After the first goal of the game -- Scott Gomez's goal that wasn't -- Patrick Roy blinked long and hard. Somewhere behind those eyelids, he was thinking No Goal. He was sure. "No doubt in my mind," he said after shutting out the Devils in Game 6.

And when the goal was waved off, so too was the home team. Forget Game 4. We're talking about the best clutch goalie in the history of the world -- the guy who holds every important post-season goaltending record and once won a playoff game only days after coming down with appendicitis. Turner Stevenson, the only Devil ever to share a locker room with Roy, was playing in his first playoff series when it happened. He didn't think No. 33 would play. But there was no doubt in Roy's mind.

"It was unbelievable," says Stevenson. "But that's how Patrick's always been."

That performance came in the old Montreal Forum, against Ray Bourque and the Bruins. Who knows if Bourque would have gotten his shot at the Cup sooner if it hadn't been for Roy? Now, ironically, Roy is Ray's only hope.

After the second period -- after the Avs had taken a 3-0 lead -- Bourque left the ice surface with his eyes propped wide open like someone coming out of a bad dream. He took small, careful steps to the locker room.

Right behind Bourque came Roy. He took long, showy strides. With his eldest teammate just in front of him and very much within earshot, Roy cocked his head and bleated in that arrogant francophone voice:

"Eet's over!"

After 22 years, you get one game for your name on the Stanley Cup. Who do you want right behind you?

No doubt.

Eric Adelson is covering the NHL playoffs for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at eric.adelson@espnmag.com.