The Minnesota Wild, a sixth-seed, made an unlikely advance to the Western Conference Final as underdogs after being down three games to one in two consecutive rounds.

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.

In game one, Roman Hamrlik assisted on two of the three goals and Islanders goalie Garth Snow shut out the Senators stopping all 25 shots he faced in a 3–0 victory.

The New Jersey Devils entered the playoffs as the second seed in the Eastern Conference and won the Atlantic Division title with 108 points.

[8] The Boston Bruins forced a fifth game on two goals by Dan McGillis as well as two assists provided by Mike Knuble and Brian Rolston in a 5–1 win.

[9] The Devils closed out the series in game five with Jamie Langenbrunner scoring twice and Martin Brodeur stopping all 28 shots he faced in a 3–0 win.

The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the playoffs for only the second time in their history as the third seed in the Eastern Conference and won the Southeast Division title with 93 points.

Robert Lang provided two goals and Olaf Kolzig stopped all 28 shots to give the Capitals a 3–0 victory in game one.

Finally in overtime, Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal to give Tampa Bay a 4–3 victory.

[17] The Flyers responded to the loss with a 4–1 win in game two with John LeClair, Mark Recchi, and Simon Gagne all contributing a goal and an assist.

[20] Sami Kapanen scored two power play goals in game five to assist the Flyers in a 4–1 win and took a 3–2 series lead.

The Detroit Red Wings finished as the second seed in the Western Conference, winning the Central Division with 110 points.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim finished as the seventh seed with 95 points (losing the tiebreaker with Minnesota in total wins).

In the first overtime, Luc Robitaille appeared to score the game-winner with most Detroit players heading down the locker room when replay actually showed the puck hit the crossbar and post but stayed out.

[30] Finally in the third overtime, Paul Kariya scored at 3:18 to end the game; Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 63 saves in the 2–1 win for the Mighty Ducks.

[34] The Red Wings became only the second defending Stanley Cup champions to be swept in four games the following year in a first round series, the other being the 1952 Toronto Maple Leafs.

[36] Patrick Roy earned his 23rd and final playoff shutout in game three stopping all 18 shots he faced in a 3–0 win for the Avalanche.

[37] In game four, Minnesota Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire replaced goaltender Dwayne Roloson who had given up two goals, both to Joe Sakic, on four shots with Manny Fernandez.

Finally in overtime, Minnesota completed the comeback with Andrew Brunette's goal to send the Wild to the Conference Semifinals.

In game one, goaltender Chris Osgood stopped all 20 shots and Alexander Khavanov scored twice for the Blues in a 6–0 win.

[47] The Canucks finished the comeback in game seven with help from goaltender Dan Cloutier, who made 33 saves and both Trevor Linden and Brendan Morrison scored a goal and an assist in a 4–1 victory.

[51] Michal Handzus scored the only goal in the Flyers' 1–0 win in game four with Cechmanek stopping all 28 shots he faced.

[55] Although the Lightning led twice in game two, the Devils were able to tie the score twice and in overtime Jamie Langenbrunner's goal at 2:09 gave New Jersey a 3–2 victory.

Giguere stopped all 28 shots he faced and Mike Leclerc scored the only goal in a 1–0 affair for the Mighty Ducks.

[65] In game six, the Mighty Ducks closed out the series and were able to move onto the Conference Finals on Sandis Ozolinsh's goal which gave Anaheim a 4–3 lead with 1:06 left in the third period.

The Minnesota Wild became the first team in NHL history to come back from being down 3–1 twice in one playoff season to win both series in seven games.

[75] Game three was a low-scoring affair as Sergei Brylin had the only goal in the Devils' 1–0 victory; Martin Brodeur stopped all 24 shots he faced.

The game looked like it was going into overtime, until Jeff Friesen of the Devils gave New Jersey the lead with 2:14 left in the third period.

New Jersey hung on for a 3–2 victory, moving onto the Stanley Cup Finals for the fourth time in franchise history, and avoiding the same fates as St. Louis, Colorado, and Vancouver.

[81] Kurt Sauer and Rob Niedermayer both scored short-handed goals in game two as the Mighty Ducks shut out the Wild again, this time 2–0.