NHL: 30 best series-winning goals in NHL playoff history:
4. Brett Hull beats the Sabres
This one is always going to be controversial, but it deserves to be on every list of Stanley Cup greats. Was this illegal? According to the NHL, no, but we all know how that changes by the day and the call. Brett Hull was standing in the crease when he shot the puck past Dominik Hasek and won the Dallas Stars its first Stanley Cup Championship.
The Stars were a monster team in 1998-99. They beat the equally talented Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. Meanwhile, the Sabres weren’t supposed to be in the Stanley Cup Final, but Hasek put the team squarely on his back, and he carried them straight to the cusp of a championship. They actually breezed through the playoffs before meeting the Stars.
In Game 6, the game stayed 1-1 for the entirety of the 3rd period. It stayed that way for the whole first overtime. Nothing changed through the second overtime. We are now in minute 114, and we haven’t crowned a winner. Getting close to two hours of hockey has these two teams trying to stay on their feet. Then, it happened.
There have been full documentaries on this one goal. People look back at this goal and break down the decision by the referees and the NHL afterward to call it a good goal. Honestly, there might not be another singular goal that has been dissected as much as Hull’s goal to win the Stanley Cup in 1999. Take out the controversy, and it’s one of the greatest goals of all time. A certified star gets the puck on his stick right in front of one of the best goalies of all time, he makes a move, and he puts it in the net. All we’ll talk about is his skate in the goalie’s crease, but at least try to appreciate it for what it was. Unless you’re a Buffalo fan. Then, you can be mad all you want.