The 2001 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2000-01 season, and the culmination of the 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion and defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils and the Western Conference champion and Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche. It was Colorado's second appearance in the Final, and the first since the team won the Cup in 1996. It was New Jersey's third appearance in the Final and second straight appearance after winning the Cup in the 2000 Final.
Colorado defeated New Jersey in seven games to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. Colorado's Patrick Roy would win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the 2001 playoffs. This was the first Stanley Cup Final since 1994 that would be decided in the maximum seven games. This was also the first and, as of 2017, most recent Finals since 1989 that the number one seeds in each conference met.
Video 2001 Stanley Cup Finals
Paths to the Finals
New Jersey defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2, the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 and the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 to advance to the Finals.
Colorado defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0, the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 and the St. Louis Blues 4-1 to advance to the Finals.
Maps 2001 Stanley Cup Finals
Game summaries
This was the second straight Final that featured two relocated NHL teams and the first ever Final that featured two teams playing in a city that was the previous home of one team and the present home of another. The Colorado Rockies were formerly based in Denver and were relocated to East Rutherford and renamed the New Jersey Devils prior to the 1982-83 season. The Quebec Nordiques were relocated to Denver and renamed the Colorado Avalanche prior to the 1995-96 season.
Colorado centre Joe Sakic scored his 10th and 11th goal of the playoffs in the first and second periods of Game 1. The Avalanche smothered the New Jersey defense and scored five goals in the game. The Devils did not score any goals, and in the third period, after the game was 5-0, things culminated in a fistfight between the Avalanche's Chris Dingman and the Devils' Sean O'Donnell. The third period had a total tally of 44 penalty minutes accumulated by both clubs.
Game 2 began with goals in the first period by Colorado's Sakic and New Jersey's Bob Corkum and Turner Stevenson. The 2-1 lead by the Devils held throughout the game as they defeated the Avalanche to even the series at one game apiece.
Game 3 in New Jersey, Devils centre Jason Arnott scored an early power-play goal, but in the tenth minute, the Avalanche evened through defenceman Martin Skoula. Neither team scored any goals in the second period. Early in the third, Colorado defenceman Ray Bourque scored a power-play goal to break the tie. Five minutes later, Colorado winger Dan Hinote scored the team's third goal, and the Devils did not respond. The win by Colorado marked another road win in the series.
In the first period of Game 4, Colorado scored an early goal when Rob Blake shot the puck past Devils goalkeeper Martin Brodeur. Patrik Elias and New Jersey responded when he scored a short-handed goal to even the score at one goal apiece. Later in the second, Avalanche centre Chris Drury scored to give the Avalanche a one-goal lead going into the third period. But the third period belonged to the Devils: Scott Gomez and Petr Sykora each scored a goal in the third, and Brodeur stopped every puck that went his way. The New Jersey offence overwhelmed the Avalanche defense as they managed 35 shots; Colorado managed only 12 shots. New Jersey again evened the series, this time at two games apiece.
In Colorado for Game 5, Devils forward Patrik Elias started the scoring for the Devils as they jumped out to an early one-goal lead. Exactly seven minutes later, Colorado winger Alex Tanguay tied the game on the power-play. However, in the late minutes of the first period, New Jersey forward Alexander Mogilny scored the game's eventual winner. In the second period, Devils forward Sergei Brylin scored a power-play goal to give the Devils a two-goal lead, and in the third period, centre John Madden scored a fourth goal for insurance. The Devils won and reclaimed the home-ice advantage. They forced the Avalanche to try to win on the road to force a Game 7 in Denver.
Game 6 paralleled Game 1 for the Avalanche. The Devils tested the Avalanche early with a barrage of shots on goaltender Patrick Roy. After stopping them all, and with two minutes remaining in the first period, Colorado defenceman Adam Foote scored an unassisted goal to give the Avalanche the lead on just their fourth shot. Early in the second period, Avalanche winger Ville Nieminen scored a power-play goal, and late in the second period, Drury scored his 11th goal of the playoffs to give the Avalanche a commanding lead entering the third period. Alex Tanguay scored the only goal of the third period and the Avalanche won to force a deciding Game 7 in Denver. Despite Colorado's high number of penalty minutes, the Devils were unable to put anything past Roy.
Around eight minutes into Game 7, the Avalanche started the scoring through Alex Tanguay, the period's only goal. Colorado then scored two consecutive goals in the second period: another by Tanguay, his sixth of the playoffs, and a power-play goal scored by Joe Sakic, his 13th of the playoffs. Shortly after Sakic's goal, Petr Sykora and the Devils sprang into life when he scored a power-play goal. It left the Devils with only two goals to overcome, but Roy and the Avalanche would prove too much for the Devils in the third period as Colorado defensively shut the door on New Jersey to win the game and the series.
The Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup made this the second straight year that the defending champions lost in the Finals, as the Devils themselves defeated the 1999 Cup champion Dallas Stars the year before. This was the first and only Stanley Cup championship for defenceman Ray Bourque who, after being traded from the Boston Bruins to Colorado in 2000, retired from the NHL after the Avalanche's 2001 Cup win.
Colorado Avalanche - 2001 Stanley Cup champions
Players
Stanley Cup engraving
+ Bryan Muir was called up from the minors mid-season. He played eight regular season games (plus ten games for the Tampa Bay Lightning) and three playoff games. Colorado was given permission to include Muir's name on the Stanley Cup because one of his three playoff games was played in the conference finals.
^ Six players also won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996: Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Jon Klemm, Stephane Yelle, Patrick Roy and Adam Foote.
- David Aebischer was the first player born and trained in Switzerland to win the Stanley Cup.
See also
- 2000-01 NHL season
References
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
External links
- "CNNSI.com - 2001 NHL playoffs". Retrieved 2008-04-27.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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