1999 Stanley Cup Finals

"No Goal" redirects here. For the sporting call, see No goal.

1999 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Dallas Stars 2 4 2 1 2 2 4 Buffalo Sabres 3 2 1 2 0 1 2
Location(s)	Dallas (Reunion Arena) (1,2,5) Buffalo (HSBC Arena) (3,4,6)
Coaches	Dallas: Ken Hitchcock Buffalo: Lindy Ruff
Captains	Dallas: Derian Hatcher Buffalo: Michael Peca
Dates	June 8–June 19
MVP	Joe Nieuwendyk (Dallas)
Series-winning goal	Brett Hull (14:51, 3OT, G6)
Stanley Cup Finals

The 1999 Stanley Cup Finals were played in the 106th year of the Stanley Cup. The series had the Eastern Conference champion Buffalo Sabres and the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. The Sabres were led by captain Michael Peca, coach Lindy Ruff and goalie Dominik Hasek. The Stars were led by captain Derian Hatcher, coach Ken Hitchcock and goalie Ed Belfour. It was the Sabres' second finals appearance, the first being a loss to Philadelphia in 1975. It was the third appearance for the Stars, and their first since moving to Dallas from Minnesota in 1993. Minnesota lost the finals to the New York Islanders in 1981 and to Pittsburgh in 1991.

Paths to the Final

Further information: 1999 Stanley Cup Playoffs

See also: 1998–99 Buffalo Sabres season and 1998–99 Dallas Stars season

Buffalo defeated Ottawa, Boston and Toronto to make it to the finals. Dallas defeated Edmonton, St. Louis and Colorado to advance to the finals.

The series

Game one

The opening games was in Dallas and it was the visiting Buffalo Sabres who struck first, winning 3–2 in overtime. Dallas led 1-0 on a power play goal by Brett Hull, but Stu Barnes and Wayne Primeau scored 5:04 apart in the third to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Jere Lehtinen tied the game in the final minute of the third period, but Jason Woolley scored at 15:30 of overtime to give the Sabres the series lead.

Scoring Summary
First Period
Dal Hull 6 (pp) (Modano, Lehtinen), 10:17

Second Period
none

Third Period
Buf Barnes 5 (Juneau, Smehlik), 8:33
Buf Primeau 3 (pp) (Zhitnik, Smehlik), 13:37
Dal Lehtinen 8 (Modano, Zubov), 19:11

Overtime
Buf Woolley 4 (Brown), 15:30

Game two

Dallas struck back in the second game, winning 4–2. After a scoreless opening period, the teams traded goals in the middle frame. Craig Ludwig's first goal in 102 playoff games gave Dallas it's first lead of the game in the third period, but Alexei Zhitnik tied the game 71 seconds later. Brett Hull scored on a slap shot with 2:50 remaining in the game, and Derian Hatcher's empty net goal sealed the win for Dallas, and evened the series at 1 game apiece. Mike Modano left the game with approximately ten minutes to play after suffering a broken wrist.

Scoring Summary
First Period
No scoring

Second Period
Buf Peca 5 (pp) (Woolley, Satan), 7:22.
Dal Langenbrunner 10 (Matvichuk, Nieuwendyk), 18:26.

Third Period
Dal Ludwig 1 (Skrudland), 4:25.
Buf Zhitnik 4 (power play) (unassisted), 5:36.
Dal Hull 7 (Hrkac, Chambers), 17:10.
Dal Hatcher 1 (empty net) (Zubov), 19:34.

Game three

The series shifted to Buffalo for games three and four. It was the visiting Dallas Stars turn to win one on the road, winning 2–1. With Modano hampered by his wrist injury, and Hull leaving the game with a groin injury, Joe Nieuwendyk's two goals, including his seventh game-winner of the playoffs, led Dallas to the win.

Scoring Summary
First Period
No scoring

Second Period
Buf Barnes 6 (Smehlik, B Holzinger), 7:51.
Dal Nieuwendyk 10 (Reid, Langenbrunner), 15:33.

Third Period
Dal Nieuwendyk 11 (Langenbrunner, Reid), 9:35.

Game four

Facing a two games to one deficit in the series and a must-win situation in game four, the Sabres came through with a 2–1 victory.

Scoring Summary
First Period
Buf Sanderson 4 (unassisted), 8:09.
Dal Lehtinen 9 (power play) (Modano, Hatcher), 10:14.

Second Period
Buf Ward 7 (unassisted), 7:37.

Third Period
No scoring.

Game five

With the series tied at two games apiece and returning to Dallas, Ed Belfour made 23 saves to shut out the Sabres, and move Dallas within one win of the Stanley Cup.

Scoring Summary
First Period
No scoring.

Second Period
Dal Sydor 3 (power play) (Modano, Zubov), 2:23.

Third Period
Dal Verbeek 3 (Matvichuk, Modano), 15:21.

Game six

The series shifted back to Marine Midland Arena for the sixth game on June 19, 1999, where the Dallas Stars would seek their first Stanley Cup, while the Buffalo Sabres would fight for a win to extend the series to a seventh and final game.

Dallas, which allowed the first goal in the earlier two games played at Marine Midland Arena, took a 1-0 lead on one of its few scoring chances in the first period when Lehtinen scored his tenth goal of the playoffs at 8:09. The Sabres tied the game with their first goal since the third period of Game 4 when Barnes' wrist shot eluded Belfour with 1:39 to play in the second period.

The game remained tied at 1 through the third period and the first two overtime periods, despite several chances by both teams to score. In the third overtime period, Brett Hull scored on a rebound from the edge of the crease over a sprawling Dominik Hasek to end the series and award Dallas their first Stanley Cup.

Scoring Summary
First Period
Dal Lehtinen 10 (Modano, Ludwig), 8:09.

Second Period
Buf Barnes 7 (Primeau, Zhitnik), 18:21.

Third Period
No scoring.

First Overtime
No scoring.

Second Overtime
No scoring.

Third Overtime
Dal Hull 8 (Lehtinen, Modano), 14:51.

Dallas (1) vs. Buffalo (7) Date Away Home Tue, June 8 Buffalo 3 2 Dallas OT Thu, June 10 Buffalo 2 4 Dallas Sat, June 12 Dallas 2 1 Buffalo Tue, June 15 Dallas 1 2 Buffalo Thu, June 17 Buffalo 0 2 Dallas Sat, June 19 Dallas 2 1 Buffalo 3OT Dallas wins series 4—2 and the Stanley Cup Joe Nieuwendyk (Dallas) wins Conn Smythe Trophy

"No Goal"

File:Hasek hull goal.jpg

An overhead shot of Hull's controversial goal

The phrase is associated with a controversial goal scored by Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. When Hull scored his series-clinching goal in triple overtime of game six, his foot was in the crease but the puck was not. During the middle of the season, the NHL sent out a memo clarifying the "skate in the crease" rule that allowed goals in instances where the goalscorer established possession of the puck prior to entering the crease. On this play, Hull kicked the puck with his left skate (while still outside of the crease) into a shooting position. Because of that action, he became the possessor of the puck prior to his skate entering the crease, which the NHL determined made the goal legitimate. Others have pointed out that similar plays were called differently during the regular season. Many Buffalo fans felt that this call was incorrectly made and the term "No Goal!" became their rallying cry.

Hull's goal ended the series, and the Stars were awarded the Cup. In 1999, it was illegal to score a goal if an offensive player's skate entered the crease before the puck did. At the time, even Dallas Morning News hockey writer Keith Gave questioned the legality of the goal. NHL officials, however, maintained that Hull's two shots in the goal mouth constituted a single possession of the puck since the puck deflected off Hasek, and their ruling stood, citing that they were going to change the rule the following year anyway. Al Strachan, Hockey Writer of the Toronto Sun, and all time NHL scoring leader Wayne Gretzky are on record as saying that the goal was legally scored and should have stood. NHL Director of Officiating Bryan Lewis said there was no crease violation because "Hull had possession of the puck when his skate entered the crease."

Dallas Stars 1999 Stanley Cup Champions

Players

  Centres

  Wingers

• 11 Blake Sloan
• 12 Mike Keane
• 14 Dave Reid
• 15 Jamie Langenbrunner
• 16 Pat Verbeek
• 17 Brent Severyn††
• 22 Brett Hull
• 26 Jere Lehtinen
• 29 Grant Marshall
• 33 Benoit Hogue
• 41 Tony Hrkac

  Defencemen

• 2 Derian Hatcher (Captain)
• 3 Craig Ludwig (A. Capt.)
• 5 Darryl Sydor
• 24 Richard Matvichuk
• 56 Sergei Zubov (A. Capt.)
• 27 Shawn Chambers
• 6 Doug Lidster (D)†
• 37 Brad Lukowich (D)†

  Goaltenders

• 20 Ed Belfour
• 1 Roman Turek

Coaching and administrative staff

• Thomas O. Hicks (Chairman/Owner/Governor), Jim Lites (President), Bob Gainey (Vice President/General Manager)
• Doug Armstrong (Ass’t General Manager), Craig Button (Director of Player Personnel), Ken Hitchcock (Head Coach)
• Doug Jarvis, Rick Wilson (Ass’t Coaches), Rick McLaughlin, Jeff Cogen (Vice Presidents)
• Bill Strong (Vice President), Tim Bernhardt (Director-Amateur Scouting), Doug Overton (Director-Pro Scouting)
• Bob Gernader (Chief Scout), Stu McGregor (Western Scout), Dave Suprenant (Medical Trainer), Dave Smith (Equipment Manager),
• Rick Matthews (Ass’t Equipment Manager), Jean-Jacque McQueen (Strength-Conditioning Coach),
• Rick St. Croix (Goaltending Consultant), Dan Stuchal (Director of Team Services), Larry Kelly (Director of Public Relations),
• Leon Friedrich† (Video Coordinator), Craig Lowery† (Trainer Ass't), Doug Warmen† (Equipment Ass't).

Stanley Cup engravings

• ††Brent Severyn played only 30 games, missing 22 regular season games due to injuries, and was a healthy scratch for the playoffs. Dallas included him on the Stanley Cup, because he spent the whole season with Dallas.
• † Members were included on the 1999 Stanley Cup Picture, but were not engraved on the cup.
• In February, Dallas added Doug Lidster from the Canadian National Team, and Brad Lukowich, from the minor league Kalamazoo Wings. Lidster played 17 regular season and 4 playoff games. Lukowich played 14 regular season and 8 playoff games (2 games in conference finals). They were left off the cup even though they played in the playoffs.
• Mike Modano, Shawn Chambers were the only players on the roster remaining from 1991 Minnesota North Stars. However Chambers left the Stars. He won the Stanley Cup in 1995 with New Jersey, before rejoining the Stars. Team was coached by Bob Gainey, the GM of the 1999 Dallas Stars, that lost in 6 games to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas after the 1993 season.

See also

• 1998–99 NHL season
• 1999 Stanley Cup Playoffs
• List of Stanley Cup champions