The 1990–91 Minnesota North Stars season was the North Stars' 24th season. The most striking aspect of the season was that despite qualifying for the playoffs with an under–.500 (or "losing") regular-season record, the team reached the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals as the Clarence Campbell Conference champions. Minnesota had beaten Chicago and St. Louis (each in six games), teams that had finished nearly 40 points ahead of them in the regular season, before becoming the first Norris Division team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals since the league had re-aligned a decade earlier when they eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers in five games — a classic "Cinderella" postseason. The North Stars finally saw their playoff run end in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 8–0 in front of their home fans in the Met Center.

Off-season

Weeks after their first-round loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, owners George and Gordon Gund sold the North Stars to a consortium led by Howard Baldwin, in exchange for purchasing the expansion franchise that would become the San Jose Sharks. Baldwin and his partners Morris Belzberg and Norman Green agreed to continue operating the North Stars in the Met Center, while opening negotiations with the owners of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves for an opportunity to invest in the team, or possibly share the Wolves' upcoming arena in the future.

NHL Draft

Regular season

Final standings

Schedule and results

Transactions

Trades

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Playoffs

Norris Division Semi-Finals

Norris Division Finals

Campbell Conference Finals

Stanley Cup Finals

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Minnesota North Stars Pittsburgh wins best-of-seven series 4–2

Awards and records