2002-2003
OFFSEASON
A huge class for the Hockey Hall of Fame as Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Ray Bourque, Bernie Nicholls, Larry Murphy and Dale Hawerchuk are all added.
Retirements this season included goaltender Ron Hextall, who played 918 games primarily with Vancouver but also included brief stops in Ottawa and with the Rangers. Hextall was 350-435-85 in his career with a 3.51 lifetime GAA. Scott Stevens retired after 20 seasons and 1442 games on the Washington blueline. Stevens had 316 goals and 1091 points in his career and won the Hart Trophy in 1984-85. Joe Murphy is retiring after a 14 year career in Detroit that saw him win 6 Stanley Cups. In 874 regular season games Murphy had 192 goals and 498 points.
REGULAR SEASON
The Red Wings once again dominated the regular season, but with some of their key offensive stars beginning to age Detroit relied on the best defense in the league to finish first overall. Manny Legace (36-10-3, 1.81) and backup Ilya Bryzgalov (22-2-2, 1.92) gave the Wings the best netminding tandem in the NHL.
Bobby Hull's goal scoring record fell as both his son Brett and Mario Lemieux surpassed the Golden Jet's 884 career goals. Brett Hull scored 23 this season to finish the year with 899 goals, one less the Lemieux, who got 28 this season including his milestone 900th to finish off a hat trick in a win over Carolina in the season's second last game. Lemieux's 96 points this year allowed him to join Wayne Gretzky (2611 career points) as the only players to surpass the 2200 mark. Lemieux ended the season with 2263 points.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New York Rangers 82 52 25 5 109
New York Islanders 82 51 24 7 109
New Jersey Devils 82 47 23 12 106
Philadelphia Flyers 82 44 31 7 95
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 44 34 4 92
NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 82 43 34 5 91
Boston Bruins 82 36 35 11 83
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 37 38 7 81
Ottawa Senators 82 32 40 10 74
Buffalo Sabres 82 21 49 12 54
SOUTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Florida Panthers 82 44 30 8 96
Washington Capitals 82 34 40 8 76
Carolina Hurricanes 82 34 44 4 72
Atlanta Thrashers 82 22 56 3 49
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 18 53 11 47
CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 82 62 14 6 130
Chicago Black Hawks 82 26 45 11 63
St Louis Blues 82 28 51 3 59
Nashville Predators 82 23 49 10 56
Columbus Blue Jackets 82 15 59 8 38
NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Colorado Avalanche 82 52 22 8 112
Calgary Flames 82 46 29 7 99
Edmonton Oilers 82 45 28 9 99
Vancouver Canucks 82 43 27 12 98
Minnesota Wild 82 39 38 5 83
PACIFIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Los Angeles Kings 82 45 31 6 96
Phoenix Coyotes 82 41 35 6 88
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 31 35 16 78
Dallas Stars 82 28 45 9 65
San Jose Sharks 82 27 47 8 62
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Joe Sakic COL 82 37 85 122
Teemu Selanne PHX 75 54 57 111
Zigmund Palffy NYI 82 54 54 108
Trevor Linden VAN 76 47 61 108
Peter Forsberg PHI 82 29 73 102
Martin St Louis CGY 82 49 48 97
Mario Lemieux PIT 78 28 68 96
Keith Tkaczuk EDM 82 47 40 87
Jaromir Jagr PIT 67 38 49 87
Joe Thornton BOS 82 35 52 87
Simon Gagne PHI 79 38 48 86
Cory Stillman TOR 82 44 41 85
Oli Jokinen LA 82 39 46 85
Marian Hossa OTT 75 39 44 83
Mike Modano DAL 82 26 57 83
Bill Guerin NJ 81 43 39 82
Brian Rafalski NJ 82 20 62 82
Brendan Shanahan NJ 82 35 45 80
Martin Havlat OTT 80 26 53 79
Nik Lidstrom DET 82 17 62 79
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Roberto Luongo NYI 39-20-7 2.31 .911
Patrick Roy MON 39-26-8 2.72 .904
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 39-17-6 2.35 .909
Mikka Kiprusoff VAN 38-24-9 2.30 .913
Manny Legace DET 36-10-3 1.81 .920
Evgeni Nabokov PIT 35-22-4 2.48 .911
Martin Brodeur NJ 34-11-9 2.32 .907
Patrick Lalime EDM 33-19-8 2.78 .897
JS Giguere PHX 21-25-6 2.63 .905
Tim Thomas BOS 30-23-9 2.56 .912
PLAYOFFS
The Western Conference playoffs went according to plan as once again top seed Detroit and second seed Colorado will meet in the Conference Finals. The Wings swept both Minnesota and Vancouver to advance while the Avalanche swept Phoenix in the opening round and then won in 5 games over Calgary.
In the East the Boston Bruins knocked off the #1 seeded New York Rangers in 6 games in the preliminary round but the Bruins fell in 6 to Montreal in the second round. Montreal, which beat the Flyers in the opening round, will face the New York Islanders in the conference finals. The Isles beat New Jersey in 5 and then swept the Penguins.
CONFERENCE FINALS
Manny Legace was brilliant through the first two rounds, winning all 8 games while allowing just 7 goals against and posting a .953 save percentage. Ron Tugnutt was nearly as good in the Colorado cage, with a 1.28 GAA and a .946 save percentage entering the conference finals.
The Red Wings won the first two games at home before Colorado claimed an overtime victory in Game Three and then rolled to 3 straight victories, moving the Avalanche to within 4 victories of their third straight Stanley Cup.
Montreal advanced from the East by beating the Islanders in 6 games. Saku Koivu led the Habs with 9 goals and 19 points through 18 playoff games, while Patrick Roy had a .924 save percentage and 2.20 GAA.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
The Avalanche are looking for their third straight Cup and 5th overall while the Canadiens are hoping to win their first since 1986. Montreal, which is the all-time leader with 21 Cups, last made the finals in 1997 but lost to Detroit.
Patrick Roy puts on a show in Game One, making 36 saves for a 1-0 shutout victory for the Canadiens. Eric Daze scored the only goal of the game with just over 4 minutes remaining in regulation. Ron Tugnutt faced 19 shots in the Colorado net.
The Canadiens win Game Two in a rout, getting 3 goals from Patrick Marleau and 2 goals and 2 assists from Eric Daze in an 8-1 victory. Saku Koivu, Darcy Tucker and ex-Bruin Jozef Stumpel also scored for Montreal. Mats Sundin had the only goal for the Avalanche as Roy made 30 saves. Ron Tugnutt faced 37 shots in the loss.
The Canadiens continue to shock as the hammer the Avalanche in Denver by a 7-2 score in Game Three. Luc Robitaille, the former long-time Los Angeles King, scored once and added 2 assists for Montreal. Darcy Tucker, with 2, Andrei Markov, Arron Asham, Eric Daze and Andrew Cassels also scored for Montreal. Alex Tanguay and Owen Nolan scored for Colorado, as the Avalanche outshot Montreal 37-34 but again had difficulty beating Roy.
Joe Sakic comes alive after a very quiet start to the finals. The Colorado captain scores twice and adds 2 assists in a 6-1 Avalanche win in Game Four. Owen Nolan also had two goals while Milan Hejduk aand Mats Sundin round out the Colorado scoring. Stumpel and Robitaille replied for Montreal.
After a huge start to the series Patrick Roy continues to look human in Game Five as Colorado wins by a 5-1 score to cut the Montreal series lead to 3 games to two. Tugnutt made 26 saves in the Avalanche net with only Eric Daze's third period shot eluding him. Roy faced 37 shots as Colorado got goals from Robyn Regehr, John-Michael Liles, Alex Tanguay, Claude Lemieux and Radim Vrbata.
The Avalanche force a 7th game with a 4-2 victory on home ice in Game Six. Milan Hejduk scored twice with Dan Hinote and Claude Lemieux also scoring for Colorado. Trent Klatt and Brent Sopel had the Montreal goals in the loss.
The seventh game is scoreless until just over 14 minutes into the third period when Joe Sakic gets the Avalanche on the board. That goal would stand up as Colorado allowed just 13 shots on Ron Tugnutt all game and Colorado completes an amazing comeback from 3 games to none to win Game Seven 1-0 and claim their third straight Stanley Cup.
John-Michael Liles, who finished with 7 goals and 20 points, is named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Saku Koivu MON 25 10 14 24
Joe Sakic COL 22 4 20 24
John-Michael Liles COL 22 7 13 20
Milan Hejduk COL 22 11 8 19
Jozef Stumpel MON 25 9 10 19
Owen Nolan COL 18 6 13 19
Patrick Marleau MON 22 6 13 19
Andrei Markov MON 22 5 13 18
Eric Daze MON 25 11 6 17
Mats Sundin COL 18 9 8 17
Zigmund Palffy NYI 15 7 10 17
Luc Robitaille MON 24 6 11 17
Alex Tanguay COL 22 5 12 17
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Joe Sakic Colorado (82GP 37-85-122)
VEZINA TROPHY: Mikka Kiprusoff Vancouver (38-24-9 2.30)
NORRIS TROPHY: Eric Brewer NY Islanders (82GP 18-51-69)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Joe Sakic Colorado (82GP 37-85-122)
CALDER TROPHY: Marian Gaborik Minnesota (70GP 25-26-51)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Mikka Kiprusoff Vancouver Martin Brodeur New Jersey
D Eric Brewer NY Islanders Brian Leetch NY Rangers
D Nic Lidstrom Detroit Brian Rafalski New Jersey
C Joe Sakic Colorado Trevor Linden Vancouver
LW Teeume Selanne Phoenix Keith Tkaczuk Edmonton
RW Zigmund Palffy NY Islanders Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh