The Finals ended on June 4, 2008, with the Detroit Red Wings defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games to win their eleventh championship and their fourth in eleven seasons.

The San Jose Sharks were the media's favorite to win the Cup going into the playoffs, having gone the entire month of March without a regulation loss and nearly finishing first overall during the regular season.

In the Western Conference semifinals against the Avalanche, Johan Franzen became the first player to score multiple hat tricks in a series since Jari Kurri tallied three in 1985.

Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European (and Swedish) born and trained player to lead an NHL team to the Stanley Cup.

This prompted the NHL to issue an interpretation of the league's rules, stating that an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be called on actions such as the one used by Avery.

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.

Boston qualified as the eighth seed earning 94 points (losing the tie-breaker in total wins with Ottawa) during the regular season.

Boston forward Marc Savard scored the overtime winner in a 2–1 game three victory; the win ended a 13-game losing streak against Montreal by the Bruins.

Patrice Brisebois scored the only goal of game four for the Canadiens and Carey Price made 27 saves for his first career playoff shutout in a 1–0 win.

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the playoffs as the Atlantic Division champions, earning the second seed in the Eastern Conference with 102 points.

After the game the NHL issued an interpretation of the League's rules, stating that an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty would be called on actions such as the one used by Avery.

The Detroit Red Wings entered the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Western Conference regular season and Central Division champions with 115 points.

The San Jose Sharks entered the playoffs as the Pacific Division champions, earning the second seed in the Western Conference with 108 points.

San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov recorded a shutout making 21 saves in game two to help the Sharks tie the series.

Colorado captain Joe Sakic added to his own league record in game one as he scored his eighth and final career playoff overtime goal in a 3–2 victory.

Dallas took advantage of the undisciplined play of the Ducks in game one as they scored four goals on the power-play and Marty Turco made 23 saves in a 4–0 victory.

Stars goaltender Marty Turco came eight seconds short of posting a shutout in game four as he made 28 saves in a 3–1 Dallas victory.

Flyers forward Scottie Upshall broke the tie in game five as he scored the series-clinching goal with just over three minutes remaining in regulation time as Philadelphia earned a 6–4 victory.

Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves to earn his second shutout of the playoffs in game two as the Penguins won 2–0.

Avalanche goaltender Jose Theodore was pulled early in the second period of game one after allowing four goals on 16 shots; the Red Wings held on to win 4–3.

Henrik Zetterberg's power-play goal just past the midway mark of the second period held up as the game-winner for Detroit in game three.

Dallas forward Brad Richards keyed a four-goal outburst in the third period of game two by scoring a goal and three assists to lead the Stars to a 5–2 win.

Milan Michalek broke the tie for San Jose in game four with his power-play goal at 3:26 of the third period as the Sharks avoided elimination with a 2–1 victory.

Pittsburgh forward Maxime Talbot broke the tie in game two just before the midway mark of the third period and Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal for the Penguins to give them their second consecutive 4–2 victory.

Stars' forward Mike Ribeiro was assessed a match penalty at the end of game two for retaliating to an earlier stick infraction with a two-handed slash to Chris Osgood's chest; neither players were suspended.

Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk scored a hat-trick in game three for the Red Wings; while Osgood stopped 16 shots for the 5–2 win.

The Red Wings used the strength of a three-goal first period in game six to eliminate the Stars and return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2002.

[4][5] GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds) National Canadian English-language coverage of the playoffs were split between the CBC and TSN, with the CBC holding exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals.

This marked the last season that all playoff games involving Canadian teams had to air on the CBC instead of TSN, even if it mean they had to be broadcast regionally.

Under new contracts that would take effect in 2009, the CBC and TSN would begin to select the rights to individual series using a draft-like setup, regardless if they involved Canadian teams.