1996 Stanley Cup Finals The 1996 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers . The Avalanche won the Cup in a four game sweep to win the franchise ' s first Stanley Cup , in their first season in Denver since moving from Quebec City in 1995 . It was Florida ' s first Final series appearance , in only the team ' s third season in the NHL . Colorado ' s Joe Sakic was named playoff MVP . Paths to the Final . Colorado defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4 – 2 , the Chicago Blackhawks 4 – 2 and the Detroit Red Wings 4 – 2 to advance to the final . Florida defeated the Boston Bruins 4 – 1 , the Philadelphia Flyers 4 – 2 and the Pittsburgh Penguins 4 – 3 . The series . Game one . The series opened on Tuesday , June 4 , at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver . Although Colorado was the heavy favorite in the series , Florida got on the board first on Tom Fitzgerald ' s goal at 16 : 51 of the first period . That would be all the Panthers would get , however , as Colorado scored three times with five minutes in the second period . Scott Young scored at 10 : 32 , Mike Ricci scored at 12 : 21 , and Uwe Krupp scored at 14 : 21 . The Avalanche went on to win the game 3 – 1 . Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy made 25 saves in the victory . Game two . Peter Forsberg got the Avalanche on the board first in game two , scoring an unassisted goal at 4 : 11 of the first period . The Panthers tied the game on Stu Barnes ' power - play goal at 7 : 52 . Rene Corbet broke the 1 – 1 tie with a power - play goal at 10 : 43 , and then Forsberg scored two power - play goals of his own at 13 : 46 and 15 : 05 to complete the hat trick . Colorado led 4 – 1 after just one period . The Avalanche would make it 5 – 1 with Corbet ’ s second goal of the goal at 4 : 37 of the second period . Valeri Kamensky followed with a goal just 31 seconds later , and Jon Klemm scored at 10 : 03 to give Colorado a dominating 7 – 1 lead after two periods . Klemm would add another goal at 17 : 28 of the third period . It was the Avalanche ’ s fourth power - play goal of the game . Colorado won the game 8 – 1 , with three players scoring at least twice . Game three . As expected , the Avalanche went to the Miami Arena in Florida with a 2 – 0 series lead . Claude Lemieux , back after his two - game suspension , scored the first goal of the game at 2 : 44 of the first period to give Colorado a 1 – 0 lead . Florida played determinedly , however , and tied the game on Ray Sheppard ’ s power - play goal at 9 : 14 . Rob Niedermayer scored at 11 : 19 to give the Panthers their second lead of the series . The score was 2 – 1 Florida after one period . Colorado came right back to tie the game at 1 : 38 of the second period , on Mike Keane ’ s goal . Captain Joe Sakic scored the go - ahead goal just 82 seconds later , and Colorado went on to win 3 – 2 and take a commanding three - games - to - none lead in the series . Patrick Roy made 32 saves in the win . Game four . With their backs to the wall , the Panthers played a defensive game . Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck went save for save with Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy . The two teams played a marathon game that took until the third overtime period . Uwe Krupp ’ s unassisted goal at 4 : 31 ended 44 minutes and 31 seconds of overtime and gave the Avalanche a 1 – 0 win and a four - games - to - none series win . Goaltender Patrick Roy stopped all 63 shots he faced . Colorado outscored Florida 15 – 4 in the series , and Patrick Roy stopped 147 of 151 shots , for a save percentage of . 974 . Joe Sakic was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP , having led all skaters in goals with 18 , and points with 34 . For both Patrick Roy and Claude Lemieux , it was their third Stanley Cup win in eleven years . Colorado Avalanche 1996 Stanley Cup Champions . Stanley Cup engravings . Adam Deadmarsh ' s name was misspelled ADAM DEADMARCH . This mistake was corrected by stamping an " S " over the " C " twice . Deadmarsh ' s name was the first name to be corrected on the Presentation Stanley Cup .