NHL: 30 best series winning goals in NHL Playoffs history
By Nick Villano
NHL: 30 best series-winning goals in NHL playoff history:
10. Steve Yzerman beats the Blues
We start the top ten with one of the most irrationally confident shots in the history of the NHL. Steve Yzerman was one of the best players of his era. He deserved every accolade he got. When he was running the puck down the ice in overtime of Game 7 in the 1996 second round against the St. Louis Blues, everyone should have expected he was going to do something fabulous. The shot that came off his stick almost defies science.
Let’s rewind for a second. The Red Wings were the favorites to win it all this season. They went to the Stanley Cup Final the season before, and they worked to get even better. They took care of the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, but the Blues gave them a much bigger fight. After looking outmatched in the first two games, the Blues won three straight one-goal games.
In Game 7, Jon Casey and Chris Osgood put on a shot. They faced a combined 68 shots before allowing a goal. That goal came a minute and 15 seconds into the second overtime. Yzerman didn’t wait for the rest of his teammates to get into the zone. He saw an opening, and he took it.
Yzerman fired a slapshot from the blue line. It honestly looked like it went 200 miles per hour. It’s hard not to blame a goalie for missing a game-winning goal when it comes from 60 feet out, but look at that shot. It was a rocket that went into the one spot that would equal a goal. Poor Jon Casey saw his legacy end on a shot from so far away when he was insane the other 88 minutes that game.