1999 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1999 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Eastern Conference champion Buffalo Sabres and the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. It was the 106th year of the Stanley Cup. The Sabres were led by captain Michael Peca, coach Lindy Ruff and goalie Dominik Hasek. The Stars were led by captain Derian Hatcher, coach Ken Hitchcock and goalie Ed Belfour. It was the Sabres' second Final appearance, the first being a loss to Philadelphia in 1975. It was the third appearance for the Stars' franchise, and their first since moving to Dallas from Minnesota in 1993. Minnesota lost the finals to the New York Islanders in 1981 and to Pittsburgh in 1991.



Paths to the Final
Buffalo defeated Ottawa, Boston and Toronto to make it to the final. Dallas defeated Edmonton, St. Louis and Colorado to advance to the final.

Game one
The opening games was in Dallas and it was the visiting Buffalo Sabres who struck first, winning 3–2 in overtime. Dallas led 1-0 on a power play goal by Brett Hull, but Stu Barnes and Wayne Primeau scored 5:04 apart in the third to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Jere Lehtinen tied the game in the final minute of the third period, but Jason Woolley scored at 15:30 of overtime to give the Sabres the series lead.

Scoring Summary
First Period

Dal Hull 6 (pp) (Modano, Lehtinen), 10:17

Second Period

none

Third Period

Buf Barnes 5 (Juneau, Smehlik), 8:33

Buf Primeau 3 (pp) (Zhitnik, Smehlik), 13:37

Dal Lehtinen 8 (Modano, Zubov), 19:11

Overtime

Buf Woolley 4 (Brown), 15:30

Game two
Dallas struck back in the second game, winning 4–2. After a scoreless opening period, the teams traded goals in the middle frame. Craig Ludwig's first goal in 102 playoff games gave Dallas its first lead of the game in the third period, but Alexei Zhitnik tied the game 71 seconds later. Brett Hull scored on a slap shot with 2:50 remaining in the game, and Derian Hatcher's empty net goal sealed the win for Dallas, and evened the series at 1 game apiece. Mike Modano left the game with approximately ten minutes to play after suffering a broken wrist.

Scoring Summary
First Period

No scoring

Second Period

Buf Peca 5 (pp) (Woolley, Satan), 7:22.

Dal Langenbrunner 10 (Matvichuk, Nieuwendyk), 18:26.

Third Period

Dal Ludwig 1 (Skrudland), 4:25.

Buf Zhitnik 4 (power play) (unassisted), 5:36.

Dal Hull 7 (Hrkac, Chambers), 17:10.

Dal Hatcher 1 (empty net) (Zubov), 19:34.

Game three
The series shifted to Buffalo for games three and four. It was the visiting Dallas Stars turn to win one on the road, winning 2–1. With Modano hampered by his wrist injury, and Hull leaving the game with a groin injury, Joe Nieuwendyk's two goals, including his seventh game-winner of the playoffs, led Dallas to the win.

Scoring Summary
First Period

No scoring

Second Period

Buf Barnes 6 (Smehlik, B Holzinger), 7:51.

Dal Nieuwendyk 10 (Reid, Langenbrunner), 15:33.

Third Period

Dal Nieuwendyk 11 (Langenbrunner, Reid), 9:35.

Game four
Facing a two games to one deficit in the series and a must-win situation in game four, the Sabres came through with a 2–1 victory.

Scoring Summary
First Period

Buf Sanderson 4 (unassisted), 8:09.

Dal Lehtinen 9 (power play) (Modano, Hatcher), 10:14.

Second Period

Buf Ward 7 (unassisted), 7:37.

Third Period

No scoring.

Game five
With the series tied at two games apiece and returning to Dallas, Ed Belfour made 23 saves to shut out the Sabres, and move Dallas within one win of the Stanley Cup.

Scoring Summary
First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

Dal Sydor 3 (power play) (Modano, Zubov), 2:23.

Third Period

Dal Verbeek 3 (Matvichuk, Modano), 15:21.

Game six
The series shifted back to Marine Midland Arena for the sixth game on June 19, 1999, where the Dallas Stars would seek their first Stanley Cup, while the Buffalo Sabres would fight for a win to extend the series to a seventh and final game.

Dallas, which allowed the first goal in the earlier two games played at Marine Midland Arena, took a 1-0 lead on one of its few scoring chances in the first period when Lehtinen scored his tenth goal of the playoffs at 8:09. The Sabres tied the game with their first goal since the third period of Game 4 when Barnes' wrist shot eluded Belfour with 1:39 to play in the second period.

The game remained tied at 1 through the third period and the first two overtime periods, despite several chances by both teams to score. In the third overtime period, Brett Hull scored on a rebound from the edge of the crease over a sprawling Dominik Hasek to end the series and award Dallas their first Stanley Cup.

Scoring Summary
First Period

Dal Lehtinen 10 (Modano, Ludwig), 8:09.

Second Period

Buf Barnes 7 (Primeau, Zhitnik), 18:21.

Third Period

No scoring.

First Overtime

No scoring.

Second Overtime

No scoring.

Third Overtime

Dal Hull 8 (Lehtinen, Modano), 14:51.

"No Goal"
The phrase is associated with a controversial goal scored by Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. When Hull scored his series-clinching goal in triple overtime of game six, his foot was in the crease but the puck was not. During the middle of the season, the NHL sent out a memo clarifying the "skate in the crease" rule that allowed goals in instances where the goalscorer established possession of the puck prior to entering the crease. On this play, Hull kicked the puck with his left skate (while still outside of the crease) into a shooting position. Because of that action, he became the possessor of the puck prior to his skate entering the crease, which the NHL determined made the goal legitimate. Others have pointed out that similar plays were called differently during the regular season. Many Buffalo fans felt that this call was incorrectly made and the term "No Goal!" became their rallying cry.

Hull's goal ended the series, and the Stars were awarded the Cup. In 1999, it was illegal to score a goal if an offensive player's skate entered the crease before the puck did. At the time, even The Dallas Morning News hockey writer Keith Gave questioned the legality of the goal. NHL officials, however, maintained that Hull's two shots at the goal constituted a single possession of the puck since the puck deflected off Hasek, and their ruling stood, citing that they were going to change the rule the following year anyway. Al Strachan, Hockey Writer of the Toronto Sun, and all time NHL scoring leader Wayne Gretzky are on record as saying that the goal was legally scored and should have stood. NHL Director of Officiating Bryan Lewis said there was no crease violation because "Hull had possession of the puck when his skate entered the crease."

Miscellaneous
The Dallas Stars in 1999 were the only team to win the Stanley Cup other than the New Jersey Devils, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Detroit Red Wings between 1995 and 2003.