1997 Stanley Cup playoffs

The playoffs ended on June 7, with the Detroit Red Wings defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in a four-game sweep to win their eighth Stanley Cup championship in their history, and their first in 42 years.

Red Wings goaltender Mike Vernon was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff's Most Valuable Player.

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.

Martin Brodeur became the fourth goaltender in league history to score a goal in game one, marking the second time in NHL history that a goaltender had scored a goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the fifth time overall.

This series marked the first appearance of a team representing Ottawa in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 67 years.

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams; with Philadelphia winning the only previous series in the 1989 Patrick Division Finals in seven games.

They last met in the 1991 Clarence Campbell Conference Final where the Minnesota North Stars defeated Edmonton in five games.

The Avalanche defeated the Oilers in five games to return to the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row.

Both teams would meet again in the first round of next year's playoffs, where the Oilers came back from a 3-1 series deficit to upset the Avalanche in seven games.

The Red Wings swept the Ducks to return to the Western Conference Finals for the third year in a row.

This was the last playoff game for both Gretzky and Mark Messier, as neither of the players' teams made the post-season for the rest of their careers.

The Red Wings played a determined Game 1 as Brendan Shanahan broke a scoreless tie at 1:13 of the third period to give Detroit a 1–0 lead.

Joe Sakic scored just 27 seconds later and Mike Ricci added another at 6:13 gave Colorado a 2–1 lead that they would not relinquish.

In Game 2, Colorado led 2–0 but Detroit pulled to within one on a power-play goal by Igor Larionov at 16:51 of the second period.

The Red Wings then went on to score three times in the third period to win 4–2 and tie the series at one game apiece.

Red Wings goaltender Mike Vernon made 19 saves in the shutout and Igor Larionov and Kirk Maltby both scored twice.

The 1997 Stanley Cup Finals began a streak of playoff success for Detroit-based teams over their Philadelphia counterparts.