Robitaille, and defencemen Steve Duchesne and Fredrik Olausson.
• Manny Legace's name was misspelled MANNY LEGECE with an 'E' instead of an 'A' on the Stanley Cup. An 'A' was stamped over the second 'E' twice to correct this mistake.