The 2002 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2001âÂÂ02 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. The Red Wings defeated the Hurricanes in five games to win their tenth Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. The Red Wings became the third team in NHL history to win 10 or more Stanley Cup titles, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.
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 his final game as a head coach, as he announced his retirement immediately after the Game 5 victory. It was the last Detroit championship to feature members of the Russian Five, as Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov were still with the team.
The Hurricanes finished the regular season with 91 points, clinching the Southeast Division and the third seed in the Eastern Conference. In the first round, the Hurricanes defeated the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils in six games. In the second round, the Hurricanes dispatched the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens in six games to reach their first Eastern Conference Final since moving from Hartford. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hurricanes defeated the fourth seeded Toronto Maple Leafs in six games apiece to advance to the Finals for the first time in franchise history, becoming the first team from North Carolina to ever play for a major professional sports championship.
After a surprise upset at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs the previous season, the Red Wings bolstered their roster in the offseason by signing forwards Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull, goaltender Dominik Hasek (the defending Vezina Trophy winner), and Russian prospect Pavel Datsyuk.
Strengthened by their new signings, the Red Wings finished with the leagueâÂÂs best record at 116 points, clinching the Presidents' Trophy and the overall #1 seed in the playoffs.
In the first round, the Red Wings survived an early scare against the eighth-seeded Vancouver Canucks as they lost the first two games at home, but recovered to win four straight games and advance to the next round, where they defeated the fourth seed St. Louis Blues in five quick games. In the Western Conference Finals, the Red Wings faced the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. After dropping Game 5 at home in overtime, it was felt that the Red Wings would be eliminated headed to Denver for Game 6. However, Hasek posted two shutouts in Games 6 and 7, including a 7-0 blowout win in Game 7 at home, to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time in eight years.
This was the first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final 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 Final since when there were 27 points between the 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. It was the first time the team had won a game in Detroit since 1989. 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 .
The 2002 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Red Wings 3âÂÂ1 win over the Hurricanes in game five.
The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
2001âÂÂ02 Detroit Red Wings
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.