What if Wayne Gretzky's infamous high-stick on Doug Gilmour in 1993 was called?

For Toronto Maple Leafs fans, Game 6 of the 1993 Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings remains one of the most painful memories. The Leafs had a chance to eliminate the Kings and move onto the Stanley Cup Final, but one fateful missed call led to a heartbreaking finish and ultimately, elimination from the playoffs.

How differently would things have gone that postseason if the refs had rightfully given Wayne Gretzky a penalty for high-sticking Doug Gilmour in overtime?

Gretzky's high-stick missed by refs in Game 6

The Maple Leafs entered Game 6 with a 3-2 series advantage over the Kings and had the opportunity to end the series in Los Angeles. The Kings, led by Luc Robitaille's four-point performance, jumped out to a 4-2 lead headed into the third period.

But Toronto's captain Wendel Clark scored twice in the third frame to complete his hat trick and force the game into sudden-death overtime, tied 4-4.

Glenn Anderson took a penalty at the tail end of regulation, which gave the Kings a power play to begin the overtime period. Los Angeles had already scored three goals on the man advantage in that game, so it was a major threat.

Shortly into overtime, Wayne Gretzky had just taken a shot on goal when his stick errantly flew up and clipped Doug Gilmour right in the face. Gilmour went down to the ice bleeding from a cut on his chin as referees gathered to discuss what they had seen.

Under the rules at the time, a player would receive a five-minute major for a high-stick that drew blood. That would have negated the Kings' power play, sent Gretzky to the penalty box, and given the Maple Leafs around three minutes on the man advantage after Anderson's penalty was done.

To the surprise of many, no penalty was called on Gretzky. Seconds later, he would score the game-winning goal that forced a Game 7, which Los Angeles would go on to win by a score of 5-4. Thus, Toronto's Stanley Cup hopes were crushed, and it all comes back to the non-call on Gretzky.

"We really thought we got it right. There weren’t all the slow-motion cameras like they have today. It wasn’t until the next day that I saw another angle of the play on television. You could clearly see Gretzky high-sticking Gilmour. It was missed. Period.
"

Referee Kerry Fraser

Would the Maple Leafs become the 1993 Stanley Cup champions?

Had Toronto won Game 6 in overtime or even locked down a Game 7 victory, they would have faced the Montreal Canadiens. At that point, the Habs had been absolutely dominant, defeating the Quebec Nordiques in six games followed by a sweep of the Buffalo Sabres and a five-game series win over the New York Islanders.

After the Conference Final, Gilmour actually led the NHL with 25 assists and 35 points in just 21 games, while teammate Dave Andreychuk was third in the league with 12 goals. That level of offense would have been hard to stop.

But Montreal's Patrick Roy was in the midst of one of his personal best performances in any playoff year, sporting a .929 SV% and 2.13 GAA. The Canadiens did manage to hold Gretzky without a point in two of five Cup Final games, so they could have reasonably done the same against the Maple Leafs.

However, the Leafs were widely considered to be a better-constructed team than the Kings and could have put up more of a fight than Los Angeles, who lost to Montreal in five games. Three of the Canadiens' four wins came in overtime, so it was a tight series, and one that Toronto could have come out of as champions. Not to mention, the Leafs won both regular-season matchups against the Habs, outscoring them 9-4.

Even Gretzky himself has stated that he believes the Maple Leafs could have won the Stanley Cup had things played out differently. Instead, the missed call lives on in infamy and leaves fans and players alike wondering what could have been.

"Yeah, I probably should have been in the sin bin... I think Toronto was a better team than Montreal, Toronto probably could have beat Montreal. "

Wayne Gretzky, via Sportsnet