The Aftermath
While Game 1 was a great moment for the Hurricanes, it would be the last great moment they would have in the series. The Red Wings evened the series in Game 2 with a 3-1 victory before outlasting the Canes in triple overtime in Raleigh for Game 3 on the way to four straight wins and the Stanley Cup. Detroit outscored Carolina 14-7 in the series, with Jeff O'Neill scoring three of the team's seven goals.
There were 11 future Hall-of-Famers in this series, ten of whom played for the Detroit Red Wings. Their nine top scorers from the regular season all made it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Among them were captain Steve Yzerman, regular-season scoring leader Brendan Shanahan, finals scoring leader Sergei Fedorov, and the top two vote-getters for the 2002 Norris Trophy, Niklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios.
The Hurricanes' lone Hall-of-Famer was, obviously, Ron Francis, who finished second on the team in scoring for the series. Francis would go on to be named the 2002 Lady Byng winner while finishing sixth in Hart voting. Francis played another year and a half with the team before being dealt at the 2004 trade deadline to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he would finish his career.
Francis would become the first player in franchise history to have his number raised to the rafter. On January 28, 2006, the team honored their former captain and franchise leader in scoring by ensuring that #10 would never be worn again. Behind multi-point nights from finals teammates Kevyn Adams and Rod Brind'Amour, the Hurricanes defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1. Francis would go on to become the General Manager of the team in 2014 before being let go in 2018.