Schedule and 2001 Results
Regular Season Records: Colorado 52-16-10-4=118pts, New Jersey 48-19-12-3=111pts
Game 1 on Saturday, 26 May: New Jersey loses at Colorado, 5-goals-nil
Game 2 on Tuesday, 29 May: New Jersey wins at Colorado, 2-goals-1
Game 3 on Thursday, 31 May: Colorado wins at New Jersey, 3-goals-1
Game 4 on Saturday, 02 June: Colorado loses at New Jersey, 3-goals-2
Game 5 on Monday, 04 June: New Jersey wins at Colorado, 4-goals-1
Game 6 on Thursday, 07 June: Colorado wins at New Jersey, 4-goals-nil
Game 7 on Saturday, 09 June: New Jersey loses at Colorado, 3-goals-1

OVERALL SUBSTANCE: Colorado defeats New Jersey WLWLLWW.
The WLWLLWW win of series 837 by Colorado over New Jersey is the 2nd in NHL Finals-round best-of-7 series, the 5th in NHL best-of-7 series (all rounds), and the 10th in NHL, NBA, or MLB best-of-7 series.

SERIES NOTES: Game 7: Colorado defeats New Jersey 3-goals-1 to win the 2001 Stanley Cup; in Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, the home team had scored first in five of the ten previous such games -- in those five games, the home team posted a 4-1 record; the one road team win in that situation was by the Montreal Canadiens in 1971 vs. Chicago, in the last road Game 7 win in the Stanley Cup Finals; in the five games where the home team scored first, the home team also scored the second goal of the game -- as was again the case this time; with the series 837 win, Colorado improves its best-of-7 series record to 14-4 (and 12-2 when Game 1 is played at home), while New Jersey has its best-of-7 series record fall to 16-10 (and 8-6 when Game 1 is played on the road); by winning Game 7, Colorado posts a 16-7 record in 2001 best-of-7 NHL playoff games to bring their all-time best-of-7 game record as the Colorado Avalanche to 67-38 (.638) -- that record is the best best-of-7 game record for an NHL, NBA, or MLB franchise, just ahead of the #2 team (and the YankeeNets LLC partners of the New Jersey Devils), the New York MLB Yankees at 138-81 (.630) -- note that if New Jersey had defeated Colorado, Colorado's record would have been 66-39 (.629 -- just behind the Yankees) . . . Game 6: Colorado shuts out New Jersey 4-goals-nil to tie series 837 at 3-games-all, thus forcing a dramatic Game 7 in Colorado on Saturday night; Colorado thus becomes only the third team to shut out a playoff opponent in both Game 1 and Game 6 -- the last team to do so was the New Jersey Devils, in series 807 (vs. Toronto in the 2000 Qtrs); Ever since the NHL made its Prelim round a best-of-7 series in 1987, the game record of the home team has been 34-38; from 1968 (the first season of best-of-7 Qtrs) through 1986, the game record of the home team in the Finals has been 63-33 . . . Game 5: New Jersey defeats Colorado 4-goals-1 to take a series 837 lead of 3-games-2; the win gives New Jersey a best-of-7 Finals Game 5 record of 1-1 (1-0 on the road), while the loss drops Colorado to a best-of-7 Finals Game 5 record of 0-1 (0-1 at home) . . . Game 4: New Jersey defeats Colorado 3-goals-2 to tie series 837 at 2-games-all; NHL teams trailing by one goal as late as 48:08 into regulation (as Jersey had in Game 4) had only a 138-649 (.175) record in best-of-7 NHL playoff games from 1939 through 2000; from 1939 through 2000, never before had a team scored the opening goal 3:58 into the first period (as Colorado did Saturday); once before did a home team score 3:42 into the second period to tie a best-of-7 game (1939-2000) at 1-goal-all as New Jersey did on Saturday -- the Montreal Canadiens did so in Game 1 of their 1989 Qtrs series vs. Boston in Montreal, and won the game 3-goals-2; once before did a road team both open the scoring and score 13:54 into the second period to take a 2-goals-1 lead in a best-of-7 game (1939-2000) as Colorado did on Saturday -- the New Jersey Devils did so in Game 5 of their 1995 Prelim series at Boston, and won the game 3-goals-2 (and eliminated Boston en route to their 1995 Stanley Cup); Colorado sees its best-of-7 road Finals game record fall to 3-1 with its Game 4 loss, and sees its best-of-7 overall Finals game record fall to 6-2 with the loss; New Jersey improves its best-of-7 home Finals game record to 4-3, and improves its best-of-7 overall Finals game record to 10-4; the last team to open a best-of-7 series WLWL @ HHVV and win the series (thus setting a favorable precedent for Colorado) was the team Colorado defeated in series 836 -- the St. Louis Blues (over San Jose in series 830, in the 2001 NHL Prelim round); the last team to open a best-of-7 series LWLW @ VVHH and win the series (thus setting a favorable precedent for New Jersey) was the New York NBA Knickerbockers (over Miami in series 814, in the 2000 NBA Qtrs round) . . . Game 3: Colorado defeats New Jersey 3-goals-1 to take a series 837 lead of 2-games-1; by going WLW @ HHV through the first three games of series 837, the 2001 Colorado Avalanche are following the exact same pattern set by the 2000 NHL Champion New Jersey Devils in the 2000 NHL Finals; New Jersey scored the first goal of the game 3:16 into regulation -- in 2369 best-of-7 format NHL playoff games from 1939 through 2000, twice before has the game's first goal been scored 3:16 into regulation (by the Washington Capitals in a series 560 [1990 Qtrs] Game 5 road win, and by the Edmonton Oilers in a series 728 [1997 Prelim] Game 1 road loss); NHL road teams trailing by one goal as late as 10:37 into regulation (as Colorado had in Game 3) had only a 157-387 (.289) record in best-of-7 NHL playoff games from 1939 through 2000; the last team to fall behind 2-games-1 in a best-of-7 NHL Finals (as New Jersey has) but win the series is the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991, while the last team to fall behind 2-games-1 in a best-of-7 Finals (NHL, NBA, or MLB) but win the series is the Devils' brother organization -- the New York MLB Yankees -- in 1996 . . . Game 2: New Jersey defeats Colorado 2-goals-1 to even series 837 at 1-game-all; the loss is the first for the Colorado Avalanche in best-of-7 NHL Finals games (leaving Colorado with a 5-1 Finals game record and a 3-1 record at home), while the Devils improve their overall best-of-7 NHL Finals road game record to 6-1 (and 9-3 overall in best-of-7 Finals); New Jersey trailed in the game 1-game-nil as late as 14:28 into the first period -- in best-of-7 NHL playoff games from 1939 through 2000, when the road team trailed by one goal as late as 14:28 into regulation play, its game record was 149-413 (.265); in best-of-7 NHL playoff series from 1939 through 2000, when a team wins Game 1 by five goals and loses Game 2 by one goal, its series record is 1-0 (the precedent is provided by the Boston Bruins in series 247, in which they defeated Toronto 4-games-1 in their 1972 Qtrs series) . . . Game 1: Colorado shuts out New Jersey 5-goals-nil to take a 1-game-nil lead in series 837; the shutout is the fifth in Game 1 of a best-of-7 NHL Finals series, and the second-largest shutout in Game 1 of a best-of-7 NHL Finals series (Montreal shut out Toronto 6-goals-nil in 1947); overall, the shutout is the 66th NHL best-of-7 Game 1 shutout (and the series record of the teams achieving the best-of-7 Game 1 shutout is 43-22 (.662)); in best-of-7 NHL Finals, the Game 1 winner at home has won the last seven such series (and 13 of the last 15 such series in the past quarter-century) -- the last such Game 1 winner at home to lose the series was Calgary in 1986; in best-of-7 NHL series from 1939 through the 2001 Semis, the team winning Game 1 by a five-goal margin (irrespective of site) has posted a 14-1 series record, with the sole loss occurring in the first such series (series 77: Toronto shut out Detroit 5-goals-nil in Game 1 of the 1950 Semis, but lost the series 4-games-3); Colorado improves its best-of-7 Finals games record to 5-0, thereby pulling ahead of the 4-0 Golden State NBA Warriors for the best best-of-7 NHL Finals games record; New Jersey sees its best-of-7 Finals games record fall to 8-3 . . . Pre-series: Superlatives mark the records of the combatants in series 837 -- the 2001 NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils; Colorado enters the 2001 NHL Finals with a perfect 4-0 record in best-of-7 Finals games, which ties the Avalanche with the Golden State NBA Warriors (also 4-0) for the highest winning percentage of any NHL, NBA, or MLB team in best-of-7 Finals series, although the New Jersey Devils are tied for third overall (at 8-2, in a tie with the Pittsburgh NHL Penguins); through series 836, Colorado has a best-of-7 games record of 63-35 (.643), which is the highest such winning percentage of any NHL, NBA, or MLB franchise; New Jersey's perfect record of 5-0 in road best-of-7 NHL Finals games is the best such record among NHL, NBA, or MLB franchises -- Colorado at 2-0 is tied for second (with the Golden State NBA Warriors, which are also 2-0 on the road in best-of-7 Finals-round play); despite enduring a seven-game series in its NHL Qtrs round and facing a well-rested opponent which had swept its NHL Qtrs round series, Colorado not only ousted St. Louis in five games of their NHL Semis series but also allowed St. Louis the lead in goals for only 52 seconds of a series that lasted 275 minutes 14 seconds (0.31%); by holding Pittsburgh scoreless in Pittsburgh in their NHL Semis series, New Jersey became only the fourth team (in 440 best-of-7 NHL playoff series from 1939 through the 2001 NHL Semis) to shut out its opponent on the opponent's ice -- and the first to do so in a best-of-7 series lasting longer than four games; Colorado finished with seven more regular-season points than New Jersey -- in best-of-7 NHL playoff series from 1939 through the 2001 NHL Semis in which a team finished with seven more regular-season points than its opponent, the series record of the team with the seven additional points was 11-4 (3-0 in best-of-7 NHL Finals), with the Washington Capitals achieving the last series upset in this situation by defeating the New York Rangers in series 560 (in the 1990 NHL Qtrs).