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 1 in Philadelphia took place exactly ten years to the day after the Flyers' emotional seventh-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 Finals. 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.
{| style="width:100%;" class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="6"|Scoring summary
|-
! style="width:12%;"|Period
! style="width:7%;"|Team
! style="width:28%;"|Goal
! style="width:35%;"|Assist(s)
! style="width:7%;"|Time
! style="width:11%;"|Score
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|1st
| style="text-align:center;"| DET
| style="text-align:center;"| Kirk Maltby (4) – sh
| style="text-align:center;"| Kris Draper (4)
| style="text-align:center;"| 06:38
| style="text-align:center;"| 1–0 DET
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| PHI
| style="text-align:center;"| Rod Brind'Amour (11) – pp
| style="text-align:center;"| Eric Lindros (13) and Janne Niinimaa (10)
| style="text-align:center;"| 07:37
| style="text-align:center;"| 1–1
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| DET
| style="text-align:center;"| Joe Kocur (1)
| style="text-align:center;"| Unassisted
| style="text-align:center;"| 15:56
| style="text-align:center;"| 2–1 DET
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|2nd
| style="text-align:center;"| DET
| style="text-align:center;"| Sergei Fedorov (6)
| style="text-align:center;"| Larry Murphy (7) and Darren McCarty (3)
| style="text-align:center;"| 11:41
| style="text-align:center;"| 3–1 DET
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| PHI
| style="text-align:center;"| John LeClair (8)
| style="text-align:center;"| Mikael Renberg (6) and Eric Lindros (14)
| style="text-align:center;"| 17:11
| style="text-align:center;"| 3–2 DET
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="1" |3rd
| style="text-align:center;"| DET
| style="text-align:center;"| Steve Yzerman (5)
| style="text-align:center;"| Larry Murphy (8)
| style="text-align:center;"| 00:56
| style="text-align:center;"| 4–2 DET
|-
! colspan="6"|Penalty summary
|-
! style="width:12%;"|Period
! style="width:7%;"|Team
! style="width:28%;"|Player
! style="width:35%;"|Penalty
! style="width:7%;"|Time
! style="width:11%;"|PIM
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="4"|1st
|| DET
|| Tomas Sandstrom
|| High-sticking
|| 05:50
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| DET
|| Viacheslav Fetisov
|| Interference
|| 11:26
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| PHI
|| Trent Klatt
|| Interference
|| 17:09
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| DET
|| Joe Kocur
|| Interference
|| 19:42
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="4"|2nd
|| PHI
|| Daniel Lacroix
|| Interference
|| 05:48
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| DET
|| Sergei Fedorov
|| Tripping
|| 07:08
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| DET
|| Viacheslav Fetisov
|| Interference
|| 15:07
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| PHI
|| Trent Klatt
|| Charging
|| 17:45
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2"|3rd
|| PHI
|| Petr Svoboda
|| Cross-checking
|| 06:27
|| 2:00
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| PHI
|| Eric Lindros
|| Roughing
|| 17:48
|| 2:00
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="width:20em; text-align:right;"
|-
! colspan="6"|Shots by period
|-
! style="width:8em; text-align:left;"|Team
! style="width:3em;"|1
! style="width:3em;"|2
! style="width:3em;"|3
! style="width:3em;"|Total
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| || style="text-align:center;"|8 || style="text-align:center;"|12 || style="text-align:center;"|10 || style="text-align:center;"|30
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| || style="text-align:center;"|10 || style="text-align:center;"|9 || style="text-align:center;"|9 || style="text-align:center;"|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.
See also
- 1996–97 NHL season