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.

### 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.

### Scoring leaders

***Note:** GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points_
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="75"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|G|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|A|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Martin St. Louis|Tampa Bay|82|38|56|94|||||||
|Ilya Kovalchuk|Atlanta|81|41|46|87|||||||
|Joe Sakic|Colorado|81|33|54|87|||||||
|Markus Naslund|Vancouver|78|35|49|84|||||||
|Marian Hossa|Ottawa|81|36|46|82|||||||
|Patrik Elias|New Jersey|82|38|43|81|||||||
|Daniel Alfredsson|Ottawa|77|32|48|80|||||||
|Cory Stillman|Tampa Bay|81|25|55|80|||||||
|Robert Lang|Washington / Detroit|69|30|49|79|||||||
|Brad Richards|Tampa Bay|82|26|53|79|||||||

### 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_
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="80"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|Mins|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|W|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|L|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|T|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|GA|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|SO|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|SV|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30"|GAA|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Martin Brodeur|New Jersey|75|4554|38|26|11|154|11|.917|2.03||||||||||||
|Marty Turco|Dallas|73|4359|37|21|13|144|9|.913|1.98||||||||||||
|Ed Belfour|Toronto|59|3444|34|19|6|122|10|.918|2.13||||||||||||
|Tomas Vokoun|Nashville|73|4221|34|29|10|178|3|.909|2.53||||||||||||
|Dan Cloutier|Vancouver|60|3539|33|21|6|134|5|.914|2.27||||||||||||

## 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.

#### Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="5"|Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 8|NY Islanders|**Tampa Bay**||3 – 0|
|April 10|**NY Islanders**|Tampa Bay||3 – 0|
|April 12|**Tampa Bay**|NY Islanders||3 – 0|
|April 14|**Tampa Bay**|NY Islanders||3 – 0|
|April 16|NY Islanders|**Tampa Bay**|OT|3 – 2|
|colspan="5"|***Tampa Bay wins series 4–1***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"|
|April 8|New Jersey|**Philadelphia**|3 – 2||
|April 10|New Jersey|**Philadelphia**|3 – 2||
|April 12|Philadelphia|**New Jersey**|4 – 2||
|April 14|**Philadelphia**|New Jersey|3 – 0||
|April 17|New Jersey|**Philadelphia**|3 – 1||
|colspan="5"|***Philadelphia wins series 4–1***|}|||
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 7|Montreal|**Boston**||3 – 0|
|April 9|Montreal|**Boston**|OT|2 – 1|
|April 11|Boston|**Montreal**||3 – 2|
|April 13|**Boston**|Montreal|2OT|4 – 3|
|April 15|**Montreal**|Boston||5 – 1|
|April 17|Boston|**Montreal**||5 – 2|
|April 19|**Montreal**|Boston||2 – 0|
|colspan="5"|***Montreal wins series 4–3***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"|
|April 8|**Ottawa**|Toronto||4 – 2|
|April 10|Ottawa|**Toronto**||2 – 0|
|April 12|**Toronto**|Ottawa||2 – 0|
|April 14|Toronto|**Ottawa**||4 – 1|
|April 16|Ottawa|**Toronto**||2 – 0|
|April 18|Toronto|**Ottawa**|2OT|2 – 1|
|April 20|Ottawa|**Toronto**||4 – 1|
|colspan="5"|***Toronto wins series 4–3***|}|||

#### Western Conference Quarterfinals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="5"|Colorado vs. Dallas||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 7|Dallas|**Colorado**||3 – 1|
|April 9|Dallas|**Colorado**||5 – 2|
|April 12|Colorado|**Dallas**|OT|4 – 3|
|April 14|**Colorado**|Dallas|2OT|3 – 2|
|April 17|Dallas|**Colorado**||5 – 1|
|colspan="5"|***Colorado wins series 4–1***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"|
|April 8|St. Louis|**San Jose**|OT|1 – 0|
|April 10|St. Louis|**San Jose**||3 – 1|
|April 12|San Jose|**St. Louis**||4 – 1|
|April 13|**San Jose**|St. Louis||4 – 3|
|April 15|St. Louis|**San Jose**||3 – 1|
|colspan="5"|***San Jose wins series 4–1***|}|||
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 7|Calgary|**Vancouver**||5 – 3|
|April 9|**Calgary**|Vancouver||2 – 1|
|April 11|**Vancouver**|Calgary||2 – 1|
|April 13|Vancouver|**Calgary**||4 – 0|
|April 15|**Calgary**|Vancouver||2 – 1|
|April 17|**Vancouver**|Calgary|3OT|5 – 4|
|April 19|**Calgary**|Vancouver|OT|3 – 2|
|colspan="5"|***Calgary wins series 4–3***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="4" border="1"|
|April 7|Nashville|**Detroit**|3 – 1||
|April 10|Nashville|**Detroit**|2 – 1||
|April 11|Detroit|**Nashville**|3 – 1||
|April 13|Detroit|**Nashville**|3 – 0||
|April 15|Nashville|**Detroit**|4 – 1||
|April 17|**Detroit**|Nashville|2 – 0||
|colspan="4"|***Detroit wins series 4–2***|}|||

#### Eastern Conference Semifinals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="5"|Tampa Bay vs. Montreal||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 23|Montreal|**Tampa Bay**||4 – 0|
|April 25|Montreal|**Tampa Bay **||3 – 1|
|April 27|**Tampa Bay**|Montreal|OT|4 – 3|
|April 29|**Tampa Bay**|Montreal||3 – 1|
|align="center" colspan="5"|***Tampa Bay wins series 4–0***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"|
|April 22|Toronto|**Philadelphia**||3 – 1|
|April 25|Toronto|**Philadelphia**||2 – 1|
|April 28|Philadelphia|**Toronto**||4 – 1|
|April 30|Philadelphia|**Toronto**||3 – 1|
|May 2|Toronto|**Philadelphia**||7 – 2|
|May 4|**Philadelphia**|Toronto|OT|3 – 2|
|align="center" colspan="5"|***Philadelphia wins series 4–2***|}|||

#### Western Conference Semifinals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="5"|Detroit vs. Calgary||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"||||
|April 22|**Calgary **|Detroit|OT|2 – 1|
|April 24|Calgary|** Detroit**||2 – 5|
|April 27|Detroit|** Calgary**||2 – 3|
|April 29|**Detroit **|Calgary||4 – 2|
|May 1|**Calgary **|Detroit||1 – 0|
|May 3|Detroit|** Calgary**|OT|0 – 1|
|colspan="5"|***Calgary wins series 4–2***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="5" border="1"|
|April 22|Colorado|** San Jose**||2 – 5|
|April 24|Colorado|** San Jose**||1 – 4|
|April 26|**San Jose 1**|0 Colorado||1 – 0|
|April 28|San Jose|** Colorado**|OT|0 – 1|
|May 1|**Colorado **|San Jose|OT|2 – 1|
|May 4|**San Jose **|Colorado||3 – 1|
|colspan="5"|***San Jose wins series 4–2***|}|||

### Conference Finals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="4"|_Eastern Conference_ Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="3" border="1"||||
|May 8|Philadelphia 1|**3 Tampa Bay**|||
|May 10|**Philadelphia 6**|2 Tampa Bay|||
|May 13|**Tampa Bay 4**|1 Philadelphia|||
|May 15|Tampa Bay 2|**3 Philadelphia**|||
|May 18|Philadelphia 2|**4 Tampa Bay**|||
|May 20|Tampa Bay 4|**5 Philadelphia**|OT||
|May 22|Philadelphia 1|**2 Tampa Bay**|||
|colspan="4"|***Tampa Bay wins series 4–3 and Prince of Wales Trophy***|}|valign="top"|{| cellpadding="3" border="1"|
|May 9|**Calgary 4**|3 San Jose|OT||
|May 11|**Calgary 4**|1 San Jose|||
|May 13|**San Jose 3**|0 Calgary|||
|May 15|**San Jose 4**|2 Calgary|||
|May 17|**Calgary 3**|0 San Jose|||
|May 19|San Jose 1|**3 Calgary**|||
|colspan="4"|***Calgary wins series 4–2 and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl***|}|||

### Finals

|bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="4"|Tampa Bay vs. Calgary|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|May 25|**Calgary 4**|1 Tampa Bay||
|May 27|Calgary 1|**4 Tampa Bay**||
|May 29|Tampa Bay 0|**3 Calgary **||
|May 31|**Tampa Bay 1**|0 Calgary||
|June 3|**Calgary  3**|2 Tampa Bay|OT|
|June 5|**Tampa Bay 3**|2 Calgary|2OT|
|June 7|Calgary  1|**2 Tampa Bay**||
|colspan="4"|***Tampa Bay wins series 4–3 and Stanley Cup***|||
|colspan="4"|***Brad Richards (Tampa Bay) wins Conn Smythe Trophy***|||

### Scoring leaders

**''Note:** GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="150"|Player|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50"|Team|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|GP|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|G|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|A|bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="25"|Pts|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Brad Richards|Tampa Bay|23|12|13|25|||||||
|Martin St. Louis|Tampa Bay|23|9|15|24|||||||
|Jarome Iginla|Calgary|26|13|9|22|||||||
|Fredrik Modin|Tampa Bay|23|8|11|19|||||||
|Craig Conroy|Calgary|26|6|11|17|||||||
|Vincent Lecavalier|Tampa Bay|23|9|7|16|||||||
|Keith Primeau|Philadelphia|18|9|7|16|||||||
|Martin Gelinas|Calgary|26|8|6|14|||||||
|Vincent Damphousse|San Jose|17|7|7|14|||||||
|Alexei Zhamnov|Philadelphia|18|4|10|14|||||||

## NHL awards

The **NHL Awards** presentation took place in Toronto.
|Presidents' Trophy:|Detroit Red Wings|
| --- | --- |
|Prince of Wales Trophy:|Tampa Bay Lightning|
|Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:|Calgary Flames|
|Art Ross Memorial Trophy:|Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:|Bryan Berard, Chicago Blackhawks|
|Calder Memorial Trophy:|Andrew Raycroft, Boston Bruins|
|Conn Smythe Trophy:|Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lighting|
|Frank J. Selke Trophy:|Kris Draper, Detroit Red Wings|
|Hart Memorial Trophy:|Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|Jack Adams Award:|John Tortorella, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|James Norris Memorial Trophy:|Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils|
|King Clancy Memorial Trophy:|Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames|
|Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:|Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|Lester B. Pearson Award:|Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|Lester Patrick Trophy:|Mike Emrick, John Davidson, Ray Miron|
|Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy:|Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames; Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers; Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets|
|NHL Plus/Minus Award:|Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning; Marek Malik, Vancouver Canucks|
|Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award:|Dwayne Roloson, Minnesota Wild|
|Vezina Trophy:|Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils|
|William M. Jennings Trophy:|Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils|

### All-Star teams

|First Team|Position|Second Team||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils|align=center|G|Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers|
|Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils|align=center|D|Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues|
|Zdeno Chara, Ottawa Senators|align=center|D|Bryan McCabe, Toronto Maple Leafs|
|Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche|align=center|C|Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs|
|Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning|align=center|RW|Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames|
|Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks|align=center|LW|Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers|

## 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

## Infobox (sports season)

- **title**: 2003–04 NHL season
- **league**: National Hockey League
- **sport**: Ice hockey
- **duration**: October 8, 2003 – June 7, 2004
- **draft**: Draft
- **draft link**: 2003 NHL Entry Draft
- **top pick link**: List of first overall NHL draft picks
- **top pick**: Marc-André Fleury, Marc-Andre Fleury
- **picked by**: Pittsburgh Penguins
- **season**: Regular season
- **season champ name**: Presidents' Trophy
- **season champs**: Detroit Red Wings
- **mvp**: Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning, Lightning)
- **mvp link**: Hart Memorial Trophy
- **top scorer**: Martin St. Louis (Lightning)
- **top scorer link**: Art Ross Trophy
- **playoffs**: Playoffs
- **playoffs link**: 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs
- **finals**: Stanley Cup
- **finals link**: 2004 Stanley Cup Finals
- **finals champ**: Tampa Bay Lightning
- **finals runner-up**: Calgary Flames
- **playoffs mvp**: Brad Richards (Lightning)
- **playoffs mvp link**: Conn Smythe Trophy
- **nextseason year**: 2004–05 NHL season, 2004–05
- **prevseason year**: 2002–03 NHL season, 2002–03
- **no of games**: 82
- **no of teams**: 30
- **tv**: Hockey Night in Canada, CBC, TSN Hockey, TSN, NHL on RDS, RDS (Canada)
NHL on ESPN, ESPN, NHL on ABC, ABC (United States)