NHL: 30 best series winning goals in NHL Playoffs history
By Nick Villano
NHL: 30 best series-winning goals in NHL playoff history:
19. Brad May beats the Bruins
On the surface, this one doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it lives on in the hallows of Buffalo Sabres lore for how important it was for the franchise, how beautiful the goal was, and the call made by the play-by-play man. The whole thing turns itself into a moment. It doesn’t matter that the Sabres swept the Bruins. It doesn’t matter that this was a first-round series where the Sabres got swept in the second round. None of it matters except for the moment.
Three of the four games between the Bruins and Sabres went to overtime. The Bruins were the top seed in the Adams Division and the Sabres barely made the playoffs. This should have been an easy win for Boston, but there was magic in the air for Buffalo. Pat Lafontaine was coming off his best season ever, putting up 148 points. Alexander Mogilny scored 76 goals as a rookie. Dale Hawerchuk and Dave Andreychuk put together great seasons too. There were pieces here, but the finished product left much to be desired. Except, when it was overtime.
In Game 1, Bob Sweeney struck 11 minutes in overtime. Yuri Khmylev needed just over a minute to end Game 3. In Game 4, it all started with Lafontaine making a fabulous play from the ground to get the game moving.
Lafontaine literally passed the puck from his bottom. Brad May made a fool of an in-his-prime Ray Bourque. And that call. Rick Jeanneret yelling “May Day, May Day, May Day, May Day” as the Sabres celebrate winning the series shows how important this was. Sometimes it’s hard to rank the importance of certain goals on paper alone.