2013 Stanley Cup Final

Lore & Background

Due to a lockout that both shortened and delayed the start of the regular season, the 2013 Cup Finals began on June 12, and lasted until June 24–tying the lockout impacted 1995 and 2024 for the latest in June that the Stanley Cup was awarded. This was the first Stanley Cup Final series between two Original Six teams since 1979, and the seventh since its first expansion in 1967. It also marked the first time these two teams have met in the Stanley Cup Final. In Game 6, while trailing the Bruins 2–1 with 76 seconds left in the third period, Chicago's Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored two goals in 17 seconds to win the Cup for the Blackhawks. The win was the Blackhawks' second in four years, after also claiming the title in 2010. It was the first Finals series since 2004 to be tied after two games. It was also the first Stanley Cup Final since 1993 to feature three overtime games, including the fifth longest game in Finals history. This series is the last time to date that a Presidents' Trophy winner has won the Stanley Cup.

Reader's Guide

The 2013 Stanley Cup Final is significant as the last instance to date of a Presidents' Trophy winner also winning the Stanley Cup, a feat achieved by only eight teams in NHL history. The series marked the first Original Six Final since 1979 and the first ever playoff meeting between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins. The lockout-shortened season pushed the Final to a late June conclusion, tying the record for latest Cup award. The dramatic Game 6 comeback—two goals in 17 seconds in the final 76 seconds—highlighted the Blackhawks' resilience and secured their second championship in four years. The series featured three overtime games, including the fifth longest in Finals history, and saw Patrick Kane earn the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The Bruins, missing 2011 Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas, relied on Tuukka Rask in goal and acquired Jaromir Jagr mid-season. The Blackhawks set a record by starting the season with 24 games without a regulation loss. This Final remains a benchmark for late-season drama and the rarity of a Presidents' Trophy champion completing the double.

Did You Know?

• The 2013 Final was the first Stanley Cup Final between two Original Six teams since 1979.
• Chicago's Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
• Game 6 ended with two Blackhawks goals in 17 seconds in the final 76 seconds of the third period.
• The series featured three overtime games, including the fifth longest game in Finals history.

A Dynasty's Final Chapter Without Its Star

This 1990 championship series served as a poignant rematch of the 1988 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Boston Bruins, yet the emotional landscape had shifted dramatically. Wayne Gretzky, the franchise's defining icon, had been dealt to the Los Angeles Kings during the 1988 off-season, and his absence loomed over every shift. Despite that void, Edmonton captured the Cup in five games, claiming their fifth title in just seven seasons. More significantly, this trophy stood as the only one the organization would ever lift after parting ways with their greatest player. The victory also capped an extraordinary run of Western Canadian dominance in the NHL's final series: eight straight Finals featuring an Alberta-based club and nine involving any Western Canadian team, with the Oilers appearing in six of those, the Calgary Flames in two, and the Vancouver Canucks in one. For a franchise that had defined an era, this felt both like a triumphant conclusion and an acknowledgment that the next chapter would be written without its most famous voice.

The Longest Night in Final History

Game One delivered what remains the most grueling contest in Stanley Cup Final history. After regulation and two overtimes produced no resolution, the Oilers and Bruins entered a third overtime period where Petr Klima struck at the 15:13 mark to seal a 3-2 Edmonton victory. That goal edged out both Brett Hull's 1999 Cup-winning effort and Igor Larionov's 2002 game-winner by fewer than thirty seconds, cementing its place in the record books. The opening game set a tone of intense back-and-forth that defined the early series. Boston actually controlled the early exchanges, generating more scoring chances in the opener and building a 15-4 shot advantage in Game Two before Edmonton mounted a dramatic comeback. The Bruins' early dominance made the eventual five-game outcome feel all the more surprising, as the visitors appeared to be the team in command during the series' formative stages. Yet Edmonton's resilience in those tight contests ultimately proved decisive, turning what looked like a Boston advantage into a hard-fought championship.

Farewell to the Boston Garden

On May 24, 1990, the Boston Garden hosted what would be its final Stanley Cup Final game ever, and the stage was set for a historic Edmonton victory. The Oilers dispatched the Bruins 4-1 behind Craig Simpson's game-winning goal, marking the first time in franchise history that they clinched a championship on the road. The significance of that accomplishment cannot be overstated: across their previous Finals appearances, Edmonton had managed to win only one game away from their Northlands Coliseum home. In this series, however, they swept all three contests played in Boston. Behind the net, backup goaltender Bill Ranford—originally the understudy to Grant Fuhr, who had taken over for the remainder of the regular season and the entire postseason—was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff most valuable player. The Garden's farewell to the Cup thus carried a bittersweet quality for Boston fans, as the arena that had hosted decades of memorable hockey moments closed its chapter on the sport's ultimate prize with a loss.

Echoes Across Decades

The 1990 Final cast a long shadow over the careers and franchises involved. For the Bruins, this loss began a 21-year absence from the championship round that would not end until their 2011 title, which finally broke a 39-year Stanley Cup drought. Defenseman Ray Bourque, a cornerstone of Boston's blue line, would not taste another Finals appearance until the 2001 Colorado Avalanche championship. Edmonton, meanwhile, did not return to the Final until 2006, when they fell in seven games. Perhaps no individual legacy resonates more than that of Mark Messier, who captured his first Cup as team captain and his fifth overall in 1990. Four years later, leading the New York Rangers to their 1994 title, he scored the Cup-winning goal and became the only player in NHL history to captain two different Stanley Cup-winning teams. Alongside Glenn Anderson and Kevin Lowe, Messier was one of just three players to be part of all five Oilers championships and the Rangers' 1994 cup, a remarkable thread connecting two eras of hockey excellence.

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