1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs The 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs , the championship of the National Hockey League was played between May 6 and June 24 , 1995 . In the Final , the New Jersey Devils swept the favored Detroit Red Wings in four games to win their first championship . The Quebec Nordiques played their last ever playoff series during this time . They would move to Denver Colorado during the summer . The sixteen teams that qualified , eight from each conference , played best - of - 7 series for the conference quarterfinals , semifinals and championships , and then the conference champions played a best - of - 7 series for the Stanley Cup . Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games Played , G = Goals , A = Assists , Pts = Points " Conference Finals . Eastern Conference Final . The Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils met in the 1995 Eastern Conference Final . The Flyers were fresh off their surprising four - game sweep of the defending Stanley Cup - champion New York Rangers , while the Devils had just completed their unlikely upset of the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games . The Flyers were looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1987 , while the Devils were hoping to make it to the Cup Finals for the first time in team history . New Jersey shocked the Philadelphia and their home crowd in game one at the Spectrum , taking a commanding 3 – 0 lead after the first two periods . They made it 4 – 0 on Bill Guerin ' s second goal of the game , at 2 : 04 of the third period . Martin Brodeur ' s shutout bid was erased , however , as Craig MacTavish got the Flyers on the board with 1 : 54 remaining in regulation . The Devils won the game 4 – 1 to take a 1 – 0 lead in the series . The Flyers fought back in game two , as Mikael Renberg ' s goal at 13 : 54 of the first period gave his team a 2 – 1 lead ; its first lead in the series . However , Devils forward John MacLean would score with just 12 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at 2 – 2 . New Jersey then went on to score three times in the second period , and won the game 5 – 2 . After dominating the first two games at the Spectrum , the Devils headed home for game three , up two games to none in the series . In game three , Philadelphia played with a sense of urgency . Trailing 2 – 1 , the Flyers tied the game on Rod Brind ' Amour ' s goal with 6 : 03 to go in regulation . They went on to win the game 3 – 2 on captain Eric Lindros ' goal at 4 : 19 of the first overtime period . Playing with their newfound confidence , the Flyers won game four as well , 4 – 2 , despite being outshot 34 – 19 . Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall made 32 saves . The win tied the series at 2 – 2 and set up a crucial game five on Sunday , June 11th at the Spectrum . The Devils took a 2 – 1 lead into the second period , which ended up scoreless . The Flyers tied the game on Kevin Dineen ' s second goal of the game at 3 : 13 of the third period . The Devils almost regained the lead on Stephane Richer ' s breakaway shot that hit the crossbar with less than four minutes to go in regulation . Then , with less than a minute remaining , Devils forward Claude Lemieux picked up the puck on a backcheck in the New Jersey zone and skated up the ice . Once over the Flyers ' blue line , Lemieux fired a slap shot that beat Hextall blocker side . The goal silenced the Spectrum crowd and gave New Jersey a 3 – 2 lead with just 44 . 2 seconds to play . The Devils hung on to win the game 3 – 2 . In game six on June 13th , Philadelphia opened the scoring on Jim Montgomery ' s goal at 4 : 05 of the first period . The Devils , however , calmly utilized their neutral - zone Trap to shut down the Flyers ' offense while their forwards took advantage and got their team on the board . Stephane Richer tied the game with a power - play goal at 10 : 25 and Brian Rolston put the Devils up 2 – 1 with a goal at 18 : 15 . The scored remained 2 – 1 for New Jersey until midway through the second period . Flyers forward Craig MacTavish , skating over the Devils ' blue line , took a slap shot that was blocked by New Jersey defenceman Shawn Chambers . New Jersey forward Bobby Holik then picked up the puck and skated up the ice with forward Randy McKay on the right side and Claude Lemieux as the trailer . Once over the Flyers ' blue line , Holik feathered the puck under the legs of the diving Flyers defenseman Kevin Haller and it went right to the stick of Randy McKay , who one - timed it into the net behind Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall . The goal came at 11 : 58 and gave New Jersey a 3 – 1 lead . They made it 4 – 1 at 10 : 11 of the third period when Bobby Carpenter passed the puck past Flyers defenceman Karl Dykhuis up to Claude Lemieux at center ice who went in on a breakaway and scored his league - leading 11th goal of the playoffs . He had been tied with Pittsburgh ' s Jaromir Jagr , who had scored 10 goals in the Penguins ' 12 playoff games of 1995 . With the goal , Lemieux also broke his personal record for most goals scored in a playoff year that he had set in 1986 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens . The Flyers fought back as Mikael Renberg scored on the power play at 16 : 29 to cut the Devils ' lead to 4 – 2 , but New Jersey held its lead and went on to win the game and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history . Western Conference Final . The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks met in the 1995 Western Conference Finals . The Red Wings had just completed a four - game sweep of the San Jose Sharks , and the Blackhawks had just completed their sweep of the Vancouver Canucks . Detroit was having its best playoff since 1988 , and was hoping to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1966 . Chicago , on the other hand , was back in the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 , when they last made it to the Cup Finals . Game one of the series at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit saw a goaltending battle between Ed Belfour of Chicago and Mike Vernon of Detroit . The two teams skated to a 1 – 1 tie after regulation before Nicklas Lidstrom scored the game - winning goal for Detroit at 1 : 01 of the first overtime period . It was the first overtime playoff game that Detroit had won at home since Tuesday , March 29 , 1960 . In game two , Chicago led by a score of 2 – 1 after two periods on goals by Chris Chelios and Tony Amonte . However , Detroit kept pressing and eventually tied the game on Doug Brown ' s goal . Kris Draper scored the winner for Detroit with just 1 : 45 remaining in regulation . In game three of the series at the United Center in Chicago , Detroit led 3 – 2 going into the third period , where Jeff Shantz scored at 8 : 33 to tie the game for Chicago . The game went to double overtime where Vladimir Konstantinov scored the game - winner for Detroit at 9 : 25 . The win gave the Red Wings a commanding three - games - to - none series lead . The Blackhawks responded to the urgency and came out flying in game four . Denis Savard and Joe Murphy both scored twice and captain Dirk Graham had a goal to give Chicago a dominating 5 – 0 lead after 40 minutes . Detroit scored twice in the third period on goals by Kris Draper and Ray Sheppard , as the Blackhawks went on to win the game 5 – 2 . They now trailed in the series 3 games to 1 . In game five in Detroit on Sunday , June 11th , Chicago jumped out to a 1 – 0 lead on Denis Savard ' s power play goal at 10 : 18 of the first period . Detroit then tied the game on Steve Yzerman ' s goal at 11 : 36 of the second . After a scoreless third period , the game went into double overtime where Vyacheslav Kozlov scored at 2 : 25 to give the Red Wings a 2 – 1 win and a four - games - to - one series win . Stanley Cup Final . The Red Wings were making their 19th appearance in a Stanley Cup Final , and first since 1966 . The Devils were making their first appearance in the final , in their 20th season . The Devils would blanket the Red Wings with defense to win their first Cup title .