The 1991 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's (NHL) 1990–91 season, and the culmination of the

1991 Stanley Cup playoffs The 1991 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the National Hockey League (NHL) championship began on April 3, 1991, following the 1990–91 regular season. The 16 teams that qualified, from the top four teams of the four divisions, played best-of-seven se ...

. It was contested by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

and the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

. It was the Penguins' first Final series appearance and their first Stanley Cup victory. This is the first and only (to date) Stanley Cup Final to feature two teams from the expansion group of 1967. It was Minnesota's second Final series appearance, and their last before the franchise's relocation to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

two years later. It was also the first time since that an American franchise would win the Stanley Cup. This was the first all-American finals since , which also featured the North Stars in their first appearance. This was also the first final since not to feature either of the two Alberta-based teams, the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers, and the first since not contested by a team from

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, or

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

overall. The Finals and the NHL season ended on May 25, marking the last time to date that the Stanley Cup playoffs have not extended into the month of June.

Paths to the Finals

Minnesota defeated the first-place overall

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

4–2, the second-place overall

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

4–2, and the defending Cup champion

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

4–1 to advance to the Finals. The North Stars became the first American team and first

Norris Division The NHL's Norris Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Prince of Wales Conference. When the NHL realigned into geographic divisions in 1981, the division moved to the Clarence Campbell Conference, where it comprised the league's Great Lakes ...

team to win the

Campbell Conference Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

since the league re-aligned the divisions and adopted a divisional-based playoff format in 1981. Pittsburgh defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3, the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

4–1 and the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

4–2.

Game summaries

Pittsburgh centre

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006, and he assumed ownership of the f ...

, despite missing a game due to a back injury, recorded 12 points in 5 games to lead all scorers and won the

Conn Smythe Trophy The Conn Smythe Trophy (french: Trophée Conn Smythe) is awarded annually to the most valuable player (MVP) of his team during the National Hockey League's (NHL) Stanley Cup playoffs. It is named after Conn Smythe, the longtime owner, general ma ...

. Lemieux scored one of the most famous goals in NHL history during the second period of game two. Receiving the puck in the Penguins' end of the ice, Lemieux skated solo into the North Stars' zone facing two defensemen (

Shawn Chambers Shawn Randall Chambers (born October 11, 1966) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career A defenseman, Chambers played college hockey at the University of Alaska Fairbank ...

and Neil Wilkinson) as well as goaltender

Jon Casey Jonathon James Casey (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars, Boston Bruins, and St. Louis Blues from 1984 to 1997. Early life Jon Case ...

. Lemieux skirted the puck through the legs of Chambers, skated around him, baited goaltender Casey to commit left (Lemieux's right), then switched the puck to his backhand side and slid the puck into the net (before crashing into the net himself). A brief video of the goal has since been featured on Stanley Cup promotional advertisements by the NHL.

Schedule and results

Team rosters

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

Minnesota North Stars

Note: ''

Neal Broten Neal LaMoy Broten (born November 29, 1959) is an American former professional ice hockey player. A member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, Broten was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in ...

served as the North Stars acting team captain during the

Curt Giles Curtis Jon Giles (born November 30, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Selected by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft, Giles had two tenures with the North Stars (1979– 86 and 1987– 91). During ...

, who was injured late in the season and played in only 10 playoff games, missing the entire finals, is listed as the official team captain.''

Pittsburgh Penguins

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1991 Stanley Cup was presented to Penguins captain Mario Lemieux by NHL President John Ziegler following the Penguins 8–0 win over the North Stars in game six. The following Penguins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins

Broadcasting

In Canada, the series was televised in English on the CBC and in French on SRC. In the United States, the series aired nationally on

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

. However, SportsChannel America's national coverage was blacked out in the Minnesota and Pittsburgh areas due to the local rights to North Stars and Penguins games in those respective TV markets. In Minnesota,

KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetw ...

aired games one, two and five while the Midwest Sports Channel had games three, four, and six. In Pittsburgh, KBL televised games one, two and five while KDKA aired games three, four, and six. Had there been a game seven, it would have aired on KMSP-TV in Minnesota and KBL in Pittsburgh respectively.

References

* * {{Navboxes, list1= {{Stanley Cup Finals {{1990–91 NHL season by team {{Minnesota North Stars {{Pittsburgh Penguins {{NHL on SportsChannel America {{Hockey Night in Canada {{NHL on ABC Stanley Cup Stan Pittsburgh Penguins games Stanley Cup Finals Stanley Cup Finals Stanley Cup Finals Sports competitions in Pittsburgh 1990s in Pittsburgh Sports competitions in Minnesota Stanley Cup Finals