1996 Stanley Cup Finals

Colorado defeated the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit Red Wings in six games each to advance to the Finals.

Florida defeated the Boston Bruins in five games, the Philadelphia Flyers in six, and the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven.

Game one edit

The series opened on June 4, at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. Patrick Roy was in goal for Colorado, and John Vanbiesbrouck was between the pipes for Florida (a rematch from the 1986 Wales Conference Finals when Roy was with the Montreal Canadiens and Vanbiesbrouck was with the New York Rangers). Although Colorado was the heavy favorite in the series, Florida got on the board first on Tom Fitzgerald's goal at 16:51 of the first period. That would be all the Panthers would get, however, as Colorado scored three times within five minutes in the second period. Scott Young scored at 10:32, Mike Ricci scored at 12:21, and Uwe Krupp scored at 14:21. The Avalanche went on to win the game 3–1, with Roy making 25 saves in the victory.

Game two edit

Peter Forsberg got the Avalanche on the board first in game two, scoring an unassisted goal at 4:11 of the first period. The Panthers tied the game on Stu Barnes' power-play goal at 7:52. Rene Corbet broke the 1–1 tie with a power-play goal at 10:43, and then Forsberg scored two power-play goals of his own at 13:46 and 15:05 to complete the hat trick. Colorado led 4–1 after just one period. The Avalanche would make it 5–1 with Corbet's second goal of the game at 4:37 of the second period. Valeri Kamensky followed with a goal just 31 seconds later, and Jon Klemm scored at 10:03 to give Colorado a dominating 7–1 lead after two periods. Klemm would add another goal at 17:28 of the third period. It was the Avalanche's fourth power-play goal of the game. Colorado won the game 8–1, with three players scoring at least twice.

Game three edit

The Avalanche went to the Miami Arena in Florida with a 2–0 series lead. Claude Lemieux, back after his two-game suspension, scored the first goal of the game at 2:44 of the first period to give Colorado a 1–0 lead. Florida played determinedly, however, and tied the game on Ray Sheppard's power-play goal at 9:14. Rob Niedermayer scored at 11:19 to give the Panthers their second lead of the series. The score was 2–1 Florida after one period. At 1:38 of the second period, Colorado's Mike Keane scored a game-tying goal. Captain Joe Sakic scored the go-ahead goal just 82 seconds later, and Colorado went on to win 3–2 and take a commanding three-games-to-none lead in the series. Patrick Roy made 32 saves in the win.

Game four edit

With their backs to the wall, the Panthers played a defensive game. Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck went save for save with Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy. The two teams played a marathon game that took until the third overtime period. Uwe Krupp's unassisted goal at 4:31 ended 44 minutes and 31 seconds of overtime and gave the Avalanche a 1–0 win and a four-game series sweep. Goaltender Patrick Roy stopped all 63 shots he faced. Colorado outscored Florida 15–4 in the series, and Patrick Roy stopped 147 of 151 shots, for a save percentage of .974. Joe Sakic was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, having led all skaters in goals with 18, and points with 34. For both Patrick Roy and Claude Lemieux, it was one of their three Stanley Cup wins in 11 years. Roy and Lemieux first won the Cup in 1986 with the Montreal Canadiens. Roy won a second Cup with Montreal in 1993. Lemieux won a second cup with New Jersey in 1995.

The Avalanche became the third team to win the cup after relocating: the 1989 Calgary Flames won the Cup after moving from Atlanta and the New Jersey Devils in 1995 won the Cup 13 years after they played their last game in the same city and same arena that the Avs played in as the Colorado Rockies.

Bolded years under Finals appearance indicates year won Stanley Cup.

Colorado Avalanche edit

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
35		Stephane Fiset	G	L	1988	Montreal, Quebec	first (did not play)
33		Patrick Roy	G	L	1995–96	Quebec City, Quebec	fourth (1986, 1989, 1993)
2		Sylvain Lefebvre – A	D	L	1994–95	Richmond, Quebec	first
4		Uwe Krupp	D	R	1994–95	Cologne, West Germany	first
5		Alexei Gusarov	D	L	1988	Leningrad, Soviet Union	first
6		Craig Wolanin – A	D	L	1989–90	Grosse Pointe, Michigan	first (did not play)
7		Curtis Leschyshyn – A	D	L	1988	Thompson, Manitoba	first
8		Sandis Ozolinsh	D	L	1995–96	Riga, Soviet Union	first
24		Jon Klemm	D	R	1991–92	Cranbrook, British Columbia	first
52		Adam Foote	D	R	1988	Toronto, Ontario	first
9		Mike Ricci – A	C	L	1991–92	Scarborough, Ontario	first
10		Troy Murray	C	R	1995–96	Calgary, Alberta	first (did not play)
12		Chris Simon	LW	L	1992–93	Wawa, Ontario	first (did not play)
13		Valeri Kamensky	LW	R	1988	Voskresensk, Soviet Union	first
14		Dave Hannan	C/LW	L	1995–96	Onaping Falls, Ontario	second (1988)
16		Warren Rychel	LW	L	1995–96	Strathroy, Ontario	second (1993)
18		Adam Deadmarsh	RW	R	1993	Trail, British Columbia	first
19		Joe Sakic – C	C	L	1987	Burnaby, British Columbia	first
20		Rene Corbet	LW	R	1991	Victoriaville, Quebec	first
21		Peter Forsberg	C	L	1994–95	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden	first
22		Claude Lemieux	RW	R	1995–96	Buckingham, Quebec	fourth (1986, 1989, 1995)
25		Mike Keane	RW	R	1995–96	Winnipeg, Manitoba	third (1989, 1993)
26		Stephane Yelle	C	L	1993–94	Ottawa, Ontario	first
48		Scott Young	RW	R	1992–93	Clinton, Massachusetts	second (1991)

Florida Panthers edit

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
30		Mark Fitzpatrick	G	L	1993–94	Toronto, Ontario	first
34		John Vanbiesbrouck	G	L	1993–94	Detroit, Michigan	first
2		Terry Carkner	D	L	1995–96	Smiths Falls, Ontario	first
3		Paul Laus	D	R	1993–94	Beamsville, Ontario	first
5		Gord Murphy – A	D	R	1993–94	North York, Ontario	first
6		Jason Woolley	D	L	1994–95	Toronto, Ontario	first
23		Rhett Warrener	D	R	1994	Shaunavon, Saskatchewan	first
24		Robert Svehla	D	R	1993–94	Martin, Czechoslovakia	first
55		Ed Jovanovski	D	L	1994	Windsor, Ontario	first
10		Dave Lowry	LW	L	1993–94	Sudbury, Ontario	first
11		Bill Lindsay	LW	L	1993–94	Bigfork, Montana	first
12		Jody Hull	RW	R	1993–94	Petrolia, Ontario	first
14		Stu Barnes	C	R	1993–94	Spruce Grove, Alberta	first
18		Mike Hough	LW	L	1993–94	Montreal, Quebec	first
9		Radek Dvorak	RW	R	1995	Tábor, Czechoslovakia	first
20		Brian Skrudland – C	C	L	1993–94	Peace River, Alberta	third (1986, 1989)
21		Tom Fitzgerald	RW	R	1993–94	Billerica, Massachusetts	first
26		Ray Sheppard	RW	R	1995–96	Pembroke, Ontario	second (1995)
27		Scott Mellanby – A	RW	R	1993–94	Montreal, Quebec	second (1987)
28		Martin Straka	C	L	1995–96	Plzeň, Czechoslovakia	first
29		Johan Garpenlov	LW	L	1995–96	Stockholm, Sweden	first
44		Rob Niedermayer	C	L	1993	Cassiar, British Columbia	first

The 1996 Stanley Cup was presented to Avalanche captain Joe Sakic by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Avalanche's 1–0 triple overtime win over the Panthers in game four.

The following Avalanche players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1995–96 Colorado Avalanche

Players

Note:

• Sandis Ozolinsh was first Latvian born and trained player to win the Stanley Cup.
• Uwe Krupp was first the German born and trained player to win the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup engravings edit

Adam Deadmarsh's name was misspelled ADAM DEADMARCH. This mistake was corrected by stamping an "S" over the "C" twice. Deadmarsh's name was the first player's name to be corrected on the Presentation Stanley Cup.

In Canada, the series was televised on CBC. In the United States, this was the second year that coverage was split between Fox and ESPN. Fox broadcast games 1 and 3 while ESPN televised games 2 and 4. The Stanley Cup-clinching game thus aired on cable. Had the series extended, Fox would have televised games 5 and 7, and ESPN would have aired game 6.

• 1995–96 NHL season
• List of Stanley Cup champions

• Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.