Who?!

Cory Cross, age 30, nicknamed Red because he sunburns easily, stood blinking into the hot camera lights after scoring the goal of his life to put the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead 3-0 in a series they supposedly weren't talented enough to win. Cory crossed his arms and shifted his weight and stroked his playoff beard and cupped his elbows in his hands and asked repeatedly where the game-winning puck was.

"It was just luck it came to me," the defenseman muttered. "I'm just glad I didn't get hurt in the pileup."

It wouldn't be anything new for Red Cross. The former Lightning fill-in nursed a hip flexor all season long and then broke his foot. He played in only 41 games. He scored only eight points. Tonight's game-winner was his first playoff lamplighter.

What else do we know? He grew up in Alberta and wanted to play center. "But as you evolve in your career," he says, "you realize what your role is."

Somehow the Leafs have all simultaneously realized what their roles are. Gary Roberts, age 34, scoring two on the short side in Game 2. Shayne Corson, age 34, shutting down all-world Alexei Yashin. And Glen Healy, 38, reminding his teammates after a potentially devastating third-period Ottawa comeback that "a week ago, we would have killed to be one shot away from up 3-0." The flashy Senators could use one of these croakers.

Cross finally uncrossed his arms after the lights were shut off. Tonight he plans to "call my folks, get something to eat and get some sleep." Oh, but he's not leaving without that puck.

A few minutes before 11 p.m., Cross got his memento. It was grabbed not by a teammate or coach or a trainer, but by the Leafs' penalty box operator -- another guy who's paid to swing an unwieldy piece of wood back and forth at the right time.

Another guy just doing his job. That's who.

Eric Adelson covers hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at eric.adelson@espnmag.com.