The Greatest Hockey Games Ever Played

Here are the greatest Hockey Games of the Last Hundred Years...I picked one game for each decade.

1910s: Montreal Wanderers: 10 Toronto: 9 (December 19, 1917): The first game in NHL history.


1920s: New York Rangers: 2 Montreal Maroons: 1 (OT) Game 2 Stanley Cup Finals (April 7, 1928): The Rangers lost their goalie. Their 44-year-old coach, Lester Patrick, took over in goal and led New York to a 2-1 overtime win. The Rangers won the series 3 games to 2.

1930s: Red Wings: 1 Maroons: 0 (6 OT): Game 1 Stanley Cup Semifinals (March 24, 1936): Mud Bruneteau's goal in the 6th overtime wins Game 1 for Detroit.

1940s: Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Detroit Red Wings: 1: Finals Game 7 1942 Stanley Cup Finals (April 18, 1942): Toronto finishes off a comeback in which they trailed 3 games to none.

1950s: Detroit Red Wings: 4 New York Rangers: 3 (2 OT): Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 (April 23, 1950): Pete Babando scored the cup winner in the second OT of game 7.

1960s: Chicago Blackhawks: 3 Montreal Canadiens: 0: Game 6 Stanley Cup Semi-Final (April 4, 1961): Montreal was the five-time defending Stanley Cup Champs. Chicago stunned the world by upsetting the Canadiens in six games. They shut out Montreal in Games 5 and 6.

1970s: Montreal Canadiens: 3 Soviet Red Army: 3 (New Year’s Eve 1975): In an exhibition, the Canadiens and Red Army skated to a tie. Many hockey fans consider this the greatest game ever played.

1980s: Miracle on Ice (February 22, 1980): U.S. beats the evil Soviets. You know the story.

1990s: Detroit Red Wings: 6 Colorado Avalanche: 5 (OT): The Brawl: Turtle boy Claude Lemeiux cheap shotted Kris Draper and broke his jaw the previous year. Darren McCarty got payback and a GW goal. The game featured one of the great brawls as the Avs were finally brought to justice.

2000s: Detroit Red Wings: 3 Carolina Hurricanes: 2 (3OT): Game 3 Stanley Cup Finals: The Hurricanes actually believed they could beat the Wings. HAHHAHAHAHAAHAHA. They did win Game 1 and Detroit won Game 2. Game 3 broke the Hurricanes. Even though Detroit went up 2-1 with lots of hockey left, Carolina was not the same team after Igor Larianov’s overtime goal.