2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs
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| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 7–June 7, 2004 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Runner-up | Calgary Flames |
| Semifinalists | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Scoring leader(s) |
Brad Richards (Tampa Bay) (26 points) |
| MVP | Brad Richards (Tampa Bay) |
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← 2003
2006 →
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The 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League began on April 7, 2004, following the 2003–04 regular season. The playoffs ended with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup with a seven-game series win over the Calgary Flames on June 7. It was Tampa Bay's first Stanley Cup victory. It was the Flames' third final appearance, as they came this far in 1986 and 1989, winning the latter. The 16 qualified teams, eight from each conference, played best-of-seven games for Conference Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals. The winner of each conference proceeded to the Stanley Cup Finals. The format was identical to the one introduced for the 1999 playoffs.
These playoffs marked the first time the Nashville Predators qualified, being in their sixth season in the NHL. Champions Tampa Bay saw playoff action for the third time. This would be the last time that all eastern Canadian teams would make the playoffs together until 2013. Also, this is the last time that neither Los Angeles Kings nor Anaheim Ducks made it to the playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference regular season and Southeast Division champions with 106 points. New York qualified as the eighth seed earning 91 points during the regular season. This was the first playoff series between these two teams. The Islanders won three of the four games in this year's regular season series.
Tampa Bay defeated the Islanders in five games. Games one and two saw goaltenders Nikolai Khabibulin of the Lightning and Rick DiPietro of the Islanders trade 3–0 shutouts, with Tampa Bay winning Game one and New York winning Game two. In Games three and four, Khabibulin shut-out the Islanders winning both games by a score of 3–0. In Game five, Martin St. Louis scored the game-winner four minutes into overtime.
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