Best performance ever by a player

[Marcus-74]

What do you consider to be the greatest performance ever by a hockey player in a game? The idea is that the game in question was between two good and competitive teams and yet a player managed to dominate. Here are some of my suggestions...

Darryl Sittler's 10-point game vs. Boston Bruins '76

DUH! If it had been against some crappy team, well, big deal, but Bruins was one of the very best NHL teams at that point. I guess Sittler was hockey's answer to King Midas in this game.

Wayne Gretzky's 5-point game against the Soviets (2nd game, Canada Cup '87 finals)

His awful hairstyle aside, It's hard to argue with Gretzky's performance here. Getting 5 assists against such a high quality team is not a small feat. One innocent question though: Isn't it Brian Propp (rather than Gretzky) who pokes the pass to Lemieux on the GWG? Well, doesn't really matter.

Pavel Bure's 5-goal game against Finland (Winter Olympics '98)

Not one of Jarmo Myllys or Teppo Numminen's greatest nights, but it shouldn't take away from Bure's magical performance. For some reason, I don't remember anything about the game. I wonder if I even saw it?

Valeri Kharlamov in the 3 rd game of the Summit Series '72

Not many will agree with me on this, but I don't care. I think he plays a lot better here than in the 1st game (from which Kharlamov seems to be mostly remembered). Also, this is much better hockey IMO. A beautiful short-handed goal (with help from Mikhailov & boards), graceful and inventive playmaking and domination by Kharlamov in this game.

Honorary mentions...

Guy Lafleur ("Too many men on ice" game against Boston; Montreal vs. Red Army '79)

Just to keep Mr. Chooch happy!


Alexander Yakushev (7th & 8th game, Summit S.)

The Danger Man!

Vladimir Krutov (2nd game, Canada Cup finals '87)

Just ask Ray Bourque.

Brad Park (8th game, Summit S.)

One of the key players on Canada's win.

Goalies...

Vladimir Dzurilla (round robin game CSSR vs. Canada, Canada Cup '76)

To earn a shotout against THAT team is something special... Tretiak certainly couldn't do it.

Speak of the devil...

Vladislav Tretiak (New Year's game; Canada Cup '81 final)

Yours Truly reluctantly admits that this guy gave some great performances.
BUT MOVING ON!

Dominik Hasek (CZE vs. CAN, Winter Olympics '98)

Shame on you Mr. Hasek for making Gretzky weep! Seriously, he was virtually unbeatable for the most part of this tournament.

Pelle Lindbergh (SWE vs. CSSR, Winter Olympics '80???)

This is mainly personal nostalgia, but I remember seeing this game between Czechoslovakia and Sweden as a kid and I suspect that it's the one played in Lake Placid. Anyway, Czechs dominated, but Lindbergh's awesome performance quaranteed Sweden the win. Lindbergh also stood out from other European goaltenders, because he wore that "Friday the 13th" type of white mask.

So there. Any suggestions? Some of Lemieux, Orr and Perreault's best games should probably be included here...

Click to read more...

 

[Evilo]

Erhhhh, Mario's 5 goals from 5 different ways?
Or his game coming off his cancer?
Or ven his comeback game against TO (1G, 3A I think).

 

[interminded]

Not a legendary performance, but still:

Mike Vernon's playoff run in 96-97.
(Conn Smythe winner.)

 

[MAF]

Pavel Bure's 5-goal game against Finland (Winter Olympics '98)

Not one of Jarmo Myllys or Teppo Numminen's greatest nights, but it shouldn't take away from Bure's magical performance. For some reason, I don't remember anything about the game. I wonder if I even saw it?

I still have a 20 min summary of the game. It was so much fun to watch it, because they scored goal after goal. It ended 7-4.
But yeah, Bure's preformance was brilliant that night. But both the Russian and the Finnish defense was real bad that night, fortunately for the Russians, the finnish was even worse than theirs. Truely a great game.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Lemieux- 5 goals, 5 ways

 

[Ogopogo*]

What do you consider to be the greatest performance ever by a hockey player in a game? The idea is that the game in question was between two good and competitive teams and yet a player managed to dominate. Here are some of my suggestions...

Darryl Sittler's 10-point game vs. Boston Bruins '76

DUH! If it had been against some crappy team, well, big deal, but Bruins was one of the very best NHL teams at that point. I guess Sittler was hockey's answer to King Midas in this game.

Wayne Gretzky's 5-point game against the Soviets (2nd game, Canada Cup '87 finals)

His awful hairstyle aside, It's hard to argue with Gretzky's performance here. Getting 5 assists against such a high quality team is not a small feat. One innocent question though: Isn't it Brian Propp (rather than Gretzky) who pokes the pass to Lemieux on the GWG? Well, doesn't really matter.

Pavel Bure's 5-goal game against Finland (Winter Olympics '98)

Not one of Jarmo Myllys or Teppo Numminen's greatest nights, but it shouldn't take away from Bure's magical performance. For some reason, I don't remember anything about the game. I wonder if I even saw it?

Valeri Kharlamov in the 3 rd game of the Summit Series '72

Not many will agree with me on this, but I don't care. I think he plays a lot better here than in the 1st game (from which Kharlamov seems to be mostly remembered). Also, this is much better hockey IMO. A beautiful short-handed goal (with help from Mikhailov & boards), graceful and inventive playmaking and domination by Kharlamov in this game.

Honorary mentions...

Guy Lafleur ("Too many men on ice" game against Boston; Montreal vs. Red Army '79)

Just to keep Mr. Chooch happy!


Alexander Yakushev (7th & 8th game, Summit S.)

The Danger Man!

Vladimir Krutov (2nd game, Canada Cup finals '87)

Just ask Ray Bourque.

Brad Park (8th game, Summit S.)

One of the key players on Canada's win.

Goalies...

Vladimir Dzurilla (round robin game CSSR vs. Canada, Canada Cup '76)

To earn a shotout against THAT team is something special... Tretiak certainly couldn't do it.

Speak of the devil...

Vladislav Tretiak (New Year's game; Canada Cup '81 final)

Yours Truly reluctantly admits that this guy gave some great performances.
BUT MOVING ON!

Dominik Hasek (CZE vs. CAN, Winter Olympics '98)

Shame on you Mr. Hasek for making Gretzky weep! Seriously, he was virtually unbeatable for the most part of this tournament.

Pelle Lindbergh (SWE vs. CSSR, Winter Olympics '80???)

This is mainly personal nostalgia, but I remember seeing this game between Czechoslovakia and Sweden as a kid and I suspect that it's the one played in Lake Placid. Anyway, Czechs dominated, but Lindbergh's awesome performance quaranteed Sweden the win. Lindbergh also stood out from other European goaltenders, because he wore that "Friday the 13th" type of white mask.

So there. Any suggestions? Some of Lemieux, Orr and Perreault's best games should probably be included here...

Of course, it must be Sittler's 10 point game.

I would put Gretzky's 9 goals in 2 games as second. He scored 4 against the Kings to give him 45 in 38 games. Then he potted 5 against Philadelphia to go 50 in 39.

 

[Macman]

In 1997, Nik Antropov scored 39 points in one game, a 72-1 drubbing of Iceland by Kazakhstan at the under 18s. Certainly the wackiest numbers ever.

 

[GKJ]

Mark Messier's guarentee that the Rangers would beat the Devils in Game 6 IN New Jersey in 1994. Messier gets a hat trick.

 

[Slats432]

Sittler. Definitely.

 

[Bill McNeal]

Maurice Richard vs the Toronto Maple Leafs is up there.

Toronto's Bob Davidson was assigned to shadow Richard, and his defense helped the Maple Leafs register an upset in the first game. "He stayed so close to me that I got angry," Richard said. "I remember going up to their goalie, Paul Bibeault, and telling him things would be different in the next game."

Were they ever. Richard scored twice in a 17-second stretch of the second period. He finished with three goals that period and five that night -- to tie a playoff record. After the Canadiens' 5-1 victory, Richard waited to be named the No. 1 star. The ritual announcement started out with the No. 3 star and to the surprise of everyone at the Forum, it was Richard. The reactionary booing was quickly squelched when the No. 2 star was announced. It, too, was Richard.

It didn't take long to realize he was named all three stars. His performance spurred the Canadiens to their first Cup in 13 years.

http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016409.html

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Reggie Leach scored 5 goals (on 7 shots) in a 1976 playoff game for the Flyers against Boston. At the time, it tied an NHL record for goals by an individual in a playoff game. To add to this, Leach is on record saying he was so drunk the night before that he was passed out in the basement of his house the morning of that game, missed the morning skate and after a shower and coffee failed to revive him he had more beers that day.

 

[Masao]

If we're not talking single-game performance only, I think Mario Lemieux's 45 points in 10 games in 1988 deserves a mention.

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Darcy Tucker,when laid out by a bodycheck.Never have I saw such an incredible acting performance.Oh,you mean hockey!

 

[Ogopogo*]

If we're not talking single-game performance only, I think Mario Lemieux's 45 points in 10 games in 1988 deserves a mention.

How does that compare to Gretzky's 153 points in 51 games in '83?

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Pat Roy in OT vs the Rangers in 1986. The Habs were outshot something like 15-1 and still won the game.

 

[JonathanK]

Mark Messier's guarentee that the Rangers would beat the Devils in Game 6 IN New Jersey in 1994. Messier gets a hat trick.

Yeah, or Sittler.

 

[HfxMoose]

Sittler's 10-point game.

 

[Form and Substance]

wha about the rocket's five goal three assist performance in the '44 playoffs?

 

[David]

Dominik Hasek (CZE vs. CAN, Winter Olympics '98)

Shame on you Mr. Hasek for making Gretzky weep! Seriously, he was virtually unbeatable for the most part of this tournament.

A very good list that you put together here...however, I do have a little beef.

If you were to go back and watch this game again like I sometimes do, you'll see that Patrick Roy FAR outplayed Hasek for the entire game, simply because he had to in order for Canada to force it into OT.

Where Hasek did better than Roy was in the shootouts. Roy let in one more than Hasek.

That Czech team played some beautiful TEAM hockey and was often skating circles around our Canadian players. Canadian boys were just hanging barely by a thread for most of the game until Trevor "I'm gonna make sure that everybody knows that it was me who scored the tying goal by pointing my finger at myself repeatedly after the goal" Linden's fluke goal late in the game.

Once again, Hasek was the SECOND best goalie in that Nagano game...and the one that cried was Brenden Shannahan...who broke the hearts of Canadians everywhere with his tearful "I'm sorry for not brining home the gold..." One of the truly saddest moments in my hockey memory!!!

 

[emptynet_66]

Mario's five goals, five different ways.

It's a feat that will likely never be repeated.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Mario's five goals, five different ways.

It's a feat that will likely never be repeated.

Honestly though, it is significant?

5 goals is significant any time but, how are his any more significant? It is just a quirk that they were all "different ways". Honestly is it better than scoring 3 even strenght and two on the power play? No. It is like hitting for the cycle in baseball. If you already have a single, triple and home run - is it really better to hit a double than another home run? No.

Red Berenson's 6 goals beats Mario's 5 goals.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Honestly though, it is significant?

5 goals is significant any time but, how are his any more significant? It is just a quirk that they were all "different ways". Honestly is it better than scoring 3 even strenght and two on the power play? No. It is like hitting for the cycle in baseball. If you already have a single, triple and home run - is it really better to hit a double than another home run? No.

Red Berenson's 6 goals beats Mario's 5 goals.

Not to mention, if you adjust for eras, Mario actually only scored 4.12345 goals, and Berenson scored 6.9484763

 

[Communal Blood]

Darryl Sittler's 10-point game vs. Boston Bruins '76

DUH! If it had been against some crappy team, well, big deal, but Bruins was one of the very best NHL teams at that point. I guess Sittler was hockey's answer to King Midas in this game.

That's the very first one I though of.

 

[nWoCHRISnWo]

Honestly though, it is significant?

5 goals is significant any time but, how are his any more significant? It is just a quirk that they were all "different ways". Honestly is it better than scoring 3 even strenght and two on the power play? No. It is like hitting for the cycle in baseball. If you already have a single, triple and home run - is it really better to hit a double than another home run? No.

Red Berenson's 6 goals beats Mario's 5 goals.

Are you going to run down everything someone says about Lemieux here?

In recent memory, I'd say Giguere's play-offs, or the first three rounds specifically, was one of the best performances I've seen myself. As far as I'm concerned, he beat Detroit, Dallas, and Minnesota, not the Ducks.

 

[trahans99]

I'd have to say biggest performance while also being he most significant would be:

Messiers hatrick in the game he guaranteed in game 7 and ....

brace yourself Leafs fans

Gretzky's performance in game 7 taking them to the finals against Montreal !!!!