2003 - 04 NHL season The 2003 - 04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League . Thirty teams each played 82 games . 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 . 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 . The 2003 - 04 season was one overhung by concern over the expiry of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement . It would lead to a shuttering of the league for the entirety of the next season . During the entire season , Commissioner Gary Bettman and Players Association head Bob Goodenow waged a war of words with no agreement being signed . On September 26 , just before the season was to begin , young Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in suburban Atlanta . The passenger , Thrashers workhorse Dan Snyder , was killed . Heatley himself was badly injured and eventually charged with vehicular homicide . The entire NHL thus began the season in mourning . Going into the season the two favorites were the Ottawa Senators in the east , who had won the Presidents ' Trophy and come within a win of the Stanley Cup finals the year before ; and the Colorado Avalanche in the west , who despite losing legendary goaltender Patrick Roy to retirement , added both Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to an already star - studded lineup . Neither of these teams was as successful as expected , with Ottawa finishing fifth in the conference and Colorado finishing fourth , losing the Northwest Division title for the first time in a decade . The greatest disappointments were the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim , who , despite making it to game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals the year before and adding Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal , failed to make the playoffs . In the East the star - studded New York Rangers again failed to make the playoffs . The Washington Capitals , who were regarded as a contender , also stumbled early and never recovered . The end of the season saw two of the most extensive housecleanings in league history as the Rangers and Capitals traded away most of their stars and entered rebuilding mode . The Capitals dumped Jaromir Jagr , Peter Bondra , Sergei Gonchar , Robert Lang , Steve Konowalchuk , and Anson Carter . The Rangers moved Petr Nedved , Brian Leetch , Anson Carter , and Alexei Kovalev . The most surprising teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference and San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference . The Lightning , who had a remarkable season with only 20 man - games lost to injury , finished atop the Eastern Conference . The Sharks , who were firmly in rebuilding mode after a disastrous 28 - 37 - 9 - 8 campaign the last season , came second in the Western Conference and won the Pacific Division . Two other teams that did better than expected were carried by surprising young goaltenders . The Calgary Flames ended a seven - year playoff drought backed by the solid play of Miikka Kiprusoff . The Boston Bruins won the Northeast Division by a whisker over the Toronto Maple Leafs with the help of eventual Calder Memorial Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft . Goaltending was also the story of the Presidents ' Trophy - winning Detroit Red Wings as the return from retirement of legend Dominik Hasek bumped Curtis Joseph to the minor leagues . At the same time long time back up Manny Legace put up better numbers than both veterans and won the starting job in the playoffs . Of note is the fact that the Nashville Predators made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history . They put up a valiant effort but were unable to overcome the Hockey Hall of Fame - bound roster of the Red Wings in the first round . Final standings . " won the Presidents ' Trophy and home - ice advantage throughout the playoffs . " " clinched the other conference . " " clinched the other four divisions . " " clinched the remaining ten playoff berths . " Numbers in parentheses indicate ranking 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 " 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 had missed the playoffs for seven years in a row . 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 over time , 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 . Scoring leaders . " Note : GP = Games Played , G = Goals , A = Assists , Pts = Points NHL awards . The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto . Debuts . The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003 - 04 ( listed with their first team ) : 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 ) :