1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League was played between May 6 and June 24, 1995. In the Final, the New Jersey Devils swept the favored Detroit Red Wings in four games to win their first championship. The Quebec Nordiques played their last ever playoff series during this time. They would move to Denver Colorado during the summer.

The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-7 series for the conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships, and then the conference champions played a best-of-7 series for the Stanley Cup.

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Boston Bruins vs. New Jersey Devils

 * Game 5 would be the last game ever played in the Boston Garden.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Vancouver Canucks

 * Game 4 would be the last game ever played in the Pacific Coliseum.

Eastern Conference Final
The Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils met in the 1995 Eastern Conference Final. The Flyers were fresh off their surprising four-game sweep of the defending Stanley Cup-champion New York Rangers, while the Devils had just completed their unlikely upset of the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games. The Flyers were looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1987, while the Devils were hoping to make it to the Cup Finals for the first time in team history.

New Jersey shocked the Philadelphia and their home crowd in game one at the Spectrum, taking a commanding 3–0 lead after the first two periods. They made it 4–0 on Bill Guerin's second goal of the game, at 2:04 of the third period. Martin Brodeur's shutout bid was erased, however, as Craig MacTavish got the Flyers on the board with 1:54 remaining in regulation. The Devils won the game 4–1 to take a 1–0 lead in the series. The Flyers fought back in game two, as Mikael Renberg's goal at 13:54 of the first period gave his team a 2–1 lead; its first lead in the series. However, Devils forward John MacLean would score with just 12 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at 2–2. New Jersey then went on to score three times in the second period, and won the game 5–2. After dominating the first two games at the Spectrum, the Devils headed home for game three, up two games to none in the series. In game three, Philadelphia played with a sense of urgency. Trailing 2–1, the Flyers tied the game on Rod Brind'Amour's goal with 6:03 to go in regulation. They went on to win the game 3–2 on captain Eric Lindros' goal at 4:19 of the first overtime period. Playing with their newfound confidence, the Flyers won game four as well, 4–2, despite being outshot 34–19. Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall made 32 saves. The win tied the series at 2–2 and set up a crucial game five on Sunday, June 11th at the Spectrum. The Devils took a 2–1 lead into the second period, which ended up scoreless. The Flyers tied the game on Kevin Dineen's second goal of the game at 3:13 of the third period. The Devils almost regained the lead on Stephane Richer's breakaway shot that hit the crossbar with less than four minutes to go in regulation. Then, with less than a minute remaining, Devils forward Claude Lemieux picked up the puck on a backcheck in the New Jersey zone and skated up the ice. Once over the Flyers' blue line, Lemieux fired a slap shot that beat Hextall blocker side. The goal silenced the Spectrum crowd and gave New Jersey a 3–2 lead with just 44.2 seconds to play. The Devils hung on to win the game 3–2.

In game six on June 13th, Philadelphia opened the scoring on Jim Montgomery's goal at 4:05 of the first period. The Devils, however, calmly utilized their neutral-zone Trap to shut down the Flyers' offense while their forwards took advantage and got their team on the board. Stephane Richer tied the game with a power-play goal at 10:25 and Brian Rolston put the Devils up 2–1 with a goal at 18:15. The scored remained 2–1 for New Jersey until midway through the second period. Flyers forward Craig MacTavish, skating over the Devils' blue line, took a slap shot that was blocked by New Jersey defenceman Shawn Chambers. New Jersey forward Bobby Holik then picked up the puck and skated up the ice with forward Randy McKay on the right side and Claude Lemieux as the trailer. Once over the Flyers' blue line, Holik feathered the puck under the legs of the diving Flyers defenseman Kevin Haller and it went right to the stick of Randy McKay, who one-timed it into the net behind Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall. The goal came at 11:58 and gave New Jersey a 3–1 lead. They made it 4–1 at 10:11 of the third period when Bobby Carpenter passed the puck past Flyers defenceman Karl Dykhuis up to Claude Lemieux at center ice who went in on a breakaway and scored his league-leading 11th goal of the playoffs. He had been tied with Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, who had scored 10 goals in the Penguins' 12 playoff games of 1995. With the goal, Lemieux also broke his personal record for most goals scored in a playoff year that he had set in 1986 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. The Flyers fought back as Mikael Renberg scored on the power play at 16:29 to cut the Devils' lead to 4–2, but New Jersey held its lead and went on to win the game and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history.

Western Conference Final
The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks met in the 1995 Western Conference Finals. The Red Wings had just completed a four-game sweep of the San Jose Sharks, and the Blackhawks had just completed their sweep of the Vancouver Canucks. Detroit was having its best playoff since 1988, and was hoping to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1966. Chicago, on the other hand, was back in the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992, when they last made it to the Cup Finals.

Game one of the series at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit saw a goaltending battle between Ed Belfour of Chicago and Mike Vernon of Detroit. The two teams skated to a 1–1 tie after regulation before Nicklas Lidstrom scored the game-winning goal for Detroit at 1:01 of the first overtime period. It was the first overtime playoff game that Detroit had won at home since Tuesday, March 29, 1960. In game two, Chicago led by a score of 2–1 after two periods on goals by Chris Chelios and Tony Amonte. However, Detroit kept pressing and eventually tied the game on Doug Brown's goal. Kris Draper scored the winner for Detroit with just 1:45 remaining in regulation. In game three of the series at the United Center in Chicago, Detroit led 3–2 going into the third period, where Jeff Shantz scored at 8:33 to tie the game for Chicago. The game went to double overtime where Vladimir Konstantinov scored the game-winner for Detroit at 9:25. The win gave the Red Wings a commanding three-games-to-none series lead. The Blackhawks responded to the urgency and came out flying in game four. Denis Savard and Joe Murphy both scored twice and captain Dirk Graham had a goal to give Chicago a dominating 5–0 lead after 40 minutes. Detroit scored twice in the third period on goals by Kris Draper and Ray Sheppard, as the Blackhawks went on to win the game 5–2. They now trailed in the series 3 games to 1. In game five in Detroit on Sunday, June 11th, Chicago jumped out to a 1–0 lead on Denis Savard's power play goal at 10:18 of the first period. Detroit then tied the game on Steve Yzerman's goal at 11:36 of the second. After a scoreless third period, the game went into double overtime where Vyacheslav Kozlov scored at 2:25 to give the Red Wings a 2–1 win and a four-games-to-one series win.

Stanley Cup Final
The Red Wings were making their 19th appearance in a Stanley Cup Final, and first since 1966. The Devils were making their first appearance in the final, in their 20th season. The Devils would blanket the Red Wings with defense to win their first Cup title.