Game one

In game one Martin Brodeur held the Ducks off the scoreboard while the Devils players continually dominated the Ducks. Sergei Brylin scored the winning goal in the second period and the Devils went on to shut out the Mighty Ducks 3–0.

Game two

In a virtual repeat of game one, Patrik Elias scored the winning goal in the second period and the Devils shut out Anaheim 3–0 again.

Game three

Down 2–0 after two games, the series shifted to the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Southern California. Game three was remembered for the clumsy mistake from Martin Brodeur when he accidentally dropped his stick when the puck came to him; the puck deflected off his fallen stick and into the net to give the Ducks a lucky break and a 2–1 lead. The Devils would later tie the game, only to lose in overtime. Over the mistake with his stick, Brodeur later claimed, "It was just one of those once in a lifetime things."

Game four

Game four had no scoring throughout regulation and was a battle between goaltenders Brodeur and Giguere. But Anaheim again came out on top in overtime, winning 1–0 and tying the series 2–2.

Game five

Game five, returning to the Meadowlands, saw a continual battle for the first half of the game. With the game tied 3–3 in the second period, the Devils took the lead with a deflection goal by Jay Pandolfo that was initially waved off by referees due to an apparent kicking motion with the skates. Video replays, however, showed that there was no distinct kicking motion from the skates, and thus the referees' call was reversed, resulting in a goal. This would prove to deflate the Ducks for the rest of the game, as Jamie Langenbrunner scored two more goals for the Devils to give New Jersey a 6–3 win and a three games to two series lead.

Game six

With New Jersey looking to clinch the series, game six in Anaheim saw the Mighty Ducks return the favor of game five to the Devils with complete dominance throughout the game. Quite possibly the most remembered moment of the entire series came when the Ducks were winning 3–1 in the second period. Ducks captain Paul Kariya failed to see Devils captain Scott Stevens approaching after he passed the puck, and he was subsequently checked by the defensemen in a hit similar to the check that knocked out Eric Lindros during the 2000 playoffs and caused Lindros to miss the next season. Kariya was lying motionless for a few minutes, where he was then escorted to the locker room. Kariya, however, unexpectedly returned to the bench minutes later. About 11 minutes after the hit, Kariya fired a slapshot that got past Brodeur. This helped the Ducks win the game 5–2 and sent the series to a seventh and final game.

Game seven

Game seven in New Jersey saw the Devils once more completely dominate the Ducks. The game-winning goal was scored by Michael Rupp. Rupp became the first player in Stanley Cup history to have his first playoff goal be the Stanley Cup winner. Additionally, Jeff Friesen dominated his former Mighty Duck teammates, scoring the game's final two goals to solidify the victory. The 3–0 win gave the Devils their third Stanley Cup victory, as Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run. The Mighty Ducks, however, didn't leave empty-handed; for his stellar play throughout the playoffs and Finals, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player (MVP) of the playoffs. He became only the fifth player, and fourth goaltender, in NHL history to have won the trophy as a member of the losing team, joining Detroit's Roger Crozier (1966), the St. Louis Blues' Glenn Hall (1968), and the Philadelphia Flyers' Reggie Leach (1976, a right winger) and Ron Hextall (1987). He is also the most recent such Smythe winner to date.

This was only the third time in NHL history, after 1955 and 1965, that the home team won every Finals game.^[2]

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
21		Dan Bylsma	RW	L	2000–01	Grand Haven, Michigan	first
3		Keith Carney – A	D	L	2001–02	Providence, Rhode Island	first
23		Stanislav Chistov	LW	R	2001	Chelyabinsk, Soviet Union	first
11		Marc Chouinard	C	R	1995–96	Charlesbourg, Quebec	first
29		Martin Gerber	G	L	2002–03	Burgdorf, Switzerland	first
35		Jean-Sebastien Giguere	G	L	2000–01	Montreal, Quebec	first
28		Niclas Havelid	D	L	1999	Stockholm, Sweden	first
9		Paul Kariya – C	LW	L	1993	North Vancouver, British Columbia	first
10		Jason Krog	C	R	2002–03	Fernie, British Columbia	first
12		Mike Leclerc	LW	L	1995	Winnipeg, Manitoba	first
44		Rob Niedermayer	LW	L	2002–03	Cassiar, British Columbia	second (1996)
77		Adam Oates	C	R	2002–03	Weston, Ontario	second (1998)
2		Fredrik Olausson	D	R	2002–03	Nybro, Sweden	second (2002)
8		Sandis Ozolinsh	D	L	2002–03	Riga, Soviet Union	second (1996)
26		Samuel Pahlsson	C	L	2000–01	Ånge, Sweden	first
20		Steve Rucchin – (A)	C	L	1994	Thunder Bay, Ontario	first
24		Ruslan Salei	D	L	1996	Minsk, Soviet Union	first
34		Kurt Sauer	D	R	2000	St. Cloud, Minnesota	first
22		Alexei Smirnov	LW	L	2000	Kalinin, Soviet Union	first
39		Petr Sykora	RW	L	2002–03	Plzeň, Czechoslovakia	third (2000, 2001)
32		Steve Thomas	RW	L	2002–03	Stockport, England	first
5		Vitaly Vishnevskiy	D	L	1998	Kharkiv, Soviet Union	first

New Jersey Devils

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
6		Tommy Albelin	D	L	2001–02	Stockholm, Sweden	second (1995)
9		Jiri Bicek	RW	L	1997	Košice, Czechoslovakia	first
30		Martin Brodeur	G	L	1990	Montreal, Quebec	fourth (1995, 2000, 2001)
18		Sergei Brylin	LW	L	1992	Moscow, Soviet Union	fourth (1995, 2000, 2001)
3		Ken Daneyko	D	L	1982	Windsor, Ontario	fourth (1995, 2000, 2001)
26		Patrik Elias – A	LW	L	1994	Třebíč, Czechoslovakia	third (2000, 2001)
12		Jeff Friesen	LW	L	2002–03	Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan	first
14		Brian Gionta	RW	R	1998	Rochester, New York	first
23		Scott Gomez	C	L	1998	Anchorage, Alaska	third (2000, 2001)
15		Jamie Langenbrunner	RW	R	2001–02	Cloquet, Minnesota	third (1999, 2000)
11		John Madden	C	L	1997–98	Toronto, Ontario	third (2000, 2001)
29		Grant Marshall	RW	R	2002–03	Port Credit, Ontario	third (1999, 2000)
19		Jim McKenzie	LW	L	2000–01	Gull Lake, Saskatchewan	second (2001)
27		Scott Niedermayer – A	D	L	1991	Edmonton, Alberta	fourth (1995, 2000, 2001)
25		Joe Nieuwendyk	C	L	2001–02	Oshawa, Ontario	fourth (1989, 1999 2000)
20		Jay Pandolfo	LW	L	1993	Winchester, Massachusetts	third (2000, 2001)
28		Brian Rafalski	D	R	1999–2000	Dearborn, Michigan	third (2000, 2001)
21		Pascal Rheaume	C	L	2002–03	Quebec City, Quebec	first
16		Michael Rupp	RW	R	2000	Cleveland, Ohio	first
35		Corey Schwab	G	L	2002–03	North Battleford, Saskatchewan	first
2		Richard Smehlik	D	L	2002–03	Ostrava, Czechoslovakia	second (1999)
4		Scott Stevens – C	D	L	1991–92	Kitchener, Ontario	fourth (1995, 2000, 2001)
24		Turner Stevenson	RW	R	2000–01	Prince George, British Columbia	second (2001)
10		Oleg Tverdovsky	D	L	2002–03	Donetsk, Soviet Union	first
5		Colin White	D	L	1996	New Glasgow, Nova Scotia	third (2000, 2001)

Players

Stanley Cup engraving

• Marcel Pronovost won his eighth Stanley Cup – five as a player with Detroit in 1950, 1952, 1954–55 and Toronto in 1967, as well as three championships as a scout for New Jersey in 1995, 2000 and 2003. He set the record for years between his first and last Stanley Cup wins with 53 years.
• Christian Berglund(LW) played 38 games for New Jersey. His name was left off the Cup because he was sent to the minors before the trade deadline.
• Jeff Friesen was the first player engraved on the Stanley Cup with a full middle name, as "JEFF DARYL FRIESEN." Some players in the past had their middle initial included along with their first name on the Stanley Cup. The 2003 New Jersey team included nine other players who were listed with an initial and 2 full names.
• When Louis St. Jacques engraved the Replica Stanley Cup she realized she had left too much space between winning teams. So in order to make sure there was enough room on the Stanley Cup for 2004 winning team 2 names were changed Jacques J.Caron was changed to J.J.Caron, and Larry Robinson has changed L.Robinson (See 2004 Stanley Cup Finals)

Three Stanley Cups with New Jersey

New Jersey won three Stanley Cups in short succession: 1995, 2000 and 2003. These players and staff were members of all three Stanley Cup Championships.

Martin Brodeur, Sergei Brylin, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, Bobby Carpenter Jr. (one as a player, two as an assistant coach), Lou Lamoriello, Larry Robinson, Jacques Caron, Claude Carrier, David Conte, Milt Fisher, Dan Labraaten, Marcel Provonost, Mike Vasalani, Peter McMullen (left Cup in 2003).