| 1993 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * indicates overtime period | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Inglewood: Great Western Forum (3, 4) Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Jacques Demers Los Angeles: Barry Melrose | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Guy Carbonneau Los Angeles: Wayne Gretzky | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Referees | Andy Van Hellemond (1, 4) Kerry Fraser (2) Terry Gregson (3, 5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | June 1–9, 1993 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Patrick Roy (Canadiens) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Kirk Muller (3:51, second, G5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Canadiens: Guy Carbonneau (2019) Patrick Roy (2006) Denis Savard (2000) Kings: Rob Blake (2014) Wayne Gretzky (1999) Jari Kurri (2001) Luc Robitaille (2009) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | Canada: (English): CBC (French): SRC United States: (National): ESPN (Los Angeles area): Prime Ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | (CBC) Bob Cole, Harry Neale, and Dick Irvin Jr. (SRC) Claude Quenneville and Gilles Tremblay (ESPN) Gary Thorne and Bill Clement (Prime Ticket) Bob Miller and Jim Fox | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1993 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1992–93 season, and the culmination of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Los Angeles Kings and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the first appearance in the Final for the Kings and the first appearance since the 1920 Stanley Cup Finals for a team based on the west coast of the United States. It was also the 34th appearance for Montreal, their first since the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens defeated the Kings in five games to win the team's 24th Stanley Cup. The year 1993 was the 100th anniversary of the first awarding of the Stanley Cup in 1893, and the first Finals to start in the month of June. To date, the 1993 Canadiens are the last Stanley Cup championship team to be composed solely of North American-born players, and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup.
The series is remembered for Kings defenceman Marty McSorley's penalty late in the third period of game two for using an illegal stick, in what proved to be the turning point in the 1993 Cup Finals. When McSorley entered the penalty box, Los Angeles held a 1–0 series lead, and a 2–1 score in the contest. The Canadiens then went on to score the equalizer on the ensuing power play, won game two in overtime, and then defeated the Kings in the next three games to win the Cup.
From the moment that McSorley was called for the penalty, the Kings failed to win another postseason game for the remainder of the 20th century, losing all the remaining games of the Finals, failing to qualify for the playoffs in five of the next seven seasons, and being swept out in the first round the other two times. Their next postseason win did not come until 2001, against the Detroit Red Wings. Meanwhile, the Canadiens did not appear in the Stanley Cup Finals again until 2021.
This was the first of two consecutive Finals series to have former captains of the Edmonton Oilers' 1980s dynasty attempting to win a Stanley Cup with their new teams; while Wayne Gretzky (who was the Oilers' captain on the first four out of five championship teams) ended up on the losing end of the 1993 series, Mark Messier (the Oilers' captain when they last won the Cup in 1990) got his chance with the New York Rangers in 1994, and that time, he succeeded in helping them end a 54-year championship drought.