1994 Stanley Cup Finals

The Rangers scored early and led 2–1 late in the third period before Martin Gélinas tied the game with 1:00 to play in regulation time.[17] It was the third time in eight games that the Rangers had surrendered a last-minute tying goal.[17] The Rangers were all over the Canucks in overtime, but goaltender Kirk McLean made 52 saves on the night. In the last minute of the first overtime, Brian Leetch hit the crossbar at one end, and the Canucks went down to score the winner at the other on an odd-man rush by Greg Adams, as the Rangers, once again, lost a series opener at home in overtime.[7]

The Rangers evened the series with a 3–1 victory before the series shifted west.[18]

The Canucks came storming out in front of their home fans and Pavel Bure scored on his first shift to give them the early lead. But late in the period, with the score tied 1–1, Bure hit Jay Wells in the face with his stick and cut him, leading to a major penalty and Bure's expulsion from the game. Alexei Kovalev scored a breakaway shorthanded goal, which was featured on the cover of NHL 95. Glenn Anderson scored on the ensuing power-play and the Rangers then cruised to a 5–1 victory.

In the fourth game, the Canucks again jumped out to an early lead, this time 2–0, before Mike Richter and Brian Leetch took over the game. Richter made some key saves to keep the game within reach, including one on a penalty shot against Pavel Bure, and Leetch picked up a goal and three assists as the Rangers won 4–2 to take a commanding 3–1 series lead.

Most who entered Madison Square Garden for the fifth game thought they were going to see the Rangers win the Cup that night. New York had already set the date for a victory parade.[15] However, the celebration plans got ahead of the work at hand. The Canucks were leading 3–0 by the third minute of the third period. Even though the Rangers scrambled to pull even by the midway point, Vancouver took the lead 29 seconds later on a goal by Dave Babych and cruised to a 6–3 win.

The Canucks fired 14 shots at Mike Richter in the first period and led 1–0 on a Jeff Brown bullet from the point. The score was 2–1 after two periods before another Brown goal gave the Canucks a 3–1 third-period lead. Late in the third, Geoff Courtnall appeared to score for the Canucks, but the play continued and the Rangers scored to temporarily make the score 3–2. But, in the ensuing video review, it was confirmed that Courtnall had indeed scored his second goal of the game to clinch the game for the Canucks and force a seventh game, the first in the finals since 1987.

For the second time since 1971 and the tenth time overall, the Finals went to seven games. Rangers coach Mike Keenan became the first person to be a head coach in game sevens of the Stanley Cup Finals for two different teams. Keenan had coached the Philadelphia Flyers in 1987 when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers.[19] Mike Babcock would join him in this feat in 2009 while with the Detroit Red Wings, having been with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim when they lost to the New Jersey Devils in 2003 (the home team won all seven games of the series).[20]

The game at Madison Square Garden was an "electric affair"[15] with the Rangers jumping to an early 2–0 lead at the 15-minute mark after scoring twice within four minutes. The Rangers opened the scoring when Sergei Zubov found Brian Leetch, who was wide open after Adam Graves set a pick on Vancouver defender Dave Babych.

The Rangers’ next goal was in large part the result of their hard work in the offensive zone, which had caused a penalty against Vancouver. The goal was scored by Adam Graves and assisted by Alex Kovalev, just as the Rangers were regaining the zone after the Canucks had cleared the puck for the first time in that powerplay.

Vancouver’s best scoring chances came late in the period on wrist shots by Greg Adams and Pavel Bure, which occurred in the same sequence. Adams’ attempt went wide after being deflected by Mike Richter and Bure’s required a goalie-like effort from Jeff Beukeboom to keep the Canucks off the scoreboard.

However, Canucks captain Trevor Linden silenced the home crowd with a short-handed goal early in the second period. Uncovered in the neutral zone because he had just come off the bench on a delayed penalty against the Rangers, Linden scored to cut the Canucks’ deficit to 2–1. Then, at the midway point of the game, Linden, who had scored only one goal in the first six games, came close to scoring again but was stopped by Mike Richter on a kick save.

With six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the second period, Mark Messier scored a third Ranger goal, which again came on a powerplay that was the result of a penalty drawn by the Rangers' aggressive forecheck. The Canucks were close to finding an answer, though, but Mike Richter denied Cliff Ronning on a rebound chance with a spectacular feet-first pad save to keep the Rangers’ lead at 3–1.

Following close-range chances by Brian Noonan and Messier, the Rangers seemed to have taken control of the game, only to have Linden make it close again with a goal early in the third: After a penalty drawn by Bure, Linden converted on a tic-tac-toe play with Ronning and Geoff Courtnall to cut the Canucks’ deficit to 3–2.

After that, it was "hectic, jittery hockey", during which the Canucks twice came close to tying the game. First, Martin Gelinas seemed to have beaten Richter on a three-on-two, but his shot hit the goal post and then deflected off the Rangers’ goaltender and had to be cleared by Kevin Lowe. Just 40 seconds later, Nathan LaFayette "frightened all Manhattan wobbling a loose puck" off the post behind Mike Richter with five minutes left.[15]

In the final 37 seconds, which, due to two clock reviews, took almost seven minutes of real time to be played, there were three face-offs in the New York end. That included a final stoppage with just 1.6 seconds left in the game, which, however, only delayed what at that point seemed inevitable: the Rangers winning their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.

Mark Messier provided two of the most memorable images of that Stanley Cup Finals that would become iconic images to the Rangers and their fans: first, jumping up and down excitedly as ticker tape fell, then, showing incredible emotion as he accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, as he became the first (and as of 2020, the only) player to captain two different teams to the Stanley Cup. At the time Messier was credited for the game-winning goal earning him the tongue-in-cheek nickname of "Mr. June",[21] however, Messier admitted in 2017 that the game-winning goal was likely scored by Brian Noonan. [1]

In the United States, game seven was the highest-rated hockey game on cable. ESPN's broadcast drew a 5.2 rating.[25] However, in New York, the ESPN blackout meant MSG Network's broadcast drew 16.2 rating, a record for the network.[23][25] The two networks combined yielded a 6.9 rating.[25]

With an average Canadian audience of 4.957 million viewers, game seven was the most watched CBC Sports program until the 10.6 million viewers for the men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2002 Winter Olympics, when Canada won its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal since the 1952 Winter Olympics.[26] Bob Cole, who called both games,[27] said that game seven was one of his most memorable TV games.[27][28]

• When the New York Rangers submitted the list of names for engraving, Eddie Olczyk and Mike Hartman were included, although they fell short of the official requirements of 41 regular season games, or participation in the Finals. When the Stanley Cup was engraved, Olczyk and Hartman's names were omitted. (Olczyk had played 37 regular-season games and one game in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hartman had played 35 regular-season games and none in the playoffs.) Both players had spent the entire season with New York, and missed extensive time due to injury. At the Rangers' protest, the NHL added Olczyk and Hartman to the Cup. The NHL no longer adds missing names after the Cup has been engraved, though since 1994, it allows teams to petition for the inclusion of players who do not officially qualify.
• Seven players who won the cup in 1994 were also with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990 when they won their fifth Cup: Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe, Glenn Anderson, Jeff Beukeboom, Adam Graves, Craig MacTavish and Esa Tikkanen.
• Greg Gilbert won the Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1982 and 1983, making him the only player in NHL history to earn Stanley Cup rings with both New York franchises.[29]
• Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov and Sergei Zubov became the first four Russian-trained players to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.[24]