1993 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1993 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1992–93 season, and the culmination of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Los Angeles Kings and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the first appearance in the Final for the Kings and the first appearance since the 1920 Stanley Cup Finals for a team based on the west coast of the United States. It was also the 34th appearance for Montreal, their first since the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens defeated the Kings in five games to win the team's 24th Stanley Cup. The year 1993 was the 100th anniversary of the first awarding of the Stanley Cup in 1893, and the first Finals to start in the month of June. To date, the 1993 Canadiens are the last Stanley Cup championship team to be composed solely of North American-born players, and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup.

The series is remembered for Kings defenceman Marty McSorley's penalty late in the third period of game two for using an illegal stick, in what proved to be the turning point in the 1993 Cup Finals. When McSorley entered the penalty box, Los Angeles held a 1–0 series lead, and a 2–1 score in the contest. The Canadiens then went on to score the equalizer on the ensuing power play, won game two in overtime, and then defeated the Kings in the next three games to win the Cup.

From the moment that McSorley was called for the penalty, the Kings failed to win another postseason game for the remainder of the 20th century, losing all the remaining games of the Finals, failing to qualify for the playoffs in five of the next seven seasons, and being swept out in the first round the other two times. Their next postseason win did not come until 2001, against the Detroit Red Wings. Meanwhile, the Canadiens did not appear in the Stanley Cup Finals again until 2021.

This was the first of two consecutive Finals series to have former captains of the Edmonton Oilers' 1980s dynasty attempting to win a Stanley Cup with their new teams; while Wayne Gretzky (who was the Oilers' captain on the first four out of five championship teams) ended up on the losing end of the 1993 series, Mark Messier (the Oilers' captain when they last won the Cup in ) got his chance with the New York Rangers in, and that time, he succeeded in helping them end a 54-year championship drought.

Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles had started the season well but faltered from December to February, though they managed to rebound and clinch a playoff spot. Superstar Wayne Gretzky sat out from October to January due to injury. Los Angeles did not have home ice advantage for all four playoff rounds, and was the only club to face Canadian teams in every round. To reach the finals, Los Angeles defeated the Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division Semifinals 4–2, the Vancouver Canucks in the Smythe Division Finals 4–2, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference Finals 4–3.

Montreal Canadiens
Montreal defeated the Quebec Nordiques (their provincial rivals) in the Adams Division Semifinals 4–2, the Buffalo Sabres in the Adams Division Finals 4–0, and the New York Islanders in the Wales Conference Finals 4–1. The Canadiens initially lost their first two games against the Nordiques, due in part to a couple of weak goals let in by star Montreal goaltender (and Quebec City native) Patrick Roy. Afterwards, a newspaper in Roy's hometown district suggested that he be traded, while Nordiques goaltending coach Dan Bouchard proclaimed that his team had solved Roy. The Canadiens then responded by winning the next four games to eliminate the Nordiques, then swept the Sabres and took the first three games against the Islanders, tying a record of 11 consecutive playoff wins set by the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins the year before.

The playoffs in both conferences saw numerous upsets, with the top teams in each conference – the Blackhawks and Penguins – being eliminated before the Conference Finals. The Campbell Conference saw the Blackhawks swept in the Norris Division Semifinals by the rival St. Louis Blues. Montreal's path to their first Cup Finals since became much easier after the Sabres swept the Canadiens' bitter rivals, the Boston Bruins, in the Adams Division Semifinals and the Islanders eliminated the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions (and the league's top regular-season team), the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the Patrick Division Finals. The Bruins had eliminated the Canadiens in the playoffs for three straight years,   mainly due to Boston goaltender Andy Moog, who was often referred to as the "greatest Hab killer" the Bruins ever had. The Kings' path through the 1993 playoffs was similarly made easier as their nemesis, the Edmonton Oilers, who had eliminated the Kings from the playoffs in 1990, 1991, and 1992, failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since they joined the NHL in 1979.

Game summaries
This was the last Stanley Cup Finals series played in the Montreal Forum, and the last time Wayne Gretzky competed in the Finals. The Kings were appearing in the Finals for the first time in their 26-year history. They did not appear in the Finals again until 2012, where they faced the New Jersey Devils and won their first Stanley Cup. Montreal's victory is the most recent championship won by a Canadian team. They did not appear in the Finals again until 2021, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Game one
In game one at the Montreal Forum, the Kings jumped out to a 1–0 lead on Luc Robitaille's power-play goal at 3:03 of the first period. The Canadiens tied the game late in the first on Ed Ronan's goal at 18:09 (although it was merely a pass that Gretzky accidentally deflected into his own net). Robitaille would break the 1–1 deadlock with his second power-play goal of the game at 17:41 of the second period. Jari Kurri added an insurance marker off a Patrice Brisebois turnover at 1:51 of the third, and Gretzky sealed the 4–1 win for the Kings with an empty net goal at 18:02.

Game two
The turning point of the series for the Canadiens came late in the third period of game two. With the Kings leading by a score of 2–1, Canadiens head coach Jacques Demers called for a measurement of the curve of Kings defenceman Marty McSorley's stick. The stick was deemed illegal and McSorley was given a two-minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. As it was late in the game and Montreal was facing the prospect of going to Los Angeles down two games to none, Demers pulled goalie Patrick Roy, producing a 6-on-4 advantage for the Canadiens. Montreal's Eric Desjardins scored from the point to tie the game at two and force overtime. Desjardins then scored his third goal of the game 51 seconds into overtime to give Montreal the win and the momentum heading toward games three and four at the Great Western Forum. Desjardins is the first and only defenceman to score a hat trick in the Cup Finals; before this game he had scored just two playoff goals.

Reports suggested Canadiens head coach Jacques Demers knew which of the Kings' hockey sticks to challenge, thanks to a Montreal Forum employee assigned to the Kings' locker room who temporarily moved the Kings' portable stick rack to the Montreal's locker room. Demers has denied this and credited captain Guy Carbonneau with spotting McSorley's illegal stick.

Game three
In game three in Los Angeles, the Canadiens jumped out to a 1–0 first period lead on a tip-in goal by Brian Bellows at 10:26, and Gilbert Dionne and Mathieu Schneider increased that lead to 3–0 at 2:41 and 3:02 of the second period. After a memorable check by long-time Kings defenceman Mark Hardy on Montreal's Mike Keane, the Kings fired back to tie the game in the second period on goals by Robitaille, Tony Granato and Gretzky. With time running out in the third period, Montreal captain Guy Carbonneau appeared to cover the puck in the goal crease, which with such little time remaining (12 seconds) would have resulted in a penalty shot for Los Angeles. But the referee ruled that the puck had been shot by a Kings player into Carbonneau's equipment, and so the period remained scoreless. After the series, the referee admitted that he had made a mistake on the call. The game went into overtime and Montreal's John LeClair scored the winner just 34 seconds into the extra period, giving the Canadiens their ninth consecutive overtime playoff victory.

Game four
Game four was a carbon copy of the previous game. Montreal bolted out to an early 2–0 lead, but the Kings fought back in the second period with goals by Mike Donnelly at 6:33 and McSorley on a power play at 19:56. As was the case in game three, the third period in game four ended up scoreless. Once again, it was John LeClair who was the hero for Montreal as he netted the overtime winner 14:37 into the extra period, banking the puck off the leg of sliding Los Angeles defenceman Darryl Sydor. In doing so, he became the first player since Montreal legend Maurice "Rocket" Richard in 1951 to score playoff overtime goals in consecutive games, and giving Montreal an NHL-record ten consecutive overtime wins in the 1993 playoffs.

Game five
Leading the series three games to one, the Canadiens headed back home for game five. After Paul DiPietro gave Montreal a 1–0 lead with a goal at 15:10 of the first period, McSorley tied the game for the Kings at 2:40 of the second period. The Canadiens' response was swift as Kirk Muller scored just 71 seconds later, and then Stephane Lebeau scored a power-play goal at 11:31 to give the Canadiens a 3–1 lead after two periods. DiPietro scored again at 12:06 to give Montreal a 4–1 lead. That ended up being the final score, with Muller's goal turning out to be the game winner. Gretzky did not manage a shot on net during the entire game.

With the win, the Canadiens won the series four games to one and clinched their 24th Stanley Cup championship. Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time (he won it for the first time in ).

Team rosters
Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

Stanley Cup engraving
The 1993 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Guy Carbonneau by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman following the Canadiens 4–1 win over the Kings in game five.

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

1992–93 Montreal Canadiens

Riot
The 1993 Montreal Stanley Cup riot occurred in Montreal after the Montreal Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup. People poured into the streets of the city and some began to commit acts of vandalism and violence while the Canadiens were celebrating inside the Montreal Forum. In the epicentre of the riot on Saint Catherine Street, stores were looted and police cruisers were set ablaze. The riot caused CA$2.5 million in damage.

At the high point of the riot 980 officers were dispatched and they made 115 arrests. The police reported 47 police cars damaged, 8 of those 47 cars were completely destroyed. Rioters were arrested after they broke windows, looted stores and set fires. Some of the rioters were suspected of planning to loot stores using the Canadiens' victory celebration as a decoy. 168 were injured, including 49 police officers.

Due to the Kings being the Canadiens' opponents, most of the Los Angeles news media, including the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News, also covered the riot; Times sports writer Helene Elliott was pressed into service as a news reporter minutes after the riot began.

Television
In Canada, the series was televised in English on the CBC and in French on SRC. In the United States, the series was broadcast on ESPN. This was the ESPN's first Cup Finals coverage since 1988. However, ESPN was blacked out in the Los Angeles market because of Prime Ticket's local rights to the Kings games.