2003–04 NHL season

The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The thirty teams played 82 games in a new format that increased divisional games from 5 to 6 per team (30 total), conference games from 3 to 4 (32 total), and decreased inter-conference games to at least one per team, with three extra games (18 in total). 

The Stanley Cup winners were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Calgary Flames. This was the first season since the 1969–70 season that teams would wear their dark jerseys at home. For the fourth time in eight years, the all-time record for total shutouts in a season was shattered, as 192 shutouts were recorded. The 2003–04 regular season was also the first one (excluding the lockout-shortened regular season of 1994–95) since 1967–68 in which there was neither a 50-goal scorer, nor a 100-point scorer.

This was the final season that ABC and ESPN televised NHL games. It was also the final NHL season before the 2004–05 NHL lockout, and the final season in which games could end in ties.

Regular season

Final standings
Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

For rankings in conference, division leaders are automatically ranked 1–3.  These three, plus the next five teams in the conference standings, earn playoff berths at the end of the season.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Leading goaltenders
Note: GP = Games Played; Mins = Minutes Played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Note: All dates in 2004.

The 2004 playoffs were considered to be wide open with no clear favourite. All of the top teams had weaknesses. Tampa Bay and Boston were both young teams with no history of recent postseason success. Detroit, Ottawa, Colorado, and Philadelphia all had major questions in goal. New Jersey was marred by injuries to Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski, while Vancouver was missing the suspended Todd Bertuzzi.

The first-round Eastern Conference matchups were notable for the number of heated rivalries. The Ottawa Senators met the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fourth time in five years in the always passion-filled Battle of Ontario. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens met in a resumption of the most common of all NHL playoff series, and one which the Canadiens have thoroughly dominated, including an upset win two years prior. The Philadelphia Flyers also played a hated division rival in the New Jersey Devils. The only non-rivalry was the Tampa Bay-New York Islanders series.

The West saw the resumption of the Vancouver-Calgary rivalry, which had been somewhat dormant as the Flames made the playoffs for the first time since 1996. In a less passionate but still interesting matchup, Detroit played division rival Nashville (whom they had struggled against during the regular season) in Nashville's first ever franchise visit to the playoffs. San Jose met the St. Louis Blues, while the always difficult four-five matchup saw Colorado and Dallas meet.

The Calgary Flames, a sixth seed, defeated three straight division champions, the Canucks, the Red Wings and the Sharks to become the first Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in ten years, since the Canucks lost to the Rangers in the Finals in 1994. They faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Islanders in five, swept the Canadiens and defeated the Flyers in seven games.

The Flames and the Lightning battled hard in the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually pushing the series to seven games.  By game 5, the Flames took the 3–2 series lead back to Calgary, and in game six, a puck appeared to have gone into the net, which would have made the game 3–2, but the goal light did not go on, the referee did not signal that a goal had been scored, and play went on, no goal counted. Extensive replays showed the play was inconclusive. The Lightning would win the game in double overtime, and go on to win the Stanley Cup with a 2–1 win in game seven, with two goals from Ruslan Fedotenko. Brad Richards, with a team-high 25 points in the playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Playoff bracket

Conference Quarterfinals

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

Western Conference Quarterfinals

Conference Semifinals

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Western Conference Semifinals

Conference Finals

Finals

Scoring leaders
''Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

NHL awards
The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.

All-Star teams

First games
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003–04 (listed with their first team):
Joffrey Lupul, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
Matthew Lombardi, Calgary Flames
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks
John-Michael Liles, Colorado Avalanche
Marek Svatos, Colorado Avalanche
Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets
Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
Michael Ryder, Montreal Canadiens
Jordin Tootoo, Nashville Predators
Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators
Antoine Vermette, Ottawa Senators
Antero Niittymaki, Philadelphia Flyers
Joni Pitkanen, Philadelphia Flyers
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
Tom Preissing, San Jose Sharks
Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 2003–04 (listed with their last team):
Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche
Steve Thomas, Detroit Red Wings
Adam Oates, Edmonton Oilers
Igor Larionov, New Jersey Devils
Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
Cliff Ronning, New York Islanders
Mark Messier, New York Rangers
Vincent Damphousse, San Jose Sharks
Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
Ron Francis, Toronto Maple Leafs

References

Hockey Database
NHL Official Website

NHL
NHL