The 1997 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1996–97 season, and the culmination of the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Red Wings made the Finals for the second time in three years, while the Flyers were making their first appearance in a decade. The Red Wings swept the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup for the eighth time in franchise history and for the first time since 1955, ending what was the longest Stanley Cup drought in the league at that time.
The Red Wings were the last team to win the Cup without home ice advantage in the Finals and with fewer than 100 points earned during the regular season until 2009.
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, were successful with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres in the first two rounds. The Flyers arrived into the Stanley Cup Final having beaten their rivals, the New York Rangers, in a 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 one
Game one in Philadelphia took place exactly ten years to the day after the Flyers' emotional seventh-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 Final. 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. Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st DET Kirk Maltby (4) – sh Kris Draper (4) 06:38 1–0 DET PHI Rod Brind'Amour (11) – pp Eric Lindros (13) and Janne Niinimaa (10) 07:37 1–1 DET Joe Kocur (1) Unassisted 15:56 2–1 DET2nd DET Sergei Fedorov (6) Larry Murphy (7) and Darren McCarty (3) 11:41 3–1 DET PHI John LeClair (8) Mikael Renberg (6) and Eric Lindros (14) 17:11 3–2 DET3rd DET Steve Yzerman (5) Larry Murphy (8) 00:56 4–2 DETPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st DET Tomas Sandstrom High-sticking 05:50 2:00 DET Viacheslav Fetisov Interference 11:26 2:00 PHI Trent Klatt Interference 17:09 2:00 DET Joe Kocur Interference 19:42 2:002nd PHI Daniel Lacroix Interference 05:48 2:00 DET Sergei Fedorov Tripping 07:08 2:00 DET Viacheslav Fetisov Interference 15:07 2:00 PHI Trent Klatt Charging 17:45 2:003rd PHI Petr Svoboda Cross-checking 06:27 2:00 PHI Eric Lindros Roughing 17:48 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 8 12 10 30 10 9 9 28
Game two
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. Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st DET Brendan Shanahan (7) Unassisted 01:37 1–0 DET DET Steve Yzerman (6) – pp Larry Murphy (9) and Viacheslav Fetisov (3) 09:22 2–0 DET PHI Rod Brind'Amour (12) – pp Janne Niinimaa (11) 17:42 2–1 DET PHI Rod Brind'Amour (13) – pp Janne Niinimaa (12) and John LeClair (12) 18:51 2–22nd DET Kirk Maltby (5) Joe Kocur (3) 02:39 3–2 DET3rd DET Brendan Shanahan (8) Martin Lapointe (8) and Sergei Fedorov (10) 09:56 4–2 DETPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st PHI Paul Coffey Holding 04:29 2:00 PHI Paul Coffey Hooking 07:24 2:00 DET Martin Lapointe Charging 10:21 2:00 DET Viacheslav Fetisov High-sticking 17:09 2:00 DET Igor Larionov Hooking 18:37 2:002nd DET Kirk Maltby Roughing 06:54 2:00 PHI Paul Coffey Roughing 06:54 2:00 DET Bench (Served by Doug Brown) Too many men on the ice 09:03 2:00 PHI John LeClair Elbowing 12:13 2:003rd DET Martin Lapointe Roughing 10:27 2:00 PHI Karl Dykhuis Roughing 10:27 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 14 9 5 28 14 9 8 31
Game three
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. Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st PHI John LeClair (9) – pp Eric Desjardins (7) and John LeClair (8) 07:03 1–0 PHI DET Steve Yzerman (7) – pp Vyacheslav Kozlov (4) 09:03 1–1 DET Sergei Fedorov (7) Unassisted 11:05 2–1 DET DET Martin Lapointe (3) Doug Brown (3) and Sergei Fedorov (11) 19:00 3–1 DET2nd DET Sergei Fedorov (8) – pp Vyacheslav Kozlov (5) and Brendan Shanahan (8) 03:12 4–1 DET DET Brendan Shanahan (9) Darren McCarty (4) and Viacheslav Fetisov (4) 19:17 5–1 DET3rd DET Martin Lapointe (4) – pp Sergei Fedorov (12) and Mike Vernon (1) 01:08 6–1 DETPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st DET Darren McCarty Interference – Obstruction 06:10 2:00 PHI Eric Desjardins Holding – Obstruction 08:44 2:00 DET Viacheslav Fetisov Interference – Obstruction 12:14 2:00 DET Tomas Sandstrom Holding – Obstruction 12:54 2:00 DET Martin Lapointe Tripping 16:43 2:002nd PHI Trent Klatt Hooking – Obstruction 02:24 2:00 PHI Michel Petit Holding 10:14 2:003rd PHI Eric Lindros Cross-checking 00:46 2:00 PHI Eric Lindros Elbowing 08:12 2:00 DET Darren McCarty Interference – Obstruction 08:39 2:00 DET Viacheslav Fetisov Slashing 13:02 2:00 DET Doug Brown Slashing 19:41 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 8 7 7 22 10 12 7 29
Game four
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. Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st DET Nicklas Lidstrom (2) Kirk Maltby (2) 19:27 1–0 DET2nd DET Darren McCarty (3) Tomas Sandstrom (4) and Steve Yzerman (6) 13:02 2–0 DET3rd PHI Eric Lindros (12) Eric Desjardins (8) 19:45 2–1 DETPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st PHI John LeClair Holding – Obstruction 03:23 2:00 DET Igor Larionov Interference – Obstruction 04:31 2:00 PHI Eric Lindros Interference – Obstruction 09:22 2:00 PHI Pat Falloon Holding the stick 13:21 2:002nd DET Vladimir Konstantinov Interference – Obstruction 09:27 2:003rd PHI Kjell Samuelsson High-sticking 01:32 2:00 PHI Shjon Podein High-sticking 11:54 2:00 DET Kris Draper Slashing 14:39 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 8 12 7 27 9 10 9 28
Team rosters Bolded years under Finals appearance indicates year won Stanley Cup.
Detroit Red Wings
#NatPlayerPositionHandAcquiredPlace of birthFinals appearance 30 G L 1991Peace River, Alberta second 29 G L Calgary, Alberta fourth 31 G L Winnipeg, Manitoba first 2 D L Moscow, Soviet Union second 3 D R Surrey, British Columbia second 4 D R 1991Lethbridge, Alberta first 5 D L 1989Krylbo, Sweden second 11 D R 1994Sherbrooke, Quebec first 16 D R 1989Murmansk, Soviet Union second 27 D R Windsor, Ontario first 55 D R Scarborough, Ontario third 8 C L Voskresensk, Soviet Union first 13 LW L 1990Voskresensk, Soviet Union second 14 – A LW R Etobicoke, Ontario first 15 LW L 1994Piteå, Sweden first 17 RW R Southborough, Massachusetts second 18 RW R Guelph, Ontario first 19 – C C R 1983Burnaby, British Columbia second 20 RW R 1991Ville St. Pierre, Quebec second 25 RW R 1992Burnaby, British Columbia second 26 RW R Kelvington, Saskatchewan second 28 LW L Jakobstad, Finland second 33 C L Toronto, Ontario second 37 C L Stratford, Ontario second 91 – A C L 1989Pskov, Soviet Union second
Philadelphia Flyers #NatPlayerPositionHandAcquiredPlace of birthFinals appearance 27 G L Brandon, Manitoba second 30 G L Wrentham, Massachusetts first 6 D L 1990Ottawa, Ontario first 8 D R Saint-Malo, Quebec first 23 D L Most, Czechoslovakia third 24 D L Sept-Îles, Quebec first 28 D R Tingsryd, Sweden third 37 – A D R Rouyn, Quebec third 44 D L 1993Raahe, Finland first 77 D L Weston, Ontario seventh 9 LW L 1996Elektrėnai, Soviet Union first 10 LW L St. Albans, Vermont second 15 RW R Foxwarren, Manitoba first 17 – A C L Ottawa, Ontario first 18 C L Toronto, Ontario first 19 RW L 1990Piteå, Sweden first 20 RW R Robbinsdale, Minnesota first 21 LW L 1990Edmonton, Alberta first 25 LW L Rochester, Minnesota first 26 RW R Peterborough, Ontario first 29 C R Elk River, Minnesota third 32 LW L Montreal, Quebec first 45 C L 1993České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia first 48 C L 1994New Westminster, British Columbia first 88 – C C R Toronto, Ontario first
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
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.