Unlikely heroes are key part of fun during NHL playoffs
When I think of NHL playoff heroes, I think of John Druce, Chris Kontos and Petr Klima, not Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr.
It’s not as if Gretzky, Howe and Orr didn’t light up the scoreboard in the postseason. Gretzky has held the NHL record for most points in a playoff season (47 in 18 games) for 32 years. Howe had 160 points in 157 career NHL playoff games. We’ve all seen the photo of Orr flying through the air like Superman after scoring the Cup-clinching goal against the St. Louis Blues in 1970.
But what I enjoy most about the playoffs is the long history of unheralded players rising up with extraordinary contributions.
Druce was far from a star player. But in 1990, he scored 14 goals in 15 playoff games as the Washington Capitals reached the Eastern Conference finals. He played in 38 other playoff games in his career and tallied three goals.
Kontos played only 230 regular-season games, but he was the talk of the playoffs in 1989 when he netted nine goals in 11 games for the Los Angeles Kings.
Then there was Klima. He ended one of the longest Stanley Cup Finals games in 1990 by scoring at 15:13 of the third overtime period. While everyone on the ice was near exhaustion, Klima had fresh legs. Edmonton Oilers coach John Muckler had benched him for much of the game against the Boston Bruins because Klima didn’t play the gritty, complete style that coaches desire in the playoffs.
It’s the stories of the unlikely heroes that make the NHL playoffs fascinating.
Defenseman Niclas Wallin totaled 21 goals in 11 NHL seasons, mostly with the Carolina Hurricanes, but scored three postseason overtime goals. That’s the same number of OT goals as scoring legends Mike Bossy and Brett Hull.
Stay-at-home defenseman Ken Morrow, a key member of the New York Islanders’ dynasty in the 1980s, scored 17 regularseason goals in 10 seasons. But he had 11 playoff goals, including three in overtime, in 127 playoff games.
The playoffs are following the script this season.
There were seven overtime games through Sunday, and four of the goal scorers have been Joel Edmundson (St. Louis Blues), Melker Karlsson (San Jose Sharks), Tom Wilson (Washington) and Kasperi Kapanen (Toronto Maple Leafs).
Did you anticipate any of them being in the spotlight this spring?
Edmundson, a defenseman, has four goals in 136 regularseason games and also added a goal in a Game 2 victory against the higher-seeded Minnesota Wild, who trailed the series 3-0.
Karlsson had 11 goals this season, and Wilson is known more as a fighter than a scorer. He had seven goals this season, and this was his first career playoff tally.
Kapanen, a 2014 first-round draft pick and son of Sami Kapanen, had spent most of his first two seasons in North America in the American Hockey League and had one goal in 17 NHL games. He wasn’t part of the team’s highly touted prospect group of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner and wasn’t recalled until March 27.
But he scored two goals in a Game 2, 4-3 victory that tied the series against the No. 1 overall Capitals. Matthews and Nylander had no points until Game 3.
The unexpected hero trend even extends to regulation.
Veteran Zack Kassian had 10 goals and 215 penalty minutes during his first two seasons with the Oilers, and his career best is 14 goals in a season. But he has both of his team’s game-winning goals against the Sharks.
Tanner Glass (New York Rangers) had the game-winner against the Montreal Canadiens in the opener of that series, and he spent the majority of the season in the AHL.
Dennis Rasmussen, who ended the Chicago Blackhawks’ playoff scoreless drought in Game 3, had four goals this season.
Everyone loves stories of regular guys becoming the men of the hour. We tune into the play- offs because they are unpredictable.
One of the NHL’s best unsunghero stories centers on Mud Bruneteau. He had been in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings for two weeks in 1936 when he scored at 16:30 of the sixth overtime to beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 and end the longest playoff game in NHL history.
That record has stood for 81 years. I’ve said I don’t want to retire until it’s broken.
I’ve covered hockey for USA TODAY Sports for 31 years. I’m still waiting.