1993 Stanley Cup Game 6 vs New York Rangers

Lore & Background

The 1993 Final is often remembered as a clash of two eras. The Rangers, with Gartner, Leetch, and a core that had been chasing the Cup since the 1940s, represented the old New York hockey establishment. The North Stars, a franchise that had just won its first Cup in 1981 and was building a new identity around Modano, represented the next wave. The series swung back and forth—New York took two games in the middle of the series, forcing a Game 6 back at MSG where the Stars could close it out. Ed Belfour's goaltending was the fulcrum of the Stars' run. His quick-release save style, his ability to freeze shooters with a glove stop at the last instant, made him a nightmare for Rangers forwards who had grown up idolizing the Garden's goaltending tradition. Modano, meanwhile, was still raw at 22 but already possessed the speed and vision that would define a generation of NHL centers. His two-way play in the final games—scoring, setting up mates, and killing penalties—gave the Stars a completeness the Rangers could not match. The bittersweet footnote for Stars fans: the team won this Cup as Minnesota. Within weeks, the franchise was on a plane to Dallas. The 1993 Cup thus became the first chapter of the Stars' identity, a trophy that arrived in a new city with new fans who inherited the legacy. For the Rangers, the loss extended their drought by one more year—they would finally lift the Cup in 1994, making 1993 the last season of the old order before the pendulum swung back to New York.

In Their Own Story

The Garden was a cathedral of noise. Forty thousand voices shook the glass as the Stars' bench huddled in the final period, Modano's stick tapping the ice in a metronome rhythm, Belfour's mask fogged with breath and adrenaline. The Rangers' bench was a tableau of exhaustion—Leetch's shoulders heaving, Gartner's jaw set in that familiar grimace. A faceoff in the Rangers' zone. The puck drops. Modano wins it clean, feeds the slot, and the play explodes into the crease. Belfour, watching from the bench, already knows. He knows because he has been in this crease for forty-two minutes and has not let one through. The puck caroms off a Rangers glove, off the ice, off a Stars skate, and dies at his feet. The Garden erupts—not in celebration, but in the stunned, disbelieving roar of a city watching its dream slip through its fingers one more time. Modano lifts his stick. Belfour peels off his mask. The Cup is theirs. Again.

Reader's Guide

The stakes: the Stars needed a Game 6 win at Madison Square Garden to close out the series 4–2 and claim the Stanley Cup, while the Rangers—chasing their first title since 1940—needed a victory to force a Game 7. The game opened with the Rangers pressing, Gartner and Leetch driving the offensive zone and testing Belfour early. The Stars absorbed the pressure, Belfour making the kind of sprawling, one-glove saves that became his signature, and the first period ended level. In the second, Modano found his range. A breakaway, a deke, a wrist shot top shelf—the Garden went quiet. The Stars built a lead, their speed and forecheck suffocating the Rangers' transition game. Leetch and the Rangers' defense scrambled to contain the Modano-Hull combination, but the Stars' pace was a half-beat faster. New York fought back in the third, Gartner orchestrating from the point and the Rangers cutting the deficit. But Belfour was a wall. Every attempt, every rebound, every scramble in front of the net ended in his pads. The final minutes stretched into eternity, the Rangers pulling their goalie, throwing everything at a Belfour who stood in his crease like a sentinel. The final horn. The Stars celebrate in the Rangers' own building. The franchise that would become the Dallas Stars holds the Cup, and the 53-year New York drought stretches to 54. The Stars' championship pedigree is born in that Garden, and Modano—22 years old, already a legend—carries the trophy into a new city, a new name, a new era.

Did You Know?

• The 1993 Cup was won by the Minnesota North Stars; the franchise relocated to Dallas just weeks later, making this the first championship in what became the Stars' dynasty.
• The Rangers had not won a Stanley Cup since 1940, meaning the 1993 loss extended their drought to 53 years before they finally broke through in 1994.
• Mike Modano was only 22 years old during the 1993 Final, already the face of the franchise and the youngest player to lead a team to a Cup at that point in his career.
• Ed Belfour's quick-release, glove-dominant style made him a generational goaltender; his 1993 Final performance cemented his reputation as one of the NHL's most elusive stoppers.