1995 Stanley Cup playoffs
The 1994–95 NHL regular season was shortened to 48 games, and the playoffs pushed to a later date, due to a lockout.
In the Finals, the New Jersey Devils swept the favored Detroit Red Wings in four games to win their first championship.
The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers upset the Nordiques in 6 games, becoming the second eighth-seeded team in NHL history to knock off a number one seed.
This was the second consecutive and fourth overall playoff meeting between these two teams; with Pittsburgh winning two of the three previous series.
They last met in the 1992 Norris Division Semifinals, which Detroit won in seven games against the Minnesota North Stars.
This was the second consecutive and ninth overall playoff meeting between these two teams; with Toronto winning six of the eight previous series.
The Devils almost regained the lead on Stephane Richer's breakaway shot that hit the crossbar with less than four minutes to go in regulation.
The Devils calmly utilized the neutral-zone trap to shut down the Flyers' offense while their forwards took advantage.
After a blocked shot by Devils defenceman Shawn Chambers led to a three on one rush for New Jersey, Randy McKay scored his seventh goal of the postseason.
The Devils made it 4–1 at 10:11 of the third period when Bobby Carpenter passed the puck past Flyers defenceman Karl Dykhuis up to Claude Lemieux at center ice who went in on a breakaway and scored his league leading eleventh goal of the playoffs.
The Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks in five games to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1966.
Game one of the series at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit saw a goaltending battle between Ed Belfour and Mike Vernon.
The two teams skated to a 1–1 tie after regulation before Nicklas Lidstrom scored the game-winning goal for Detroit at 1:01 of the first overtime period.
In game two Chicago led by a score of 2–1 after two periods on goals by Chris Chelios and Tony Amonte.
The Blackhawks responded to the urgency and came out flying in game four as Denis Savard and Joe Murphy both scored twice and captain Dirk Graham had a goal to give Chicago a dominating 5–0 lead after 40 minutes.
Detroit scored twice in the third period on goals by Kris Draper and Ray Sheppard as the Blackhawks went on to win the game 5–2.
In game five Chicago jumped out to a 1–0 lead on Denis Savard's power play goal at 10:18 of the first period.
After a scoreless third period the game went into double overtime where Vyacheslav Kozlov scored at 2:25 to give the Red Wings a 2–1 win and a series clinching victory.
New Jersey made their first Finals appearance in their twenty-first season after entering the league in 1974 as the Kansas City Scouts.
