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What makes the Stanley Cup Finals the most intense series in sports? Well, you can start with grit, blood, heart-stopping suspense, roaring fans. But what makes certain Finals better than others? What turns a showdown into a conversation piece that lasts for years?
A miraculous comeback helps, like Toronto's never-duplicated charge from a 3-0 series deficit to win four straight from the Rangers in 1942. Or a rookie goaltender from nowhere stealing a Cup for his club, like Ken Dryden did for Montreal in 1971. Or a raging controversy, or an unlikely hero, or a memorable OT.
If this year's Finals can mix in even a few of those ingredients, they'll provide the perfect end to a damn good season.
1. THE KING IS DEAD …
It takes only one game to end an era and begin another. Before the puck is dropped for the '84 Stanley Cup Finals, the Isles rule hockey. Their crown is bejeweled with four consecutive Stanley Cups and nine straight wins in the Finals. Just the year before, the Isles had swept young Edmonton, shutting down Wayne Gretzky & Co. Why should this time be different?
For Game 1 at the Nassau Coliseum, the crowd is confidently waving "Drive for Five" signs. Edmonton starts Grant Fuhr, the first black goaltender to appear in a Finals. Fuhr was so erratic the year before, he was sent down to the Moncton Alpines. As the puck drops, he faces the kings of hockey -- Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies, Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Pat LaFontaine. First period power play, Bossy to Greg Gilbert: Fuhr saves. Second period, John Tonelli to Trottier, wide open: Fuhr stones him.
Meanwhile, the Oilers, who scored a record 446 goals in the regular season, still can't stick one against the Isles. Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey are stopped cold. It's only a matter of time before the Isles score that one goal and rule again. That's what dynasties do. Except that Fuhr won't fold. And Kevin McClelland, who scored just eight goals during the season, beats Billy Smith. Fuhr shuts out the Isles, 1-0.
One dynasty died that night and a new one was born. Led by Fuhr and by Gretzky's scoring gang, the Oilers go on to become the last NHL dynasty, winning five of the next seven Stanley Cups.
Could it happen again? Detroit is too old for a long run. Carolina's a long shot. But if Arturs Irbe leads the Canes to a Cup after being benched earlier in the playoffs, he'd make a great comeback story -- just like Fuhr.
2. THE UNLIKELY HERO
In 1928, hockey clubs didn't even bother to stock a backup goalie, and that was when they didn't wear masks. Midway through Game 2 of the Finals against the Montreal Maroons, barefaced Rangers goalie Lorne Chabot takes a shot above his left eye. Chabot is rushed to the hospital, done for the season. Rangers coach Lester Patrick wants Ottawa goalie Alex Connell, a fan at the game, to fill in, but Montreal refuses. So the 44-year-old Patrick, who'd never played goal in his life, takes a few swigs from a flask, stuffs Chabot's too-big skates with balled-up socks and dons the pads himself.
Odie Cleghorn of the Pittsburgh Pirates comes out of the stands to fill in for Patrick behind the bench. His job is easy: He yells, "Don't let them shoot!" for the remainder of the game. The Montreal Star would say that the silver-haired Patrick "flopped like a mermaid on dry land" while making one melodramatic save after another. He backstops his team to a 2-1 overtime victory en route to the first Stanley Cup in Rangers history.
Could it happen again? You'd need a flask if Scotty Bowman decided to take Dominik Hasek's place. But that wasn't Hull or Yzerman or Robataille scoring the Wings' OT winner against Patrick Roy in Game 3 of the Western Conference final. That was Fredrik Olausson.
3. GET OUT YOUR HANDKERCHIEFS
The Avs are stewing in their locker room. It's the first intermission of Game 3 in Jersey, and the score is tied 1-1. The players mutter: "Stay focused … bring it to the next level." Someone challenges: "Who gets the winner?" Then the man with the deep-set blue eyes and the graying goatee says, "I got it."
Raymond Bourque has had enough. After 21 Cupless years in the NHL, he's 40 years old and still logging 26 minutes of ice time per game. On his last legs, he's close enough to taste it. Just 45 seconds into the third period, Bourque blasts a slapper on the power play that beats Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Avs win, 3-1. And Bourque's career is complete.
Could it happen again? Domink Hasek came to Detroit for the Stanley Cup he's never won, but there could be a better story. For a guy who is second all-time in assists, Ron Francis has been toiling in the shadows of flashier players for 21 seasons. He's been a loyal, uncomplaining soldier through all those lean years in Hartford and Carolina and a willing supporter of Lemieux and Jagr in Pittsburgh, where he won two Cups. He's also one of the good guys. To restore hockey's luster in the wake of these chippy playoffs, who'd be a better hero than Francis?
4. PICTURE PERFECT
It's Mother's Day 1970, and naughty Boston sons are glued to the TV. The Bruins are going for the sweep against the St. Louis Blues for their first Stanley Cup in 29 years. Half a minute into overtime, the puck rolls around the boards toward Bobby Orr on the right point. Orr, the first and best-ever offensive defenseman, has been hailed as a savior for the cursed Boston fans. Can he bring deliverance?
Orr knocks it back to Derek Sanderson, waiting in the corner, and heads for the net. Sanderson slips a perfect give-and-go pass back to Orr, who catches Blues goalie Glenn Hall sliding across the goal mouth, 5-hole wide open. Orr, tripped by the stick of St. Louis defenseman Noel Picard, is falling as he takes the shot. The goal light goes on, and Orr raises his arms as he flies iceward. The picture lives on forever -- a great player frozen in a moment of ecstatic grace.
Could it happen again? Absolutely. Now if we can just get them to take off the helmet before they smile.
5. THE ALL-NIGHTER
There were five games in the 1951 Finals between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs -- and five OTs. When Maurice "Rocket" Richard scored the winner in Game 2 to tie the series, Leafs president Conn Smythe was steamed. He declared that any Toronto defenseman who carried the puck into Montreal's zone while Richard was on the ice would be fined $500.
The Leafs won Games 3 and 4 in overtime. Game 5 also heads to OT, tied at 2. Habs goalie Gerry McNeil makes a big save on Leafs forward Harry Watson. From behind the blue line, Toronto defenseman Bill Barilko eyes the loose puck, decides to forget about Smythe's $500 and goes in after it. He blasts a slap shot from the top of the left circle and beats McNeil. Game over, Leafs win the Cup. And Barilko gets fined $500.
That August, Barilko went fishing and never returned. Rumors circulated that he was alive and lost in the Ontario wilderness. Some even said he had been captured by the Russians to teach hockey to kids. Eleven years later, the wreckage of a small plane was found, with the skeletons of Barilko and his fishing buddy still strapped inside. That year -- 1962 -- the Leafs won again. The Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip would later write a song about Barilko.
Could it happen again? In the first two rounds of this year's playoffs, only 10 of 72 games went into OT. But playoff hockey is desperate hockey, and with two hot goaltenders, a few of those games on ABC might just outlast Letterman and Leno.
6. WHAT THE HULL?
Brett Hull jumps off the bench in the third overtime of Game 6 against the Sabres in 1999. He's not even supposed to be playing -- he has a groin injury and a knee injury -- but the rest of the Stars are fighting to catch their breath after 114 minutes of hockey. Hull skulks around the slot in a way only he can. Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek bobbles a Mike Modano shot in front of the net. Hull swoops in and hammers it home. Game over. Dallas wins, 2-1. The Stars flood the ice in a euphoric craze.
But the Sabres and their fans howl in protest. Hull's foot was in the crease. There it is, right there on the big screen, clearly over the line! Too bad for them, the officials never call upstairs to the replay judges. In the crease ... Norwood wide right. You wonder why Buffalo can't seem to get over it?
Could it happen again? Only as long as there are officials. And, of course, as long as there's a city with a Kick Me sign on it. (Go ask Charlotte.)
7. SEVENTH HEAVEN
A Richter save. Lafayette shoots. He hits the post. The Canucks keep coming. Underneath the nervous roar of the crowd -- maybe from the cries in Vancouver bars 3,000 miles away, maybe from the ghosts in the Madison Square Garden rafters -- you can hear the unspoken chant in the air.
"Nine-teen for-ty!"
Everywhere the Rangers had gone over the decades, they'd heard it. Fall behind, and the opposing team crowd taunted, "Nine-teen for-ty!" Get a lead and they chanted the same, as if to tell the Rangers the roof would cave in as it had every year since they last won the Stanley Cup. Vancouver fans repeated it like a voodoo curse as the Canucks rallied from a 3-1 deficit in games to force a Game 7.
"Nine-teen for-ty!"
Back at the Garden for Game 7, the pressure is intense. Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mark Messier give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. But here come the Canucks in the third period. Trevor Linden gets his second goal to put them within one. They won't stop. Young snipers like Pavel Bure are swarming. The roof is caving. GM Neil Smith is wrapped in his wife's arms like a boy peeking at a horror movie. Throughout the Garden, throughout the city, around the radio and television sets, fans with "Nine-teen for-ty" rolling around in their heads are nearly hysterical.
Bure shoots. Save off the left pad by Richter. Rangers control with eight seconds left, shoot down the ice. "Five, four, three, two, one. It's all over," shouts Rangers broadcaster Marv Albert. But no -- icing is called.
Faceoff in front of the Rangers net with 1.6 seconds left. Don't say it. Don't breathe it. Everyone's thinking it.
The puck drops. Craig McTavish wins the draw. The Rangers win the Stanley Cup! Pandemonium. The Cup is raised. A man rises in a Ranger jersey with a sign that reads: "Now I can die in peace."
And then from the mouths of Graves, from Russian Alexei Kovalev, who barely knows a word of English, from children and old men in the stands, comes a chant meant to celebrate the enormity of the victory: "Nine-teen for-ty!"
Could it happen again? Out of the Eastern Conference comes a long-suffering franchise. The Canes, who were the Whalers when they were born 23 years ago, are looking for their first championship.
"Nine-teen sixty-seven." Or never.
This article appears in the June 10 issue of ESPN The Magazine. |
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