Rocket Richard's winner against Boston in '52... with a concussion (
Recalling The Rocket's Greatest Goal
and paraphrased from the article below).
Early on in the second period, Richard was on one of his famous rushes up the ice, and cutting around Bruins defenceman Hal Laycoe. As Richard moved around Laycoe, he didn't see Leo Labine appear behind his Bruins teammate until the last second . Labine was a solid defender and he planted his shoulder heavily into the chest of the Habs winger as he tried to jump between the two defenders. Richard took a stick to the face, and his head bounced off the knee of one of the two Bruins rearguards before striking the ice.
Forum fans stood and watched as Richard lay bleeding from the forehead and unconscious. Ushers ran out with a stretcher, but were sent away by team doctor Gordon Young.
Young got Richard back to consciousness, and his teammates helped him back to the first aid room. Richard again lost consciousness while the doctor stitched him up. By the time Richard was alert again, the third period was well under way. Against his doctor's advice, Richard found his way back to the bench.
Blood still trickled through his bandages as coach Irvin stopped him. "He told me he was alright, but he wasn't just then," Irvin said following the game. "He didn't even know the score of the game." Richard's linemate, Elmer Lach, got him up to speed: still 1-1 with just over four minutes left in the period. It was all Richard needed to know. "I caught Rocket squinting up at the clock and asked him what was the matter," Lach said. "He told me his eyes weren't in focus but just then it was time for a line change and over we went."
With the two teams playing four-on-four, The Rocket, Lach, and Bert Olmstead jumped over the boards and headed towards the Canadiens end of the ice. Emile Bouchard had recovered the puck for Montreal, and made the pass to Richard, who zipped past a pair of Bruins forwards, eluding a Schmidt poke check. Only the Boston defence of Bill Quackenbush, Bob Armstrong and Henry remained in his way. Quackenbush tried to press his opponent towards the corner, but Richard slipped past him, pushing him off with one arm as he had done many times before, and headed to the net. Richard faked a shot, drawing Henry to his left post and skated by him, firing the puck into the far corner.