1994 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total New York Rangers 2* 3 5 4 3 1 3 4 Vancouver Canucks 3* 1 1 2 6 4 2 3
* game decided in overtime
Location(s)	New York City: Madison Square Garden (1, 2, 5, 7) Vancouver: Pacific Coliseum (3, 4, 6)
Coaches	New York: Mike Keenan Vancouver: Pat Quinn
Captains	New York: Mark Messier Vancouver: Trevor Linden
National anthems	New York: John Amirante Vancouver: Richard Loney (3) John Reynolds (4, 6)
Referees	Terry Gregson (1, 4, 7) Bill McCreary (2, 6) Andy Van Hellemond (3, 5)
Dates	May 31 – June 14, 1994
MVP	Brian Leetch (Rangers)
Series-winning goal	Mark Messier(13:29, second, G7)[1]
Hall of Famers	Rangers: Glenn Anderson (2008) Brian Leetch (2009) Kevin Lowe (2020) Mark Messier (2007) Sergei Zubov (2019) Canucks: Pavel Bure (2012) Coaches: Pat Quinn (2016)
Networks	Canada: (English): CBC (French): SRC United States: (National): ESPN (New York City area): MSG Network (1–3, 6–7), MSG II (4–5)
Announcers	(CBC) Bob Cole, Harry Neale, and Dick Irvin Jr. (SRC) Claude Quenneville and Gilles Tremblay (ESPN) Gary Thorne and Bill Clement (MSG/MSGII) Sam Rosen and John Davidson
← 1993 Stanley Cup Finals 1995 →

The 1994 Stanley Cup Final 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 Finals appearance, their first coming during their Cinderella run of 1982, and the Rangers were making their tenth appearance, their first since 1979. The Rangers ended their then 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.^[2] This was the last Stanley Cup Final with games played in Canada until 2004, and the last to go the full seven games until 2001.

Paths to the Finals

The Canucks entered the playoffs seeded seventh in the Western Conference, and overcame a three-games-to-one deficit against the Calgary Flames, winning the final three games in overtime with game seven ending in double overtime as Pavel Bure scored the winning goal on a breakaway to upset the Flames.^[3][4] They then upset the fourth-seeded Dallas Stars and the third-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs in five games each to capture the Western Conference title.^[5][6]

The Rangers entered the playoffs with the league's best record, then swept their New York-area rival New York Islanders and then beat the Washington Capitals in five games,^[7] before falling behind three games to two in the Eastern Conference Finals against their Hudson River rivals, New Jersey Devils.^[7] They then won game six by a 4–2 score after team captain Mark Messier publicly guaranteed a victory and then scored a third-period hat trick.^[8][9] The Rangers then won game seven 2–1 on Stéphane Matteau's goal in double overtime, prompting the call of "Matteau, Matteau, Matteau!" by Rangers radio announcer Howie Rose.^[7][10] It was Matteau's second double overtime goal of the series.^[11]

Game summaries

This series brought together two assistant coaches who were teammates on the other Canucks team to reach the Finals: Rangers assistant coach Colin Campbell and Canucks assistant coach Stan Smyl, who served as team captain then, as Kevin McCarthy was injured.^[12]

It was the second straight Finals that featured a former Edmonton Oilers captain trying to become the first person to win a Stanley Cup as captain on two different teams. The previous year, Wayne Gretzky, who captained the Oilers to the first four of their five Stanley Cups in the 1980s, captained the Los Angeles Kings to the finals, which they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.^[13] Here, it was Mark Messier of the Rangers, who captained the Oilers to the last of their five, in 1990.^[14]

The Rangers players had a decided edge in Finals experience, with seven players from the 1990 Oilers,^[15] including Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jeff Beukeboom, Adam Graves, Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, and Esa Tikkanen. One 1990 Oiler, Martin Gelinas, was playing for the Canucks. Overall, the Rangers had eleven players with previous Finals appearances, compared to the Canucks' five. In addition, three of the Rangers (Messier, Anderson, and Lowe) were each making their seventh appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals (each having made their first six with Edmonton).

With the Rangers having 112 points in the regular-season standing and the Canucks 85, the 27-point difference was the largest point differential between two teams in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1982, when there was a 41-point difference between the New York Islanders (118) and the Canucks (77).^[12][16]

Game one

The Rangers scored early and led 2–1 late in the third period before Martin Gélinas tied the game with 1:00 to play in regulation time.^[17] It was the third time in eight games that the Rangers had surrendered a last-minute tying goal.^[17] The Rangers were all over the Canucks in overtime, but goaltender Kirk McLean made 52 saves on the night. In the last minute of the first overtime, Brian Leetch hit the crossbar at one end, and the Canucks went down to score the winner at the other on an odd-man rush by Greg Adams, as the Rangers, once again, lost a series opener at home in overtime.^[7]

Game two

The Rangers evened the series with a 3–1 victory before the series shifted west.^[18]

Game three

The Canucks came storming out in front of their home fans and Pavel Bure scored on his first shift to give them the early lead. But late in the period, with the score tied 1–1, Bure hit Jay Wells in the face with his stick and cut him, leading to a major penalty and Bure's expulsion from the game. Alexei Kovalev scored a breakaway shorthanded goal, which was featured on the cover of NHL 95. Glenn Anderson scored on the ensuing power-play and the Rangers then cruised to a 5–1 victory.

Game four

In the fourth game, the Canucks again jumped out to an early lead, this time 2–0, before Mike Richter and Brian Leetch took over the game. Richter made some key saves to keep the game within reach, including one on a penalty shot against Pavel Bure, and Leetch picked up a goal and three assists as the Rangers won 4–2 to take a commanding 3–1 series lead.

Game five

Most who entered Madison Square Garden for the fifth game thought they were going to see the Rangers win the Cup that night. New York had already set the date for a victory parade.^[15] However, the celebration plans got ahead of the work at hand. The Canucks were leading 3–0 by the third minute of the third period. Even though the Rangers scrambled to pull even by the midway point, Vancouver took the lead 29 seconds later on a goal by Dave Babych and cruised to a 6–3 win.

Game six

The Canucks fired 14 shots at Mike Richter in the first period and led 1–0 on a Jeff Brown bullet from the point. The score was 2–1 after two periods before another Brown goal gave the Canucks a 3–1 third-period lead. Late in the third, Geoff Courtnall appeared to score for the Canucks, but the play continued and the Rangers scored to temporarily make the score 3–2. But, in the ensuing video review, it was confirmed that Courtnall had indeed scored his second goal of the game to clinch the game for the Canucks and force a seventh game, the first in the finals since 1987.

Game seven

For the second time since 1971 and the tenth time overall, the Finals went to seven games. Rangers coach Mike Keenan became the first person to be a head coach in game sevens of the Stanley Cup Finals for two different teams. Keenan had coached the Philadelphia Flyers in 1987 when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers.^[19] Mike Babcock would join him in this feat in 2009 while with the Detroit Red Wings, having been with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim when they lost to the New Jersey Devils in 2003 (the home team won all seven games of the series).^[20]

The game at Madison Square Garden was an "electric affair"^[15] with the Rangers jumping to an early 2–0 lead at the 15-minute mark after scoring twice within four minutes on goals by Brian Leetch and Adam Graves. However, Canucks captain Trevor Linden silenced the home crowd with a short-handed goal early in the second period to make it 2-1. Mark Messier restored order for the home crowd with a power play goal, only to have Linden make it close again. After that, it was "hectic, jittery hockey," Nathan LaFayette "frightened all Manhattan wobbling a loose puck" off the post behind Mike Richter with five minutes left.^[15] There were three face-offs in the Rangers' zone in the final 37 seconds, the last coming with 1.6 seconds on the clock.^[21]

Mark Messier provided two of the most memorable images of that Stanley Cup Finals that would become iconic images to the Rangers and their fans: first, jumping up and down excitedly as ticker tape fell, then, showing incredible emotion as he accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, as he became the first (and as of 2023^[update], the only) player to captain two different teams to the Stanley Cup.^[22] At the time Messier was credited for the game-winning goal earning him the tongue-in-cheek nickname of "Mr. June",^[23] however, Messier admitted in 2017 that the game-winning goal was likely scored by Brian Noonan.^[1]

Television

In Canada, the series was televised in English on the CBC and in French on SRC. In the United States, the series was broadcast on ESPN outside of the New York City market. The local rightsholder, MSG Network broadcast games one, two, three, six, and seven on its main channel, and games four and five on its secondary MSG 2 channel, due to conflicts with the Yankees schedule.^[24][25][26]

This was the last Cup Finals in which the regional rights holders of the participating U.S. teams produced local telecasts of their respective games.^[27] This was also the last Cup Finals to air exclusively on a cable network until 2023, when TNT aired the Finals for the first time ever. Under the American TV contracts that would take effect beginning next season, there would be exclusive national coverage of the Cup Finals, split between Fox Sports and ESPN.

ESPN also sent its broadcasts to a record 120 countries, for a potential audience of 285 million.^[28] MSG Network broadcaster Al Trautwig said that the Rangers themselves contributed to those numbers in putting the first Russian names on the Stanley Cup: Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov, and Sergei Zubov, giving a huge European audience, including those watching on the brand-new television screens across the former Soviet Union, a Stanley Cup story to remember.^[27][29]

Ratings

In the United States, game seven was the highest-rated hockey game on cable. ESPN's broadcast drew a 5.2 rating.^[30] However, in New York, the ESPN blackout meant MSG Network's broadcast drew 16.2 rating, a record for the network.^[27][30] The two networks combined yielded a 6.9 rating.^[30]

With an average Canadian audience of 4.957 million viewers, game seven was the most watched CBC Sports program until the 10.6 million viewers for the men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2002 Winter Olympics, when Canada won its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal since the 1952 Winter Olympics.^[31][32] Bob Cole, who called both games,^[33] said that game seven was one of his most memorable TV games.^[33][34]

Team rosters

Bolded years under Finals appearance indicates a year the player won the Stanley Cup.

New York Rangers

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
30		Glenn Healy	G	L	1992–93	Pickering, Ontario	first (did not play)
35		Mike Richter	G	L	1985	Abington, Pennsylvania	first
2		Brian Leetch – A	D	L	1986	Corpus Christi, Texas	first
4		Kevin Lowe – A	D	L	1992–93	Lachute, Quebec	seventh (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)
6		Doug Lidster	D	R	1993–94	Kamloops, British Columbia	first
21		Sergei Zubov	D	R	1990	Moscow, Soviet Union	first
23		Jeff Beukeboom	D	R	1991–92	Ajax, Ontario	fourth (1987, 1988, 1990)
24		Jay Wells	D	L	1992–93	Paris, Ontario	first
25		Alexander Karpovtsev	D	R	1993–94	Moscow, Soviet Union	first
9		Adam Graves – A	LW	L	1991–92	Toronto, Ontario	second (1990)
10		Esa Tikkanen	RW	L	1993–94	Helsinki, Finland	fifth (1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)
11		Mark Messier – C	C	L	1991–92	Edmonton, Alberta	seventh (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)
12		Eddie Olczyk	C	L	1992–93	Chicago	first (did not play)
13		Sergei Nemchinov	C	L	1990	Moscow, Soviet Union	first
14		Craig MacTavish	C	L	1993–94	London, Ontario	fourth (1987, 1988, 1990)
15		Mike Hudson	C	L	1993–94	Guelph, Ontario	second (1992)
16		Brian Noonan	RW	R	1993–94	Boston	second (1992)
17		Greg Gilbert	LW	L	1993–94	Mississauga, Ontario	fifth (1982, 1983, 1984, 1992)
18		Mike Hartman	LW	L	1992–93	Detroit	first (did not play)
19		Nick Kypreos	LW	L	1993–94	Toronto, Ontario	first
26		Joe Kocur	RW	L	1990–91	Kelvington, Saskatchewan	first
27		Alexei Kovalev	RW	L	1991	Tolyatti, Soviet Union	first
28		Steve Larmer – A	RW	L	1993–94	Peterborough, Ontario	second (1992)
32		Stephane Matteau	LW	L	1993–94	Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec	second (1992)
36		Glenn Anderson	RW/LW	L	1993–94	Vancouver, British Columbia	seventh (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)

Vancouver Canucks

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
1		Kirk McLean	G	L	1987–88	North York, Ontario	first
35		Kay Whitmore	G	L	1992–93	Sudbury, Ontario	first (did not play)
3		Bret Hedican	D	L	1993–94	Saint Paul, Minnesota	first
4		Gerald Diduck	D	L	1990–91	Edmonton, Alberta	first
5		Dana Murzyn – A	D	L	1990–91	Calgary, Alberta	second (1989, did not play)
6		Adrien Plavsic	D	L	1989–90	Montreal, Quebec	first (did not play)
21		Jyrki Lumme	D	L	1989–90	Tampere, Finland	first
22		Jeff Brown	D	R	1993–94	Ottawa, Ontario	first
24		Jiri Slegr	D	L	1990	Jihlava, Czechoslovakia	first (did not play)
28		Brian Glynn	D	R	1993–94	Iserlohn, West Germany	first
44		Dave Babych	D	L	1991–92	Edmonton, Alberta	first
7		Cliff Ronning	C	L	1990–91	Burnaby, British Columbia	first
8		Greg Adams	LW	L	1987–88	Nelson, British Columbia	first
10		Pavel Bure	RW	L	1989	Moscow, Soviet Union	first
14		Geoff Courtnall	LW	L	1990–91	Victoria, British Columbia	second (1988)
15		John McIntyre	C	L	1993–94	Ravenswood, Ontario	first
16		Trevor Linden – C	C	R	1988	Medicine Hat, Alberta	first
17		Jimmy Carson	C	R	1993–94	Southfield, Michigan	second (1993, did not play)
18		Shawn Antoski	LW	L	1990	Brantford, Ontario	first
19		Tim Hunter	RW	R	1992–93	Calgary, Alberta	third (1986, 1989)
20		Jose Charbonneau	RW	R	1993–94	Ferme-Neuve, Quebec	first (did not play)
23		Martin Gelinas	LW	L	1993–94	Shawinigan, Quebec	second (1990)
25		Nathan LaFayette	RW	R	1993–94	New Westminster, British Columbia	first
27		Sergio Momesso – A	LW	L	1990–91	Montreal, Quebec	first
29		Gino Odjick	LW	L	1990	Maniwaki, Quebec	first (did not play)
32		Murray Craven	C	L	1992–93	Medicine Hat, Alberta	third (1985, 1987)
33		Michael Peca	C	R	1992	Toronto, Ontario	first (did not play)

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1994 Stanley Cup was presented to Rangers captain Mark Messier by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Rangers 3–2 win over the Canucks in game seven

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

1993–94 New York Rangers

Players

^A – Did not play in Finals.

Stanley Cup engraving

• When the New York Rangers submitted the list of names for engraving, Eddie Olczyk and Mike Hartman were included, although they fell short of the official requirements of 41 regular season games, or participation in the Finals. When the Stanley Cup was engraved, Olczyk and Hartman's names were omitted. (Olczyk had played 37 regular-season games and one game in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hartman had played 35 regular-season games and none in the playoffs.) Both players had spent the entire season with New York, and missed extensive time due to injury. At the Rangers' protest, the NHL added Olczyk and Hartman to the Cup. The NHL no longer adds missing names after the Cup has been engraved, though since 1994, it allows teams to petition for the inclusion of players who do not officially qualify.
• Seven players who won the cup in 1994 were also with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990 when they won their fifth Cup: Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Jeff Beukeboom, Adam Graves, Craig MacTavish and Esa Tikkanen.
• Greg Gilbert won the Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1982 and 1983, making him the only player in NHL history to earn Stanley Cup rings with both New York franchises.^[35]
• Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov and Sergei Zubov became the first four Russian-trained players to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.^[29]