1997 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Final

Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia rose to the top on the back of a 17-game unbeaten streak in December and January, and despite losing the Atlantic Division title to New Jersey, had a relatively easy time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres in the first two rounds. The Flyers arrived into the Stanley Cup Final having beaten their perennial rivals, the New York Rangers, in a memorable five-game Eastern Conference finals series. Eric Lindros and Wayne Gretzky each recorded a hat trick in the set, but the size, strength and discipline of Philadelphia (particularly the Legion of Doom line) trumped the veteran savvy of the Blueshirts.

Detroit Red Wings

For Detroit there was the departure of several players whom head coach Scotty Bowman blamed for their loss to Colorado a year prior, including trading away Paul Coffey to get star Brendan Shanahan. Detroit won 38 games in the regular season, in contrast to the record-setting 62 win season the previous year, making them the dark horse in the Western Conference as the third seed behind the Dallas Stars and the Presidents' Trophy winner Colorado Avalanche. In the playoffs, the Wings dispatched a fractured St. Louis Blues team in six games, and a surprising Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in a sweep to reach the Western Conference finals for the third straight season. In a rematch of last year's Western finals, the Red Wings upset the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche in six brutal games to earn their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in three years.

This is the first time that these two teams met in the postseason.

Game summaries

Game 1

Game 1 in Philadelphia took place exactly ten years to the day after the Flyers' emotional seventh-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 Finals. Detroit never trailed in the game: they led 2–1 after the first period, 3–2 after the second, and Steve Yzerman scored the fourth goal 56 seconds into the third period. Sergei Fedorov scored the winner and was named the game's first star.

Game 2

Brendan Shanahan scored an unassisted goal 1:37 into the game and Steve Yzerman scored a power-play goal at 9:22 of the first period to give the Red Wings a 2–0 lead before Rod Brind'Amour scored a pair of power-play goals late in the first period to tie the score. In the second, Kirk Maltby scored the game-winning goal at 2:39 and Shanahan scored his second goal of the game at 9:56 of the third and the Red Wings won a second consecutive 4–2 victory and a 2–0 series lead heading back to Joe Louis Arena.

Game 3

John LeClair scored at 7:03 of the first period to give the Flyers their first lead of the series. Two minutes later, Yzerman scored on the power-play to tie the score. Fedorov scored two minutes later to put Detroit ahead for good in the game. Martin Lapointe scored later in the first to give the Wings a 3–1 advantage. The Wings tacked on two more in the second and added one in the third for a decisive 6–1 win and a three-games-to-none series advantage. For his four-point night, Fedorov was named the game's first star.

In his post-game comments, Flyers head coach Terry Murray was quoted as saying the team was "basically in a choking situation," which many observers interpreted as Murray having called out his own players as chokers. The manner in which they played compounded by the insurmountable series deficit along with the Wings' seeming dominance in stretches of the first two games as well as most of game three lent credence to the claim.

Game 4

The Red Wings controlled the game from the get-go, forging ahead 1–0 after one period and employing the left-wing lock to keep the Flyers' mix of big and speedy forwards at bay. Darren McCarty's second-period tally effectively sealed the deal. The burly checker faked out Flyers rookie defenceman Janne Niinimaa inside the blue line, swooped around him, then did a quick cutback in front of Hextall in his crease to slip the puck into the net. Eric Lindros would score his lone goal of the series with 15 seconds to play. The 2–1 win brought Detroit its eighth Stanley Cup, and its first in 42 seasons, ending what was the longest Stanley Cup drought in the league at that time.

Sergei Fedorov led the Wings in playoff scoring with 20 points. Detroit goaltender Mike Vernon, who had been in net for the whole of the Wings' failed 1995 playoff run, and relegated to the bench the year before, earned vindication and his first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP by holding Philadelphia to six goals in four games.

Team rosters

Bolded years under Finals appearance indicates year won Stanley Cup.

Detroit Red Wings

Philadelphia Flyers

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1997 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Red Wings 2–1 win over the Flyers in game four

The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1996–97 Detroit Red Wings

• 8 Igor Larionov
• 33 Kris Draper
• 37 Tim Taylor*
• 91 Sergei Fedorov (A)
• 14 Brendan Shanahan (A)
• 15 Tomas Holmstrom*
• 17 Doug Brown
• 18 Kirk Maltby
• 20 Martin Lapointe
• 25 Darren McCarty
• 26 Joey Kocur
• 28 Tomas Sandstrom
• 3 Bob Rouse
• 4 Jamie Pushor*
• 5 Nicklas Lidstrom
• 11 Mathieu Dandenault*
• 16 Vladimir Konstantinov
• 27 Aaron Ward
• 55 Larry Murphy
• 29 Mike Vernon
• 30 Chris Osgood
• 31 Kevin Hodson † |player-notes=
• • Did not play or dress in the Final.
• † Exemption granted to engrave the name of a player who did not automatically qualify. | non-players=
• Mike Ilitch Sr. (Owner/President/Governor), Marian Ilitch (Owner/Secretary-Treasurer), Atanas Ilitch (Vice President/Minority Owner)
• Christopher Ilitch (Vice President/Minority Owner), Denise Ilitch Lites, Ronald Ilitch (Minority Owners)
• Michael Ititch Jr., Lisa Ilitch Murray, Carole Ilitch Trepeck (Minority Owners)
• Jim Devellano (Sr. Vice President-of Hockey Operations), William Scotty Bowman (Head Coach/Director of Player Personnel), Ken Holland (Asst. General Manager/Goaltending Coach), Barry Smith (Associate Coach)
• Dave Lewis (Associate Coach), Mike Krushelnyski (Asst. Coach), Jim Nill (Director of Player Development/Director of Scouting), Dan Belise (Scout), Bruce Haralson (Scout)
• Mark Howe (Scout), Hakan Andersson (Scouts), John Wharton (Athletic Trainer), Wally Crossman (Dressing Room Asst.), Mark Leach (Scout)
• Paul Boyer (Equipment Manager), Tim Abbott (Asst. Equipment Manager), Sergei Mnatsakanov (Massage Therapist), Joe McDonnell (Scout)}}

Engraving notes

• #31 Kevin Hodson (G) – played in 6 regular season games (dressed for 23), but was a healthy scratch for the entire playoffs. As he did not automatically qualify, Detroit successfully requested an exemption to engrave his name.
• #22 Mike Knuble (RW) – played in 9 regular season games, but none in the playoffs. He was on the roster during the Finals, but left off the Stanley Cup engraving due to not qualifying by playing in 41 regular season games or 1 Finals game for Detroit. Detroit did not request an exemption to engrave his name. He was included in the team picture.
• Johnny Remejes (Dressing Room Asst.), Mike Vella (Dressing Room Asst). Each of the three members and many other members were left off the Stanley Cup engraving, but included in the team picture.

Broadcasting

In Canada, the series was televised on CBC. In the United States, Fox broadcast game one while ESPN televised games two through four. Had the series extended, games five and seven would have been broadcast on Fox, and ESPN would have aired game six.

Notes

References

References

1. "Crushed the Red Wings Swept to Their First Stanley Cup in 42 Years by Outskating, Outhitting and Outplaying the Overmatched Flyers".
2. {{harvtxt. Diamond. 2008
3. "1997 Stanley Cup Final schedule".