Stanley Cup Playoffs

10. Cirelli takes a page from Kucherov's book. Anthony Cirelli has officially graduated from Nikita Kucherov's class on the art of the no-shot goal.

The star appeared to take the call as a personal slight. MacKinnon flexed his blistering speed, bursting past the Blues en route to the net. That's saying a lot given that McDavid paced all skaters in the playoffs for weeks with 33 points in just 16 games. McDavid forced his way through defenseman Noah Hanifin in Game 2 against the Flames for a seemingly dominant goal, but it was disallowed due to goaltender interference. After a couple of attempts, he finally beat Jonathan Quick, who was down and out after the mind-melting sequence. He crept up along the wall, sidestepped his way past forward Tanner Jeannot at the blue line, and drove to the net. The puck came off the Avalanche sniper's stick so hard that it ripped through the top of the netting and rolled down the back of the net. He then lost control of the puck - or maybe it was all a part of his master plan - and it slid right under Darcy Kuemper's pad. Colton, who has a penchant for scoring clutch game-winners after netting the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in 2021, isn't going to miss from there. The Edmonton phenom was relentless on his way through the offensive zone. Oilers forward Zach Hyman started the frenzy, Flames star Johnny Gaudreau responded 15 seconds later, and Calgary forward Calle Jarnkrok found the back of the net 16 seconds after that. He ventured far outside his crease and fired a three-zone bullet right on Mika Zibanejad's tape.

With a new Stanley Cup champion getting crowned on Sunday, it's time to look back at a few moments that will stand the test of time.

It was a momentum shift for the Avalanche, and one of the most memorable single-game performances of the playoffs. In the face of racism, xenophobia, and threats, Kadri stepped onto the ice and had a performance for the ages during game four of the Western Conference semifinal. When Nazem Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche crossed the blueline to score the overtime winner in Game 4 of the Cup final, both teams had too many players on the ice. Connor McDavid plays the game at a pace unrivaled by any player in the NHL, and he took that to another level this year. He scored three or more points six times in the playoffs, highlighted by a four-point night in Game 1 in the Battle of Alberta. The chaotic series was appropriately ended by McDavid in overtime of game five. When starter Casey DeSmith was injured in the second overtime, backup Louis Domingue came in cold, and with a full stomach.

Colorado tied the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, the 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers, and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for combined regular season and playoff ...

By contrast, Colorado’s top scorer this season was Mikko Rantanen with 92 points, followed by MacKinnon (88), Nazem Kadri (86), and Cale Makar (85). And the 23-year-old Makar is perhaps one key figure to point to for their success. So they only put up 12 playoff wins (going 12-2 across three series, with their only two losses coming in the semifinals against the New York Islanders). The ’76-77 Canadiens recorded 60 wins, eight losses, and 12 ties in their 80-game regular season, setting a still-standing league record with 132 points and outscoring their opponents by a record 216 goals.

In this week's NHL Power Rankings we take a look at all of the top individual performances from the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He scored seven goals in the Wild’s six games and was the most dominant player on the ice in that series. 15. Evander Kane, Edmonton Oilers. He finished as one of the top goal scorers in the playoffs. He was money on the power play and had a 12-game stretch in the middle of the playoffs where he scored 10 goals and 20 points. That included a seven goals in eight-game stretch through the second and third rounds. The Lightning were not as good overall as they were the past two years, and needed to rely on Vasilevskiy a bit more. Still an amazing run as he and McDavid carried the Oilers on their best playoff run in more than 15 years. 7. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning. He is one of the best goalies (and especially big game) goalies in league history, and it was another dominant run for him. Every game, every shift he looked like he was shot out of a cannon and was all over the ice. He finished with a .929 save percentage despite facing more expected goals against (74.9) than any other goalie in the playoffs and playing behind a team that had some of the worst possession and scoring chance numbers we have ever seen from a conference finalist. Despite the fact the Rangers were badly outshot, out chanced, and mostly out played in every round and every game, they still put together a run to the Eastern Conference Final and even had a 2-0 series lead before the Lightning stormed back for four consecutive wins. Only twice over the past 25 years did a player have more than 33 points in an entire postseason: Nikita Kucherov had 34 in 2019-20 with the benefit of the play-in/round-robin round to add some games to his postseason, and Evgeni Malkin had 36 in 2009 while playing in 24 games. When he and Devon Toews were on the ice together the Avalanche were unstoppable.