2002 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2002 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2001–02 season, and the culmination of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes. It was Detroit's twenty-second appearance in the Finals, their previous appearance being a win in . It was Carolina's first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. Detroit defeated Carolina in five games to win their tenth Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. The Red Wings became the first  team in NHL history to win the Cup after starting the playoffs with two losses at home. After losing the first two games in the Conference Quarterfinals to the Vancouver Canucks, the Red Wings won 16 of their next 21 games en route to win their third Cup since for coach Scotty Bowman. Bowman won his ninth Cup as a head coach (he had previously won it in that capacity with the Montreal Canadiens in , , , , and , with the Pittsburgh Penguins in , and with Detroit in 1997 and 1998), surpassing the mark he held jointly with Montreal coach Toe Blake. It  was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team. Paths to the Finals. Carolina defeated the New Jersey Devils, the Canadiens, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games apiece to advance to the Finals. Detroit defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4–2, the St. Louis Blues 4–1 and the defending Cup champion Colorado Avalanche 4–3 to advance to the Finals. Game summaries. This was the first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Hurricanes (formerly the Hartford Whalers), who made an unlikely run to the Cup . While they were seeded third as a division winner, they actually had the second-lowest point total (91) for a playoff team not only in the Eastern Conference, but also the whole NHL (ahead of only Montreal). In their whole NHL history, they had only won one playoff series prior to this season (as the Whalers in 1986), and had streaks of five and six seasons in which they did not make the playoffs. As the Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy with 116 points, the 25-point differential was the largest between two teams in a Stanley Cup Finals  since (27 points between New York Rangers (112) and the Canucks (85)). The Hurricanes stunned the Red Wings in the first game on the strength of Ron Francis's overtime goal. That would be Carolina's only win in the series as the Red Wings won four straight, including a triple overtime win in game three. The Cup win was the first for many veterans on the team, including goaltender Dominik Hasek, forward Luc Robitaille, and defencemen Steve Duchesne (who retired after this season) and Fredrik Olausson. It was the second Cup win for Chris Chelios, sixteen years after he  first won the Cup as a member of the Montreal Canadiens in . Stanley Cup engraving. The 2002 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Red Wings 3–1 win over the Hurricanes in game five. The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 2001–02 Detroit Red Wings Broadcasting. In Canada, the series was televised in English on CBC. This would end up being the last finals broadcast by SRC, as RDS would pick up the French-language broadcast for the next season. In the  United States, ESPN aired the first two games while ABC broadcast the rest of the series. Aftermath. The following year, the Red Wings got swept in the first round by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Detroit would not return to the Finals until six years later when they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins for their eleventh overall Stanley Cup championship. As for the Carolina Hurricanes, they missed the playoffs the following season. The Hurricanes would not return to the Finals until four years later when they captured their first Stanley Cup championship over the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. 2002 Stanley