1999 Stanley Cup Finals

1999 Stanley Cup Finals
Teams1*23456***Games
Dallas Stars 2421224
Buffalo Sabres  3 2 12 0 1 2

* indicates periods of overtime

Location:Dallas (Reunion Arena) (1,2,5)
Buffalo (Marine Midland Arena) (3,4,6)
Format:Best-of-seven
Coaches:Dallas: Ken Hitchcock
Buffalo: Lindy Ruff
Captains:Dallas: Derian Hatcher
Buffalo: Michael Peca
Referees:Terry Gregson (1,3,6)
Bill McCreary (1,4,6)
Kerry Fraser (2,4)
Dan Marouelli (2,5)
Don Koharski (3,5)
Dates:June 8–June 19
MVP:Joe Nieuwendyk (Dallas)
Series-winning
goal:		Brett Hull (14:51, 3OT, G6)
 < 1998Stanley Cup Finals2000 > 

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 Stanley Cup 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 (known at the time as the North Stars) lost in the Final to the NY Islanders in 1981 and to Pittsburgh in 1991. The Stars defeated the Sabres four games to two to win their first Stanley Cup, becoming the eighth post-1967 expansion team to earn a championship. This was the first time since 1994 that the Stanley Cup Finals did not end in a sweep. The entire series will also always be remembered because of the "No Goal" controversy, which continues to this day.

Road to the final

For more details on this topic, see 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Buffalo defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-0, the Boston Bruins 4-2 and Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 to make it to the final.

Dallas defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-0, the St. Louis Blues 4-2 and the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 to advance to the final.

The series

Game one

June 8 Buffalo Sabres 3 – 2 OT
(0 – 1, 0 – 0, 2 – 1, 1 – 0)		 Dallas Stars Reunion Arena
Attendance: 17,001

The opening game 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.

Game two

June 10 Buffalo Sabres 2 – 4
(0 – 0, 1 – 1, 1 – 3)		 Dallas Stars Reunion Arena
Attendance: 17,001

Dallas struck back in the second game, winning 4–2. Dallas attempted to rattle Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek in the first period, as Brian Skrudland was assessed a charging minor after running Hasek, who had gone into the corner to his right to play the puck, at 12:25 of the first period. With three seconds left in the period, Dallas center Mike Modano tripped Hasek away from the play in almost the same spot, and a number of scrums broke out as time expired. Dallas winger Joe Nieuwendyk—who had been "freight-trained" (in the words of Fox play-by-play man Mike Emrick) into the boards by Buffalo center Brian Holzinger with seven seconds left in one of a series of big hits—dropped the gloves and fought Holzinger in the circle to the right of Hasek. These were the first fighting majors in three years in the final round, and it was also Nieuwendyk's first fighting major in five years in either the playoffs or regular season. Nieuwendyk's decision to drop the gloves—so out-of-character for him—seemed to inspire the team and was one of the reasons he eventually won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1999.

After the 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, a one-timer on a pass from Tony Hrkac, from the top of the circle to Hasek's left with 2:50 remaining in the game, but Buffalo had an excellent chance to tie the game with Derian Hatcher being assessed a high-sticking minor 19 seconds later. During the power play, Buffalo pulled Hasek for a 6-on-4 attacking advantage, but the Stars were able to kill the penalty, and Hatcher scored an empty-netter just three seconds after emerging from the penalty box. The empty net goal sealed the win for Dallas, and evened the series at one game apiece. Mike Modano left the game with approximately ten minutes to play after suffering a broken wrist.

Game three

June 12 Dallas Stars 2 – 1
(0 – 0, 1 – 1, 1 – 0)		 Buffalo Sabres Marine Midland Arena
Attendance: 18,595

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 sixth game-winner of the playoffs, led Dallas to the win.

Game four

June 15 Dallas Stars 1 – 2
(1 – 1, 0 – 1, 0 – 0)		 Buffalo Sabres Marine Midland Arena
Attendance: 18,595

Facing a two games to one deficit in the series, the Sabres came through with a 2–1 victory.

Game five

June 17 Buffalo Sabres 0 – 2
(0 – 0, 0 – 1, 0 – 1)		 Dallas Stars Reunion Arena
Attendance: 17,001

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.

Game six

June 19 Dallas Stars 2 – 1 3OT
(1 – 0, 0 – 1, 0 – 0, 1 – 0)		 Buffalo Sabres Marine Midland Arena
Attendance: 18,595

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 four when Barnes' wrist shot eluded Belfour with 1:39 to play in the second period.

The game remained tied at one through the third period and the first two overtime periods, despite several chances by both teams to score. At 14:51 of the third overtime period, Brett Hull scored off of a rebound from inside the crease over a sprawling Dominik Hasek to end the series and award Dallas their first Stanley Cup.

It was the longest Cup-winning game in Finals history, and the second-longest Finals game overall, after game one of the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals, which ended at 15:13 of the third overtime.

"No Goal"

The phrase "No Goal" is associated with the controversial goal scored by Brett Hull to clinch the series in triple overtime of game six, as his foot was in the crease but the puck was not. Subsequent to the series-ending goal, the NHL claimed to have sent out a memo clarifying the "skate in the crease" rule allowed goals in instances where the goalscorer maintained control (not 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. 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. Shortly after, the rule that led to this controversy was removed from the NHL rule book.

Hull's goal ended the series and the Stars were awarded the Stanley Cup. At the time, even 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, noting that they were going to change the rule the following year anyway. 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."

Dallas Stars - 1999 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Centres
  Wingers
  Defencemen
  Goaltenders


  Coaching and administrative staff
  • Thomas O. Hicks (Chairman/Owner/Governor), Jim Lites (President), Bob Gainey (Vice President/General Manager)
  • Doug Armstrong (Asst. General Manager), Craig Button (Director of Player Personnel), Ken Hitchcock (Head Coach)
  • Doug Jarvis (Asst. Coach), Rick Wilson (Asst. Coaches),Rick McLaughlin (Vice President-Chief Financial Officer), Jeff Cogen (Vice President-Marketing & Promotions)
  • Bill Strong (Vice President-Marketing & Broadcasting), Tim Bernhardt (Director-Amateur Scouting), Doug Overton (Director-Pro Scouting)
  • Bob Gernader (Chief Scout), Stu McGregor (Western Scout), Dave Suprenant (Medical Trainer)
  • Dave Smith (Equipment Manager), Rick Matthews (Asst. Equipment Manager), Jean-Jacque McQueen (Strength-Conditioning Coach)
  • Rick St. Croix (Goaltending Consultant), Dan Stuchal (Director of Team Services), Larry Kelly (Director of Public Relations)

Stanley Cup engraving

Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993 to become the Dallas Stars. Chambers was not with the North Stars/Stars for the whole period between 1991 and 1997, as he won the Stanley Cup in 1995 with the New Jersey Devils, before rejoining the Stars.

Included on the team picture, but left off the Stanley Cup.

See also

References

Preceded by
Detroit Red Wings
1998		 Dallas Stars
Stanley Cup Champions
1999 		Succeeded by
New Jersey Devils
2000
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