Where is the final Stanley Cup match held?
1950 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the last Stanley Cup Final to feature a team that did not host any games and also the last to feature neutral site games, which were held in Toronto on account of scheduling conflicts at Madison Square Garden.
1920 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1920 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the National Hockey League (NHL) champion Ottawa Senators and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Seattle Metropolitans. The Senators won the series by three games to two in the best-of-five game series. Although all of the games for the series were scheduled to be played at The Arena in Ottawa, unseasonably warm weather and poor ice conditions forced the last two contests to be played on the artificial ice at Toronto's Arena Gardens.
1994 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1994 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1993–94 season, and the culmination of the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers and Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks were making the club's second Final appearance, their first coming during their Cinderella run of , and the Rangers were making their tenth appearance, their first since . The Rangers ended their record 54-year championship drought with a victory in game seven to claim the long-awaited Stanley Cup. It was the fourth championship in franchise history. The CBC broadcast of the deciding game seven attracted an average Canadian audience of 4.957 million viewers, making it the most watched CBC Sports program in history to that time.
1962 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1962 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the defending champion Chicago Black Hawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs who had last appeared in the Final in 1960. The Maple Leafs would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win the Stanley Cup, their first since 1951.
2012 Stanley Cup playoffs
This is the sixth playoff series between these two teams, with New Jersey's only win coming from a sweep of the Rangers in the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Devils and the Rangers last met in the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which the Rangers won in five games. The teams split this year's six-game regular season series. In 1994, the Rangers and the Devils also met in the Eastern Conference Finals, with New York prevailing in seven games, en route to winning the 1994 Stanley Cup. The Devils reached the Conference Finals for the first time since beating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, while the Rangers reached the Conference Finals for the first time since 1997, when they lost to rival Philadelphia Flyers.
2011 Stanley Cup playoffs
As the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Vancouver Canucks earned home ice advantage over the Boston Bruins in the Finals. This was the first playoff series between Vancouver and Boston. Vancouver and Boston met only once in the 2010–11 regular season, on February 26. Boston won that game by a score of 3–1. This was Vancouver's third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals; in both of their previous appearances, they lost to a team from New York. In 1982, they were swept by the Islanders. In 1994, they lost to the Rangers in seven games. This was Boston's first appearance in the Finals since their five-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in 1990. Boston last won the Stanley Cup in 1972, when they defeated the New York Rangers in six games.
1953 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1953 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins were appearing in the Final for the first time since . The Canadiens, who were appearing in their third straight Final series, won the series four games to one, matching their previous Cup-winning performance (against Boston in 1946).
Scottish Challenge Cup
The final match of the tournament is played at a neutral venue, usually one that is geographically close or equidistant to where the clubs contesting the match are based. Eight different venues have hosted the final. Fir Park in Motherwell was the first, in 1990, and has since hosted four more finals, the last in 2017. McDiarmid Park in Perth has been the most frequent venue, staging it ten times between 1994 and 2018. Other venues to host the final more than once are Broadwood Stadium (Cumbernauld), Excelsior Stadium (Airdrie) and Almondvale Stadium (Livingston). The 2016 final was held at Hampden Park, the national stadium in Glasgow, due to the large support of eventual winners Rangers; that final drew the competition's record attendance of over 48,000.
Amalie Arena
As home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Amalie Arena has hosted games in the Stanley Cup Finals, hosting games one, two, five, and seven of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, where the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames four games to three to win their first Stanley Cup. During the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, the arena was the site of games one, two, and five. In addition, Amalie Arena has hosted the National Hockey League All-Star Game twice, in 1999 and again in 2018.
Washington Capitals
Stanley Cup
1938 Stanley Cup Finals
Chicago set a record with eight American players winning the Stanley Cup. Also set a record for attendance with 18,497 in game three. It was the second time in NHL history a team would win the stanley cup after starting three different goalies in the playoffs after the Detroit Red Wings accomplish the feed the previous year, no Stanley Cup Champions would win the cup while starting three different goalies until the Penguins did it in 2016. It was the last time that the Hawks would win the Stanley Cup at home until 2015, and the last that a Chicago team would win a championship at Chicago Stadium until the Bulls won their second straight NBA championship in 1992. The next time the Blackhawks would win the Stanley Cup at home would be in 2015, when they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in game six of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals; by this time they had moved into the United Center.
Stanley Cup
The original 1892 "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup", purchased and donated by Lord Stanley, was physically awarded to the Champions until 1970, and is now displayed in the Vault Room at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.
1940 Stanley Cup Finals
The final series between the Rangers and the Maple Leafs was an exciting one that went back and forth with three overtime games. The Rangers took the first two at home and the Leafs took the next two in Toronto.
The circus forced the Rangers to vacate Madison Square Garden after the first two games. The Rangers would score three game-winning goals in overtime including the Cup winner. Lynn and Murray Patrick played for the Rangers to be the third and fourth members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup.
1979 Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals were produced by CBC, who carried the game in Canada and were shown in the United States on the NHL's syndicated package. Danny Gallivan and Dan Kelly split play-by-play, while Gary Dornhoefer and Dick Irvin, Jr. served as color commentators, Dick Irvin, Jr. served as studio host in Montreal and Dave Hodge in New York and Howie Meeker served as studio analyst. ABC was contracted to televise game seven. Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void.
2018 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2018 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2017–18 season, and the culmination of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals defeated the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights four games to one to win their first championship in their 44th season. The Vegas Golden Knights made the Finals in their first season, while this was the second Finals appearance for the Capitals. This was the first Finals series since 2007 where neither team had previously won the Stanley Cup and the third consecutive year in which a Western Conference team made their Finals debut. This was the first Finals since 2014 to require less than six games. Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
Lord Stanley's Gift Monument
The Stanley Cup trustees had sole control of the trophy until 1914, when they decided to let the leagues choose the champions and challengers. Over time, as trustees have died, new trustees have been named. It is an honourary role, as the National Hockey League has been solely responsible for and has controlled the trophy since 1947. The original Cup, and the trophy used in its likeness today, are cared for by, and housed at, the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2012 Stanley Cup Finals
For the second consecutive Finals, both participating teams' arenas (New Jersey's Prudential Center and Los Angeles' Staples Center) served as host to their first Stanley Cup Finals. The Prudential Center opened prior to the season, while the Staples Center opened in time for the season. (In 2011, the Boston Bruins' TD Garden and Vancouver Canucks' Rogers Arena, which both opened within days of one another in September 1995, were the two venues that had the honors.)
Stanley Cup Finals
Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Starting in 1915, the Cup was officially held between the champion of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the champion of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). After a series of league mergers and folds, it became the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1926. Starting in 1982, the championship round of the NHL's playoffs has been a best-of-seven series played between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences. Western champions have won 19 times, while the Eastern champions have won 17 times.
1921 Stanley Cup Finals
The series took place at Vancouver's Denman Arena, where the attendance per game during the series averaged over 10,000 people. The attendance for the first game was 11,000, setting a new world record for the largest crowd to see a hockey game, only to be topped in the fifth game. The Millionaires won games one and four with victories of 3–1 and 3–2, respectively. The Senators were victorious in games two and three with 4–3 and 3–2 wins. Then in the fifth game, Jack Darragh scored both of Ottawa's goals in the 2–1 victory to clinch the Cup.
Stanley Cup Finals
The last challenge, in 1914, was the inauguration of the first "World Series" of ice hockey, a series between the Stanley Cup and league champion Toronto Hockey Club of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Victoria Aristocrats, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). The series was pre-arranged between the two leagues prior to the season after post-season exhibitions held in their previous seasons. The inaugural series was to be held in the city of the NHA champion, and alternate annually following the series.
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
With Vancouver having hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Canucks hoped to mirror what had happened following the other two Olympic Games held in Canada, in which the host city's NHL team won the Stanley Cup the following year. Montreal hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics and the following year, the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. The Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup in , the previous year Calgary had hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Sports in Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks have played in the National Hockey League since 1970, and have reached the Stanley Cup finals three times, in 1982, 1994 (the Canucks' 1994 run was unfortunately marred by the 1994 Stanley Cup riot) and 2011 (which again incited the 2011 Stanley Cup riot after the Canucks' loss to Boston). The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, having previously played at the Pacific Coliseum until 1995. Previous incarnations of the Canucks played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League and Western Hockey League and won multiple championships. The Vancouver Blazers, a World Hockey Association team, attempted to compete with the Canucks between 1973 and 1975, but moved to Calgary thereafter. An early professional hockey team known as the Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup in 1915.
Stanley Cup Finals
The championship series began with the interleague 'World Series' played in one city. The series alternated between a rink of the NHA and later the NHL and a rink of the PCHA and later the WCHL/WHL. It was not until the demise of the WHL, that the final series alternated games between the two finalists' home ice.
Kevin Pollock
He was selected to work games in the ice hockey men's tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. He refereed game 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals, with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the game and ultimately the Stanley Cup.
List of Stanley Cup champions
Five relocated teams that have won the Stanley Cup in their current locations and never appeared in the Finals in their former locations:
2007 Stanley Cup playoffs
Only two Original Six teams made the playoffs this year, the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings (this included the Montreal Canadiens' and the Toronto Maple Leafs' first absence from the tournament together since 1970). This only happened twice before in 2000 and 2001, and would not happen again until 2018.
In each round, the highest remaining seed in each conference is matched against the lowest remaining seed. The higher-seeded team is awarded home ice advantage, which gives them a maximum possible four games on their home ice, with the other team getting a maximum possible three. In the Stanley Cup Final, home ice is determined based on regular season points.
Traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup
In 2010, Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards picked up the Wales Trophy, while Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews did not touch the Campbell Bowl. The Blackhawks went on to defeat the Flyers in six games for the 2010 Stanley Cup. Subsequently, between 2011 and 2015, none of the Stanley Cup finalists touched either the Campbell or the Wales trophies. The 2012 Los Angeles Kings, after defeating the Phoenix Coyotes in five games, went so far as leaving the Campbell Bowl in Phoenix. Instead Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (the parent of the LA Kings), drove the trophy in his car trunk from Phoenix to Los Angeles and showed it to the 10 000+ fans that waited at LAX Airport to show their support to their Stanley Cup finalists, who went on to win the Stanley Cup. This was in marked contrast to 1993, when the Kings had defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games to reach their first Final, where Wayne Gretzky and the team celebrated with the Campbell Bowl, and during the Finals trophy was unveiled before the start of Game Three (the Kings lost the series in five games, including three overtime losses).
Pacific Coliseum
The twenty-five year tenure of the Canucks would see the Stanley Cup Finals come to the Coliseum twice; once in , where the New York Islanders would complete their sweep of the Canucks in Vancouver on May 16, 1982, and again in where they would lose to the New York Rangers in a seven-game thriller. Former owner Arthur Griffiths called the sixth game of the 1994 series, the only Stanley Cup Final game that the Canucks would ever win at the Coliseum, to be "The greatest game ever played at the Pacific Coliseum," and sent the entire city into a frenzy in its wake. The Coliseum would host a viewing of the penultimate game 7, which the Canucks would lose by a goal, after Nathan LaFayette's potential tying shot went off the post. The Canucks remain the only team in the NHL to have not won the Stanley Cup, but to have been one win away from winning it; a dubious honor that they would repeat in against the Boston Bruins.
1980 Stanley Cup Finals
In the United States, the first five games were syndicated by the Hughes Television Network. Hughes used CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" feeds for the American coverage. Game six was televised in the United States by the CBS network, as a special edition of its "CBS Sports Spectacular" anthology series. This would be the last NHL game to air on U.S. network television until 1990, when the All-Star Game was televised on NBC. As of 2015, it is also the last Stanley Cup Final game to be played in the afternoon (earlier than 5:00 local time).
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The Canucks had home ice advantage in the Finals by virtue of winning the Presidents' Trophy as the team that finished with the best regular season record (117 points). They were also the first Canadian team to have home ice advantage in the Finals since the Montreal Canadiens had it for the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens' victory in 1993 was also the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. As of the 2017–18 season, this was the last Stanley Cup Finals to feature a Canadian team and that the Finals went the full seven games.
Stanley Cup playoffs
The Stanley Cup playoffs () is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. Eight teams from each of the two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Final, which sees the two conference champions play for the Stanley Cup.
2013 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the seventh playoff series between the Bruins and the Blackhawks, with the Bruins winning five of the previous six meetings. Their most recent meeting was in the 1978 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals, where Boston swept Chicago out of the playoffs. The teams did not meet in the regular season because of the intra-conference restriction for the season because of the lockout. This was Boston's 19th appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, and their first since the Cup win over the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. This was Chicago's 12th Finals appearance, and their first since the Cup win over the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. This was the first meeting between the Bruins and the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, and the first Stanley Cup Finals to feature two Original Six teams since .
1927 Stanley Cup Finals
It would be the last time a team from Ottawa would play in the Finals until the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, and the first Stanley Cup Final to have games played in both Canada and the United States.
Boston Garden
The facility hosted games in the , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and Stanley Cup Finals where the Bruins won two of their championships at the Garden in 1939 and 1970. The 1929 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden (III). The 1941 Stanley Cup championship was won at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. The 1972 Stanley Cup championship was won at New York's Madison Square Garden. The 2011 Stanley Cup championship was won at Vancouver's Rogers Arena. The facility has also hosted games in the , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and 1987 NBA Finals, in which the Celtics won nine of their championships on home court in 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1984, and 1986. In addition to championship rounds, the Garden also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1951, 1952, 1957, and 1964, and the NHL All-Star Game in 1971. The NCAA Frozen Four was contested there from 1972 to 1974. Starting in 1955, the Beanpot tournament, featuring the four major college hockey programs in the Boston area, was held at the Garden annually on the first week of February.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks faced the Boston Bruins, another Original Six team, in the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals. It was the first time since 1979 that two Original Six teams have made the Stanley Cup Finals and the first time since 1945 that the last four teams to win the Stanley Cup were in the Conference Finals. The Bruins made their second appearance in the Finals in three years (winning in 2011) and were making a similar resurgence as the Blackhawks. On June 24, the Blackhawks defeated the Bruins in the sixth game of the series to win the Stanley Cup, having overcome a 2–1 deficit with just over a minute remaining in the game. Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored goals with 1:16 and 0:58.3 remaining in the game, just 17 seconds apart, to win 3–2.
1967 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1967 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven series played between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs ended up winning the series, four games to two. In doing this, they won their thirteenth Stanley Cup. To date, this is Toronto's most recent Stanley Cup championship, most recent appearance in the championship final, and is tied for the longest-active championship drought in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues (who have never won since joining the NHL in 1967) at 50 (not including 2004–05 lockout) seasons. The 1967 Stanley Cup Final was also the last Stanley Cup Final in the Original Six Era.
2018 Stanley Cup Finals
In Canada, the series was broadcast by Sportsnet and CBC Television in English, and TVA Sports in French. In the U.S., the Finals were split between NBC (Games 1, 4 and 5) and NBCSN (Games 2 and 3).
PPG Paints Arena
PPG Paints Arena hosted its first Stanley Cup Finals in 2016, which saw the Penguins defeat the San Jose Sharks in six games to clinch its fourth Cup. Although the Penguins clinched the Cup at the SAP Center (home of the Sharks), PPG Paints did host a watch party for what turned out to be the series-clinching game, charging $10 for admission with all proceeds going to the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. Concessions and the team store were open, and the arena's goal horn played after every Penguins goal just like at a regular home game. The arena hosted a similar watch party the following year for game six while the Penguins played the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena, which like the year before turned out to be the series-clinching game for the Penguins' fifth Cup.
1979 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the last Stanley Cup Final until 2013 where both teams were from the Original Six, and the first of six consecutive Finals involving a team from the New York metropolitan area. The next five Finals would be contested by the Rangers' crosstown rivals the New York Islanders, who would win the first four of those series to forge a dynasty matching that of the Canadiens. By defeating the Rangers, the Canadiens completed the rare accomplishment of winning four consecutive titles in a North American league competition consisting of at least sixteen teams, a feat that had been achieved only twice before (both times by the New York Yankees) and has been achieved only once since (by the aforementioned Islanders).
Meadowlands Arena
Meadowlands Arena has played host to the , , , and Stanley Cup Finals. The arena has seen the Devils clinch two of their three Stanley Cup championships before a home crowd, winning Game 4 of the 1995 Finals over the Detroit Red Wings and Game 7 of the 2003 Finals over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks; the Devils' other Stanley Cup win took place at Dallas' Reunion Arena in 2000. The arena also was host to the Los Angeles Lakers winning an NBA Championship by sweeping the Nets on June 12, 2002, and again the next year, when the Nets lost in six games to the San Antonio Spurs. Izod Center is the most recent of five venues to host the Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals at the same time; the other four are Boston Garden, Madison Square Garden in New York, The Spectrum in Philadelphia and Chicago Stadium. Game 3 of the 1983-84 NASL Indoor Finals was played there on April 11, 1984 between the Cosmos and the San Diego Sockers. This also happened to be the last indoor game ever played in the North American Soccer League, as the league folded in early 1985. It was one of the busiest arenas in North America in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, playing host to numerous championship and neutral games.
1978–79 NHL season
"Note: Only teams that qualified for the playoffs are listed here."
Prior to 2013, this was the last time two Original Six clubs met in the finals. Both teams would next appear in the Stanley Cup Finals: Canadiens winning in and , Rangers winning in .
2014 Stanley Cup Finals
Los Angeles had home ice advantage in the series, as the Kings finished with a better regular season record than the Rangers. The series started on June 4 and ended on June 13 with the Kings winning their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. It was the first meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship since the Yankees and the Dodgers played in the 1981 World Series. Coincidentally, 1981 was also the last time the Rangers and the Kings had met in the postseason; that was the lastseason where it was possible for any two teams to meet in any round of the postseason. In 1981 the Rangers eliminated the Kings during the first round of the playoffs.
1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot
The 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot occurred in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on the evening of June 14, 1994, and continued into the following morning. The riot followed Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals in which the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Rangers. It was Vancouver's first riot since 1972, when the Rolling Stones American Tour 1972 led to confrontations between the police and 2,000 outside the Pacific Coliseum.
List of American Stanley Cup Finals television announcers
On May 27, 2016, NBC Sports announced that if the Finals was tied at 1-1 entering game three, then it would have aired on NBC and game four televised on NBCSN. However, if one team led 2-0 (as this eventually happened), game three moved to NBCSN and then game four on NBC.In the United States, the clinching game of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals on the evening of Thursday, May 5 aired on RKO General's stations, such as WOR-TV in New York City and WHCT in Hartford, Connecticut. The commentators for RKO's coverage on that occasion were Bob Wolff and Emile Francis. Wolff at the time did play-by-play for New York Rangers games seen on WOR. Although the TV listings page of the May 5, 1966 edition of the "Boston Globe" indicated that RKO-owned WNAC-TV in Boston would not carry the game, the then-ABC-affiliated station did clear the broadcast at the last minute.
Traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup went to Port Dover, Ontario, with Jassen Culimore when the Tampa Bay Lightning won the cup. He was the fourth NHLer to take the cup to this small hockey town on the shore of Lake Erie. It went to Simcoe, Ontario with Rob Blake when the Colorado Avalanche won the cup. A parade was held in his honor, and a private party was thrown for family and friends. Assistant Coach Colin Campbell took it to his hometown Tillsonburg, Ontario after the New York Rangers won in 1994. Daniel Cleary took the Cup to his hometown of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. As the first Newfoundlander to win the Cup, he attracted an estimated crowd of 27,000 to the tiny community of just over 3,000. The Cup went to the top of Fisher Peak, near Cranbrook, British Columbia and the top of Mt. Elbert in Colorado. Brad Richards from Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island took the Stanley Cup out on a fishing boat after the Tampa Bay Lightning won the cup. It went to an Aboriginal Métis Nation Settlement, and it went to an igloo in Rankin Inlet. It served as the engagement ring bearer for the Tampa Bay Lightning's André Roy while in a helicopter flown by Guy Lafleur.
2008 Stanley Cup playoffs
The Stanley Cup Finals were broadcast in Canada by the CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada". In Quebec, RDS televised the series. In the United States, Versus televised Games 1 and 2, while NBC broadcast the remainder. In the United Kingdom, all games were shown on Five.
National Hockey League rivalries
The term Freeway Face-Off refers to a series of games played between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. The series takes its name from the massive freeway system in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, the home of both teams; one can travel from one team's arena to the other simply by traveling along Interstate 5. The two teams have also faced off in an outdoor game at Dodger Stadium, in which the Ducks won 3–0. The two teams have met only once in the playoffs, during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, of which the Kings won 4 games to 3. The Kings would eventually go on to win the Stanley Cup that year. The term is akin to the "Freeway Series" which refers to meetings between the Los Angeles area baseball teams, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
List of Stanley Cup Final overtime series winners
In ice hockey, the "Stanley Cup Final" (also known as the "Stanley Cup Finals" among various media) is the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL) to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup. The series is played in a best of seven format, meaning that a team must win four games in order to win the series and the Cup. Games that are tied at the end of regulation time go to overtime. In the history of the NHL, there have been 17 series which have ended on a game-winning goal in overtime.
2003 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals pitted the second-seeded Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils against the seventh-seeded Western Conference champion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Devils, who finished the season with 108 points, defeated the Mighty Ducks in seven games to win the Stanley Cup. The series opened at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
2015 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the second-most watched Stanley Cup Finals on U.S. television since 1995, trailing only the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals, with an average 3.2 Nielsen rating and 5.6 million viewers on NBC and NBCSN. Game six was seen by 7.6 million viewers nationally on NBC. Ratings for game six were especially strong in Chicago and Tampa Bay: it was the most-watched NHL broadcast locally in Chicago history, and the second-highest in Tampa Bay. By contrast, ratings in Canada dropped significantly, making it the lowest-rated Stanley Cup Final since 2009. Game six, facing competition from a Team Canada match in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, and the Toronto Blue Jays (which had seen increased ratings due to a major winning streak), was the lowest-rated deciding NHL playoff game on Canadian television since the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.
2010 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the first Cup championship for Chicago since , which had been the longest active Stanley Cup drought. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who last won the Cup in and who have not appeared in the Final since, along with the St. Louis Blues, currently share the longest active Cup drought streak in the NHL.
1950 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1950 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings. It was the Rangers' first appearance in the Final since their Stanley Cup victory in 1940. The Red Wings would win the series 4–3 to mark their franchise's fourth Cup win, and first since 1943.
2016 Stanley Cup Finals
The Eastern Conference had home-ice advantage in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2004 and 2006 Finals. For the first time since 2011, neither the Chicago Blackhawks nor the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup.
Traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup
There are many traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL), the major professional ice hockey league in Canada and the United States. It is commonly referred to as simply "The Cup", "The Holy Grail" or facetiously (chiefly by sportswriters) as "Lord Stanley's Mug".
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The final game of the series attracted huge crowds on the streets of Vancouver who gathered to watch the game on outside monitors and cheer the home team on. Shortly before the game ended with the apparent loss for Vancouver, fires were set on West Georgia Street. After the game ended, cars were set on fire and fighting broke out. Soon, a riot was in progress in downtown Vancouver, with police cars set on fire, shops looted and attendant destruction of property. The damage was expected to be greater than the 1994 Vancouver riots that occurred after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the New York Rangers.Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.
1924 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the last Final until the 1983 Final to be contested by a team from Alberta and the last Final until the 1986 Final to be contested by a team from Calgary.
2009 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2009 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2008–09 season, and the culmination of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings. It was Detroit's 24th appearance in the Final and Pittsburgh's fourth appearance in the Final. This was a rematch of the previous year's Stanley Cup Final where Detroit had defeated Pittsburgh in six games. This time, Pittsburgh defeated Detroit in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup in franchise history. Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin would win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 playoffs, becoming the first Russian-born player to win the trophy.
NHL Conference Finals
In 2012, Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown and the rest of the team refused to touch the Campbell Bowl after winning the conference finals against the Phoenix Coyotes. The team did not take the Campbell Bowl Trophy on the plane back to Los Angeles. Instead Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (the parent of the LA Kings), drove the trophy in his car trunk from Phoenix to Los Angeles and showed it to the more-than 10,000 fans that waited at LAX Airport to show their support to their Stanley Cup finalists, who went on to win the Stanley Cup. This was in marked contrast to 1993, when the Kings had defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games to reach their first Final, where Wayne Gretzky and the team celebrated with the Campbell Bowl.
United Center
The arena has hosted the Stanley Cup Finals three times: in , , and . The Blackhawks won the first two Stanley Cups on the ice of their opponent in the sixth game of the series (Philadelphia's Wachovia Center in 2010 and Boston's TD Garden in 2013). However, they won the 2015 series against the Tampa Bay Lightning at home in the sixth game, the first time since 1938 the Hawks clinched the Cup in Chicago.
2007 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the first and to date only playoff meeting between these two teams. Anaheim most recently made it to the Finals in 2003 where they were defeated by New Jersey in seven games, while Ottawa made their first Finals appearance in their fifteenth season. This was the first Finals series to be played in Ottawa since the original Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup in 1927. For the first time since 1999, neither of the two Stanley Cup finalists had previously won the Stanley Cup. The teams did not play each other during this year's regular season. Anaheim became the first team based in the Pacific Time zone in the NHL's modern era to win the Stanley Cup; they also became the first west coast team to win the Stanley Cup since the Victoria Cougars in 1925.
1989 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the second and most recent series between these two teams, with the only previous meeting being the 1986 Stanley Cup Finals where Montreal defeated Calgary in five games. This was the Flames second appearance in the Finals, while Montreal was making their thirty-third appearance in the Finals. Calgary was trying to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, while Montreal last won the Stanley Cup in 1986.
2010 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2010 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2009–10 season, and the culmination of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks and the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia Flyers. It was Chicago's eleventh appearance in the Final and their first since , a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was Philadelphia's eighth appearance in the Final and their first since , a loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago defeated Philadelphia four games to two to win their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history.
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) , and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks four games to three. The Bruins ended a 39-year Stanley Cup drought with the win. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
Devils–Rangers rivalry
When both teams won the Stanley Cup in their respective seasons, the Stanley Cup was awarded on their side of the Hudson River (Rangers won at Madison Square Garden in 1994, the Devils at the Meadowlands in 1995). The Devils did not have home ice advantage during their Finals. In fact, they were the first team to win the Stanley Cup without having home ice advantage in any of the four rounds of the playoffs.
Stanley Cup playoffs
Despite having more American-based teams than Canadian-based ones throughout much of the NHL's existence (dating back to the Original Six era when it was two Canadian clubs to four American ones, and now 7 to 24 since 2017), there have been only two times in league history where none of the Canadian teams qualified for the postseason: 1970 and 2016. However, the 1993 Montreal Canadiens remain the last Canadian club to go all the way and win the Stanley Cup.
1920 Stanley Cup Finals
By consensus of league and team officials, the series was shifted to Toronto because of Ottawa's slushy ice conditions (The Ottawa Arena did not have artificial ice).
Bruins–Canadiens rivalry
The Bruins and Canadiens made up 16 of the possible 30 Stanley Cup Finals appearances between and . The Bruins went 2–3 and Canadiens went 10–1 in Finals appearances. The two teams went head-to-head in the and 1978 Stanley Cup Finals. The only final that neither team appeared during this period was in , which was a showdown between the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres. During this period, the Bruins and Canadiens reigned exclusively as Stanley Cup champions, except in 1967 when it was won by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers in and 1975.
2004 Stanley Cup Finals
These Finals would be the last until 2013 to be tied after two games. The team with home ice in games one and two held a 2-0 edge in every Final between 2006 and 2011. In 2012, the Los Angeles Kings won the first two games at New Jersey.
1988–89 NHL season
The 1989 Stanley Cup Final featured two Canadian hockey teams, the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames. Montreal finished the regular season with 115 points, only two behind the league leader Calgary. They had last faced each other only three years earlier, with Montreal winning a five-game series in 1986. Calgary was only the second opposing team in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup at the Montreal Forum (the New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Maroons in 1928) and the first to do so against the Canadiens, marking the first time since that the Stanley Cup wasn't awarded in the province of Alberta.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
The Stanley Cup Finals have been played in the Twin Cities twice - 1981 and 1991 as well as the NHL Stadium Series played host to a game in 2016.
2006 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs marked the second time in a row that an Alberta-based team had made it to the finals only to lose in seven games to the Southeast Division champions, as the Calgary Flames were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers were not able to complete their Cinderella run, having entered the playoffs seeded eighth, denying General Manager Kevin Lowe and Head Coach Craig MacTavish from joining Lester Patrick and Frank Boucher as the only duos to win the Stanley Cup together as players and then as a coach-managerial team, as the two were with the Oilers as players in , and and the New York Rangers in 1994.
1982 Stanley Cup Finals
This 1982 Finals took place under a revised NHL divisional alignment and playoff structure, which "de facto" revived the "East vs. West" format for the Finals that had been abandoned when the Western Hockey League folded in . It was also the first time a team from Western Canada contested the Finals since the WHL stopped challenging for the Stanley Cup (the Victoria Cougars, who had also been the last team from British Columbia to win the Cup in , played the 1926 Finals too).
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the National Hockey League (NHL)'s championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional sports trophy.
1952 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1952 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens in the first of the four Detroit-Montreal Final series of the 1950s. The Canadiens were appearing in their second straight Finals series, while Detroit was returning after winning the 1950 Final. The Red Wings would win the series 4–0, shutting out the Canadiens twice and allowing one goal in each of the other two games. By doing so, the Red Wings became the first team to go perfect in the playoffs.
1961 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1961 Stanley Cup Finals were almost not televised in Canada at all. At that time, the CBC only had rights to the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs' games; home games only during the season and all games in the playoffs. However, with both the Canadiens and Maple Leafs eliminated in the semi-finals, the CBC's worst nightmare became reality. The CBC had to conceive a way to carry the Finals between the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings or face public revolt. According to lore, the CBC found a way to link their Windsor viewers as having a vested interest in the Finals with the across the river Red Wings. Thus, CBC was able to carry the series after inking special contracts with the Red Wings and Black Hawks as a service to the Windsor market. From Windsor, CBC linked the signal to Toronto and they relayed the coverage Dominion-wide. From there, Canadians were able to see the Finals with nary a glitch in the coverage.
2006 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Carolina made their second Finals appearance, while Edmonton made their seventh appearance in the Finals. The Hurricanes were defeated in their last appearance in the Finals losing to Detroit in five games in 2002, the Oilers won their last appearance in the Finals defeating Boston in five games in 1990. The teams did not meet during the regular season. This series marked the first time that two former World Hockey Association teams played against each other for the Stanley Cup since they merged with the NHL in 1979. This was the first Stanley Cup Finals to be contested by two teams that had both missed the playoffs the previous season.
1914 Stanley Cup Finals
All games played at Arena Gardens.
1989 Stanley Cup Finals
The Flames defeated the Canadiens in six games to win their first, and as of 2018, only Stanley Cup. The winning goal in game six was scored by Doug Gilmour. They became the first team to win a Stanley Cup after relocating, as they had begun life as the Atlanta Flames in 1972. Since then, four more teams have accomplished this feat: the New Jersey Devils (formerly the Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies), the Colorado Avalanche (formerly the Quebec Nordiques), the Dallas Stars (formerly the Minnesota North Stars), and the Carolina Hurricanes (formerly the New England/Hartford Whalers). The Flames reached the Finals again in 2004, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning; they had gone that entire span without a single playoff series victory. This was also the second-to-last of eight consecutive Finals where either the Flames or their provincial rival Edmonton Oilers represented Alberta in the Stanley Cup Finals. Both Calgary and Montreal were the only two teams to win the Stanley Cup in the 1980s other than the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers.
Traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup
In the Chicago Stadium, in the spring of 1961, the Montreal Canadiens were losing the final game of a Playoff series to the Chicago Blackhawks. A Montreal fan (Ken Kilander) in the stands was upset, so he left his seat, ran down to the front lobby and broke into the glass showcase where the Stanley Cup was on display. He grabbed the Cup, hoisted it over his shoulders and made for the exit before he was arrested. In court, he explained his behaviour to the judge: "Your Honor, I was simply bringing the Cup back to Montreal where it belongs."
2009 Stanley Cup Finals
The Penguins became the first team since the Montreal Canadiens to win game seven of the Final on the road. They were also the first road team to win game seven of a championship round, in any major league sport, since the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles 4–1 at Memorial Stadium to win the 1979 World Series. For the Red Wings, it was the first time that they lost in the Finals since , when they were swept by the Devils. It was also the first time that the visiting team has won the Cup at Joe Louis Arena in the venue's 30-year history, and the Penguins became the first visiting team to win the Cup in Detroit since the Montreal Canadiens did so in at the now-demolished Olympia Stadium. They were also the first team to win the Stanley Cup without finishing first in a division during the regular season since the Devils in 2000. This was the last ever Stanley Cup Finals game played at Joe Louis Arena.
1927 Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Final was originally intended to be a best-of-three series. After the first game was declared a draw, NHL President Calder ruled that the series would go no more than five games, with overtimes limited to 20 minutes. If the teams were tied after five games, the teams would share the championship. In the end, the series went four games because of two ties. These were the last ties in Stanley Cup history, notwithstanding the unfinished 3–3 Stanley Cup final match between Edmonton and Boston on May 24, 1988. Ottawa's Frank Nighbor was playing in his sixth Stanley Cup series, while Boston's Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Coutu were playing in their fifth Stanley Cup series.
2007 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2007 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2006–07 season, and the culmination of the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Western Conference champion Anaheim Ducks and the Eastern Conference champion Ottawa Senators. It was the second appearance in the Final for Anaheim since 2003 (known as the Mighty Ducks) when they lost to the New Jersey Devils. It was the first appearance for the Senators since entering the NHL as an expansion team in 1992. Anaheim defeated Ottawa in five games and were awarded their first Stanley Cup becoming the eleventh post-1967 expansion team to win the NHL championship trophy, and the first Stanley Cup championship for a team from California (the Los Angeles Kings would eventually win Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014). This was also the most recent year that both teams that went to the finals had never won the Stanley Cup before until the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.
2013 Stanley Cup Finals
Due to a lockout that both shortened and delayed the start of the regular season, the 2013 Cup Finals began on June 12, and lasted until June 24–tying the lockout impacted for the latest in June that the Stanley Cup was awarded. This was the first Stanley Cup Final series between two Original Six teams since , and the seventh since its first expansion in 1967. It also marked the first time these two teams have met in the Stanley Cup Final.
In game six of the finals, trailing the Boston Bruins 2–1 with 76 seconds left in the third period, the Blackhawks scored two goals in 17 seconds to win the series 4–2. The win was the Blackhawks' second in four years, after also claiming the title in . It was the first Finals to feature two Original Six teams since 1979. It was the first Finals series since 2004 to be tied after two games. It was also the first Stanley Cup Final since to feature three overtime games, including the fifth longest game in Finals history.
1985 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the second and last Stanley Cup Finals to use the 2–3–2 format, long favored by Major League Baseball for its World Series and used from 1985 through 2013 for the NBA Finals. Since Edmonton went 6–0 at home during the 1984 and 1985 Finals, it was able to clinch in game five on home ice each time.
Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
1924 Stanley Cup Finals
As in 1922, the PCHA champion met the WCHL champion in a playoff, with the winner to meet the NHL champion in the Final. That series was held in Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. The NHL champion would have to play the loser to advance to the Final. Montreal first played the Vancouver Maroons, defeating them 2–0 in a best-of-three to advance to the Final.
Calgary Flames
During the Flames' run to the Stanley Cup Finals of 2004, the city of Calgary essentially became the host of a "non-stop party". The 17th Avenue SW entertainment district, which runs west from the Scotiabank Saddledome, saw as many as 35,000 fans pack the streets during the first three rounds of the playoffs, and over 60,000 in the finals. The Red Mile party received coverage in many newspapers across North America, as the parties remained peaceful and incidents were minimal despite the large number of people in a small area.
Battle of Alberta
The rivalry was especially bitter in the second half of the 1980s. For much of this time, the Flames and Oilers were the two best teams in the Campbell Conference, and by some accounts in the entire league. One of the two teams represented the Campbell Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals for eight consecutive years from to (Oilers 6 times, Flames twice). During this time, the Alberta teams won six of the eight Stanley Cup Championships, including the Oilers winning five Cups, a feat that has not been repeated since. The Edmonton Oilers of 1983–90 are recognized as the NHL's last dynasty, with line-ups through this period that featured Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) legends like Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier, guided by HHOF coach Glen Sather. The 1984–85 Oilers would be voted as the greatest NHL team of all-time during the league's 2017 centennial celebrations. The only time the Flames won the Stanley Cup during that period was in , led by HHOF superstars Lanny McDonald, Doug Gilmour, Al MacInnis, Joe Mullen and Joe Nieuwendyk. This period of repeated confrontations was mainly due to the way the playoffs were structured for much of this time. The top four teams in each division made the playoffs, and the winners of the divisional rounds met in the conference finals. As the Flames and Oilers were both in the Smythe Division, this made it very likely they would face each other in the first or second round, en route to the conference finals. That same system made it a near-certainty that all other playoff qualifiers in the Campbell Conference faced the unachievable (during that 8 year period) task of having to get past either the Oilers or Flames to make the Stanley Cup Finals. During this run, the Stanley Cup was awarded in Alberta from to (Oilers winning the deciding Cup game against the eastern Prince of Wales Conference representative in Edmonton in 1984, , and 1988, while the east's Montreal Canadiens won the deciding game in Calgary in ).
2017 Stanley Cup Finals
In Canada, the series was broadcast by Sportsnet and simulcast by CBC Television in English, and TVA Sports in French. In the U.S., NBC broadcast most of the games; games two and three were aired by NBCSN. In the U.S., the games were seen by an average of 4.762 million viewers, an increase of 19% over the 2016 finals, and the highest-rated finals without an Original Six team. Despite competition from the 2017 Tony Awards broadcast and the return of ABC's Sunday-night game show block, game six achieved a total viewership of 7.086 million.
NHL Conference Finals
In 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks took a team photo with the Campbell Bowl after winning Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The Blackhawks would end up defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. In 2018, the Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin hoisted the Wales trophy after winning the Eastern Conference Final, before ultimately defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in five games to win the Stanley Cup.
1928 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1928 Stanley Cup Finals was played by the New York Rangers and the Montreal Maroons. It was the first appearance by the Rangers in the Finals and was their first victory of the Stanley Cup in only their second season. This was the second Stanley Cup victory by an American team, the first being the Seattle Metropolitans in the 1917 Stanley Cup Finals.
1919 Stanley Cup Finals
All of the games were held at the Seattle Ice Arena. As with previous Stanley Cup Finals, the differing rules for the leagues alternated each game: PCHA rules were to be used in games one, three and five; and NHL rules were to be used in games two and four. The actual game five used NHL rules, as it was considered a replay of game four. Prior to the series, Seattle star Bernie Morris was arrested by United States authorities for alleged draft dodging. He would not be released to return to hockey until 1920.
Stanley Cup Finals
Victoria vs. Toronto
2010 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the third straight Final in which the Western Conference team was an Original Six team that won the Central Division and the Eastern Conference team was an Atlantic Division team from the state of Pennsylvania. Ironically, the Blackhawks have a storied rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings, as do the Flyers with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Red Wings and Penguins played each other in the Stanley Cup Final in and .
1944 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1944 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens would win the series 4–0 to win their first Stanley Cup since they defeated Chicago in .
1924 Stanley Cup Finals
The first game was played in Montreal's Mount Royal Arena on slushy natural ice caused by warmer than usual weather. The second game was moved to Ottawa, to take advantage of the artificial ice.
2012 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2012 Final ended a long Stanley Cup Final appearance drought for the Los Angeles Kings, who had appeared in the Finals only once in franchise history, in , when the Kings lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. The New Jersey Devils last appeared in when winning the championship. It was the first championship series since 2007 whose Stanley Cup-clinching game was played on the winning team's home ice.
2001 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the second straight Final that featured two relocated NHL teams and the first ever Final that featured two teams playing in a city that was the previous home of one team and the present home of another. The Colorado Rockies were formerly based in Denver and were relocated to East Rutherford and renamed the New Jersey Devils prior to the season. The Quebec Nordiques were relocated to Denver and renamed the Colorado Avalanche prior to the season.
1994 Stanley Cup playoffs
This was the first and to date only playoff series between these two teams. This was Vancouver's second appearance in the Finals, in their last Finals appearance they were swept by the Islanders in . The Rangers were making their tenth appearance in the Finals and first since losing in five games to Montreal in . The Rangers last won the Stanley Cup in 1940. With the Rangers having 112 points against Vancouver's 85, the 27 point difference was the largest point differential between two teams in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1982 when 41 points separated the New York Islanders (118) and Vancouver (77).
Triple Gold Club
The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs champion. The Stanley Cup is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America and is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year; winners keep it until a new champion is crowned. It is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management and club staff engraved on its chalice.
Stanley Cup Finals
After the NHL became the last remaining league to compete for the Cup, the trophy was then awarded to the winner of the NHL's championship playoff round. This first took place in 1927 between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators, which was planned to be a best-of-three series, although the series allowed ties. The series ended after four games, when the Senators defeated the Bruins in the fourth game.