It doesn't get much bigger than scoring an overtime winner in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
(Video courtesy of @NHL YouTube)
Few spectacles in sports match the atmosphere and pressure of an overtime period in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The trajectory of a team, franchise, and city swings on a pendulum during OT. The puck can bounce the right - or wrong - way at any point, sending the arena either into utter jubilation or complete silence.
Overtime periods in an elimination game, specifically Game 7, are particularly tense, and have produced some of the most memorable moments in NHL playoff history.
Let's break down some of the biggest, most unforgettable overtime winners in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
One of the most iconic images in NHL history is, unsurprisingly, the product of a playoff overtime winner.
An overtime winner that won the Boston Bruins their first Cup in 29 years, that is.
22-year-old defenceman Bobby Orr had already established himself as one of the top players in the league, but this moment - just 40 seconds into overtime in Game 4 of the 1970 Stanley Cup Final - etched his name into hockey lore.
It also earned him an 800-pound bronze statue outside Boston's TD Garden, portraying him just as he was after scoring the OT winner that won the Bruins the Cup - in flight.
The New York Islanders won four-straight Stanley Cups at the start of the 1980s, a mind-blowing feat that only the Montreal Canadiens - the winningest team in NHL history - had achieved, although that came before the Isles did it.
It all started with the puck falling to Bob Nystrom in overtime of Game 6 in the 1980 Stanley Cup Final. Just over seven minutes into the first OT period, John Tonelli fed Nystrom with a cross-ice pass, which the Swede took in stride and poked over Philadelphia Flyers' goaltender Pete Peeters.
The goal secured the Islanders' first Cup in franchise history, and number one of four in a row. No team has won more than two Cups in a row since.
28 minutes and 19 seconds into overtime in Game 6 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Final, fans of both the Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils were exhausted. Not only had they sat through half a game worth of overtime, but their chests were thumping - more so the Stars faithful, who were a goal away from losing the Cup Final.
Moments later, those nerves turned into pure misery as Devils centre Jason Arnott provided the defining moment of his franchise's storied history.
Patrik Elias centered the puck with inch-perfect precision, and Arnott did the rest. In one motion, Arnott lifted the puck over Stars goalie Ed Belfour, sounding the horns and clinching the Devils the first Stanley Cup of the 21st century.
Something was in the water in Los Angeles in the early 2010s. Or at least that's what it seemed like when the Kings won their first ever title in 2012, becoming the first 8-seed in NHL history to lift the Cup, then won it again two years later.
After going to seven games in each of the first three series of the playoffs, the Kings matched up against the New York Rangers in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. Famously without a Cup since 1994, the Rangers were four wins away from breaking the curse and achieving hockey's ultimate prize.
Not so fast, says Alec Martinez.
Martinez scored a Game 7 OT winner just 12 days earlier to eliminate the Chicago Blackhawks, LA's biggest rivals at the time and Cup winners in 2013 and 2015.
In Game 5 of the Cup Final, he did it again.
34 minutes and 43 seconds into overtime, Martinez buried the rebound from a shot saved by Henrik Lundqvist, then launched his stick and gloves in the air as the horns sounded. Rangers hearts were crushed, and the Kings were Stanley Cup champions for the second time in three years.
It was the 17th Cup-winning overtime goal in NHL history. No player has done it since.
