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 1997 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 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, 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.
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 1994 (27 points between New York Rangers (112) and the Canucks (85)).[1]
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 1986.
The 2002 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman by NHL CommissionerGary 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
Mark Leach (Scout), Joe McDonnell (Scout), Glenn Merkosky (Scout).
Included on the team picture, but left off the Stanley Cup
#32 Maxim Kuznetsov played in 39 games (2 less than the minimum), but was not dressed in the playoffs. He spent whole season with Detroit, but Detroit did not request his name be included on the Stanley Cup. Detroit wanted to include 30 non players, while still leaving many more non players off. Each NHL team is to dress 20 out a 23 team roster for each games. In 2002 only 22 players' names were added to the Stanley Cup.
Tim Abbott† (Asst. Equipment Manager), Sergei Tchekmarev† (Masseur), Rick Szuber (Equipment Assistant) John Remejes† (Dressing Room Asst.),
#4 Uwe Krupp† (D) – missed 60 games injured, played 8 regular season games, and 2 playoff games
#42 Sean Avery† (C) – 36 games in minors, 36 games for Detroit
#3 Jesse Wallin† (D) – 5 games in minors, 15 games for Detroit, missed most of the season injured
#15 Ladislav Kohn†(RW) - 4 games played, 40 games played in Europe
#37 Jason Elliott† (G) – was called up from the minors to serve as a practice goalie for Detroit, during the playoffs. Jason Elliot never played in the NHL. He retired after 2006-07 season while playing in Germany. All 10 members were awarded the Stanley Cup Rings.
& - played both center and wing due to injuries on the team.
&& - Sergei Fedorov played a few games at defence during the regular season due to several players being injured at that position. Fedorov played center and right wing regularly during the season.
&&& Steve Yzerman - played mostly Left wing with a few shifts at Centre due to a knee injury during the playoffs.
Stanley Cup engraving
Manny Legace's name was misspelled MANNY LEGECE with an "E" instead of an "A". An "A" was stamped over the second "E" twice to correct this mistake.
Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan became the second and third players to win the Olympic Gold Medal in hockey (with team Canada) and the Stanley Cup (with Detroit) in the same year (See 1980 Ken Morrow)
Chris Chelios and Brett Hull became the first players to win an Olympic Silver medal (with team United States) and the Stanley Cup (with Detroit) in the same year.
10 Players (Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, & Mathieu Dandenault) won their third Stanley Cup with Detroit.
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.
Notes and references
Notes
^Robinson, Alan (June 5, 2002). "Carolina canes Detroit, forcing fans to stow brooms". Associated Press. Carolina finished 25 points behind Detroit in the regular season, the largest gap in the Finals since the Rangers' 27-point edge over Vancouver in 1994 where the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years and also their most recent as of 2017.
References
Diamond, Dan (2008). Total Stanley Cup(PDF). Dan Diamond & Associates, Inc. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN978-1-55168-261-7.
