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2002 Stanley Cup Finals

The 2002 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2001–02 season, and the culmination of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes. It was Detroit's twenty-second appearance in the Finals, their previous appearance being a win in 1998. It was Carolina's first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. The Red Wings defeated the Hurricanes in five games to win their tenth Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. The Red Wings became the third team in NHL history to win 10 or more Stanley Cup titles, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

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 1997 for coach Scotty Bowman. Bowman won his ninth Cup as a head coach (he had previously won it in that capacity with the Montreal Canadiens in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, and with Detroit in 1997 and 1998), surpassing the mark he held jointly with Montreal coach Toe Blake. It was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team.

Paths to the Finals

Carolina defeated the New Jersey Devils, the Canadiens, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games apiece to advance to the Finals.

Detroit defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4–2, the St. Louis Blues 4–1 and the defending Cup champion Colorado Avalanche 4–3 to advance to the Finals.

Game summaries

This was the first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Hurricanes (formerly the Hartford Whalers), who made an unlikely run to the Cup. While they were seeded third as a division winner, they actually had the second-lowest point total (91) for a playoff team not only in the Eastern Conference, but also the whole NHL (ahead of only Montreal). In their whole NHL history, they had only won one playoff series prior to this season (as the Whalers in 1986) and had streaks of five and six seasons in which they did not make the playoffs. As the Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy with 116 points, the 25-point differential was the largest between two teams in a Stanley Cup Finals since 1994 when there were 27 points between the New York Rangers (112) and the Canucks (85).[1]

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. The Cup win was the first for many veterans on the team, including goaltender Dominik Hasek, forward Luc Robitaille, and defencemen Steve Duchesne (who retired after this season) and Fredrik Olausson. It was the second Cup win for Chris Chelios, sixteen years after he first won the Cup as a member of the Montreal Canadiens in 1986.

Game one


Game one summary

Game two


Game two summary

Game three


Game three summary

Game four


Game four summary

Game five


Game five summary

Team rosters

Carolina Hurricanes

Detroit Red Wings

Stanley Cup engraving

The 2002 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Red Wings 3–1 win over the Hurricanes in game five.

The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

2001–02 Detroit Red Wings

Players

  Centres
  Wingers
  Defencemen
  Goaltenders

Coaching and administrative staff

Included on the team picture, but left off the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup engraving

Broadcasting

In Canada, the series was televised in English on CBC. This would end up being the last finals broadcast by SRC, as RDS would pick up the French-language broadcast for the next season.

In the United States, ESPN aired the first two games while ABC broadcast the rest of the series.

Aftermath

The following year, the Red Wings got swept in the first round by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. They would eventually return to the Finals six years later, where they defeated the Sidney Crosby-led Pittsburgh Penguins for their eleventh overall Stanley Cup championship.

As for the Hurricanes, they missed the playoffs the following season. The Hurricanes would not return to the Finals until four years later when they captured their first Stanley Cup championship over the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Robinson, Alan (June 5, 2002). "Carolina canes Detroit, forcing fans to stow brooms". Associated Press. Carolina finished 25 points behind Detroit in the regular season, the largest gap in the Finals since the Rangers' 27-point edge over Vancouver in 1994 where the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years and also their most recent as of 2017.

References