The 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs, the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL), began on April 11, 2001, and ended on June 9, 2001, when the Western Conference champion Colorado Avalanche defeated the defending champion New Jersey Devils to win their second Stanley Cup.

Defenceman Ray Bourque, who had a 21-year tenure in Boston, won his first Stanley Cup in his final professional year. Joe Sakic, Swedish center Peter Forsberg, defenceman Rob Blake, and goalkeeper Patrick Roy claimed the Stanley Cup for the final time in their careers. Roy was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, his third, the most by any player. No hat tricks were scored in the 2001 playoffs and goaltenders combined for a record 19 shutouts. This was the first of ten consecutive seasons in which the Florida Panthers missed the playoffs, which became the longest playoff drought in NHL history (later equaled by the Edmonton Oilers); the record stood until the Buffalo Sabres surpassed it in 2022. This was also the most recent season in which the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning missed the playoffs in the same year. To date, this is also the last season in which the two top seeds overall from each Conference made it to the Stanley Cup Final.

The top eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The top three seeds in each conference were awarded to the division winners; while the five remaining spots were awarded to the highest finishers in their respective conferences.

The following teams qualified for the playoffs:

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

The New Jersey Devils finished first in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference during the regular season with 111 points. The Carolina Hurricanes qualified as the eighth seed earning 88 points, winning the tiebreaker against Boston with 38 wins. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. New Jersey won this year's four-game regular season series earning five of eight points.

In their next four playoff appearances the Hurricanes did not lose a series in the first two rounds of the playoffs again until 2020.