 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 7–June 7, 2004 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Defending champions | New Jersey Devils |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Runner-up | Calgary Flames |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Scoring leader(s) | Brad Richards (Lightning) (26 points) |
| MVP | Brad Richards (Lightning) |
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 championship. It was the Flames' third final appearance, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in 1986 and beating the Canadiens in the 1989 rematch. These playoffs ended up being the last playoff tournament until 2006 due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the following season. 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.[1] This would be the last time that all eastern Canadian teams would make the playoffs together until 2013. This was the last time until 2019 that both Southern California teams, the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, missed the playoffs.
The Flames tied the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers for the most games played (26) in one playoff year (later matched by the 2014 Los Angeles Kings, 2015 Tampa Bay Lightning, and 2019 St. Louis Blues), all under a four-round playoff format. The record was subsequently broken by the Dallas Stars during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, albeit due to the expanded playoff format.
- ^ Bacharach, Eric (April 10, 2018). "Nashville Predators' postseason history: Early round defeats preceeded [sic] 2018 breakthrough". The Tennessean. Retrieved May 31, 2022.