vadim sharifijanov
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2007
- 28,930
- 16,486
the avs/lightning finals thread made me think of this. here are my memorable instances of where a non-star young guy really announced his presence in the SCF.
john leclair: back to back OT goals, games 3 and 4 of the 1993 finals (+ 2 assists in the deciding game 5, but not on the GWG)
paul dipietro: two goals in game 5 of the 1993 finals (not the GWG)
alex tanguay: two goals and an assist in game 7 of the 2001 finals, including the cup winning goal
mike rupp: a goal and two assists in game 7 of the 2003 finals, including the cup winning goal
rusty fedotenko: both goals in game 7 of the 2004 finals (cup winning goal, of course)
dustin byfuglien: two goals and two assists in game 5 of the stanley cup finals to put chicago up 3-2 (+ the big hit on pronger in the same game)
brad marchand: two goals and an assist in game 7 of the 2011 finals (assisted on the GWG)
——
tanguay, rupp, and rusty's two goal/GWG game sevens in four years stick out especially. but i opened the criteria up a little to accommodate a few other guys.
what's interesting to me is that in all of those cases, i thought, this guy will be a star next season. it took leclair a couple of years to get there and marchand settled into being a really really good complementary player before finally breaking out as a star six or seven years later.
byfuglien was an all-star the next year, but at a different position and on a new team so he was like a totally different player than the guy we saw break out in the finals.
rusty never became a star but was a good complementary top six guy and had another big playoffs in him.
rupp became a journeyman grinder (and rusty's teammate on the 2012 rangers team that almost made the finals), and dipietro faded away.
tanguay was already almost a point/game player but before and after he was a complementary top line guy to an MVP. he never really took the reins as a main guy like i thought he would from that big game. in 2004, it did look like he was on the cusp succeeding sakic and forsberg as the avs' main guy, though. he led the team in scoring for most of the year and was within spitting distance of leading the league up to his regular season-ending injury in march.
john leclair: back to back OT goals, games 3 and 4 of the 1993 finals (+ 2 assists in the deciding game 5, but not on the GWG)
paul dipietro: two goals in game 5 of the 1993 finals (not the GWG)
alex tanguay: two goals and an assist in game 7 of the 2001 finals, including the cup winning goal
mike rupp: a goal and two assists in game 7 of the 2003 finals, including the cup winning goal
rusty fedotenko: both goals in game 7 of the 2004 finals (cup winning goal, of course)
dustin byfuglien: two goals and two assists in game 5 of the stanley cup finals to put chicago up 3-2 (+ the big hit on pronger in the same game)
brad marchand: two goals and an assist in game 7 of the 2011 finals (assisted on the GWG)
——
tanguay, rupp, and rusty's two goal/GWG game sevens in four years stick out especially. but i opened the criteria up a little to accommodate a few other guys.
what's interesting to me is that in all of those cases, i thought, this guy will be a star next season. it took leclair a couple of years to get there and marchand settled into being a really really good complementary player before finally breaking out as a star six or seven years later.
byfuglien was an all-star the next year, but at a different position and on a new team so he was like a totally different player than the guy we saw break out in the finals.
rusty never became a star but was a good complementary top six guy and had another big playoffs in him.
rupp became a journeyman grinder (and rusty's teammate on the 2012 rangers team that almost made the finals), and dipietro faded away.
tanguay was already almost a point/game player but before and after he was a complementary top line guy to an MVP. he never really took the reins as a main guy like i thought he would from that big game. in 2004, it did look like he was on the cusp succeeding sakic and forsberg as the avs' main guy, though. he led the team in scoring for most of the year and was within spitting distance of leading the league up to his regular season-ending injury in march.