Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
For rankings in conference, division leaders are automatically ranked 1–3. These three, plus the next five teams in the conference standings, earn playoff berths at the end of the season.
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Note: GP = Games Played; Mins = Minutes Played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average
Player
|
Team
|
GP
|
Mins
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
GA
|
SO
|
SV
|
GAA
|
---|
Martin Brodeur |
New Jersey |
75 |
4554 |
38 |
26 |
11 |
154 |
11 |
.917 |
2.03
|
Marty Turco |
Dallas |
73 |
4359 |
37 |
21 |
13 |
144 |
9 |
.913 |
1.98
|
Ed Belfour |
Toronto |
59 |
3444 |
34 |
19 |
6 |
122 |
10 |
.918 |
2.13
|
Tomas Vokoun |
Nashville |
73 |
4221 |
34 |
29 |
10 |
178 |
3 |
.909 |
2.53
|
Dan Cloutier |
Vancouver |
60 |
3539 |
33 |
21 |
6 |
134 |
5 |
.914 |
2.27
|
Note: All dates in 2004.
The 2004 playoffs were considered to be wide open with no clear favourite. All of the top teams had weaknesses. Tampa Bay and Boston were both young teams with no history of recent postseason success. Detroit, Ottawa, Colorado, and Philadelphia all had major questions in goal. New Jersey was marred by injuries to Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski, while Vancouver was missing the suspended Todd Bertuzzi.
The first-round Eastern Conference matchups were notable for the number of heated rivalries. The Ottawa Senators met the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fourth time in five years in the always passion-filled Battle of Ontario. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens met in a resumption of the most common of all NHL playoff series, and one which the Canadiens have thoroughly dominated, including an upset win two years prior. The Philadelphia Flyers also played a hated division rival in the New Jersey Devils. The only non-rivalry was the Tampa Bay-New York Islanders series.
The West saw the resumption of the Vancouver-Calgary rivalry, which had been somewhat dormant as the Flames made the playoffs for the first time since 1996. In a less passionate but still interesting matchup, Detroit played division rival Nashville (whom they had struggled against during the regular season) in Nashville's first ever franchise visit to the playoffs. San Jose met the St. Louis Blues, while the always difficult four-five matchup saw Colorado and Dallas meet.
The Calgary Flames, a sixth seed, defeated three straight division champions, the Canucks, the Red Wings and the Sharks to become the first Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in ten years, since the Canucks lost to the Rangers in the Finals in 1994. They faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Islanders in five, swept the Canadiens and defeated the Flyers in seven games.
The Flames and the Lightning battled hard in the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually pushing the series to seven games. By game 5, the Flames took the 3–2 series lead back to Calgary, and in game six, a puck appeared to have gone into the net, which would have made the game 3–2, but the goal light did not go on, the referee did not signal that a goal had been scored, and play went on, no goal counted. Extensive replays showed the play was inconclusive. The Lightning would win the game in double overtime, and go on to win the Stanley Cup with a 2–1 win in game seven, with two goals from Ruslan Fedotenko. Brad Richards, with a team-high 25 points in the playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003–04 (listed with their first team):
- Joffrey Lupul, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
- Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers
- Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
- Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
- Matthew Lombardi, Calgary Flames
- Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
- Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks
- John-Michael Liles, Colorado Avalanche
- Marek Svatos, Colorado Avalanche
- Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
- Michael Ryder, Montreal Canadiens
- Jordin Tootoo, Nashville Predators
- Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators
- Antoine Vermette, Ottawa Senators
- Antero Niittymaki, Philadelphia Flyers
- Joni Pitkanen, Philadelphia Flyers
- Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Tom Preissing, San Jose Sharks
- Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 2003–04 (listed with their last team):
- Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche
- Steve Thomas, Detroit Red Wings
- Adam Oates, Edmonton Oilers
- Igor Larionov, New Jersey Devils
- Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
- Cliff Ronning, New York Islanders
- Mark Messier, New York Rangers
- Vincent Damphousse, San Jose Sharks
- Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
- Ron Francis, Toronto Maple Leafs