The last part of the three-part look at the great hockey moments from the past quarter-century is here. Before diving into the top five, make sure to check out the previous 20 moments on Hot Stove. For the top five, it’s splitting hairs time. Any of these has great arguments as the best moment of the past 25 years, but with the help of many hockey writers, we have a top five. So, let’s dive right in.
5: Four-Nations Faceoff 3 Fights in 9 Seconds
There’s plenty of debate about which moment from the Four Nations was more iconic. The McDavid goal to end the event or the fights in the round robin game in Montreal. It’s a similar debate for longtime hockey fans about the 1972 Summit Series and whether the first or the final matchup between Canada and Russia was more significant. Some say the final game, where Canada won but the first had more historic implications.
The same is true about the first matchup between Canada and the USA. The tension was there before the puck drop, and the atmosphere in Montreal was built for the moment. This Saturday night game also came at a perfect time for hockey, with minimal sports on that weekend while the NBA was in the middle of All-Star exhibitions and being mocked for it. It was a perfect storm for casual hockey fans and sports fans who watch minimal hockey. In short, the three fights in nine seconds did more to grow the game than any other moment in the past 25 years (there’s a good chance we look back at this game 20 or even 10 years from now as a defining moment in hockey history).
The fights were also vintage tilts. First, it was Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel dropping the gloves off the puck drop, a Florida Panther and Tampa Bay Lightning forward, with both trading blows. Then Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett went at it in a bout between two of the biggest power forwards in the game. By the time JT Miller and Colton Parayko had their fight, the crowd in Bell Centre and fans watching on TV were energized, knowing. This was the first matchup between Canada and the USA in over a decade, and it proved that the intensity of international hockey is hard to match.
4: Patrick Kane’s “Ghost” Goal in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final
The big picture reason this moment is special is that it officially ended the longest title drought at the time. The Chicago Blackhawks won the Cup in 1960 and then went through five decades of misery before they finally put together a team good enough to win it all. With Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and a young core on the rise, a mix of veterans from Marian Hossa to Brian Campbell, and a coach in Joel Quenneville who was making his mark as a playoff matchup mastermind, this was the team to end the curse.
The Blackhawks ran into a team of destiny in their own right. The Philadelphia Flyers only made the playoffs on the final day of the regular season and then put together a run featuring a reverse sweep. Their record wasn’t great but they gave the Blackhawks all they could handle, pushing the series to six games and forcing Game 6 into overtime.
This leads to the iconic moment. In overtime, the Blackhawks controlled the puck in the offensive zone, and Kane made a quick move to give himself a tight window for a shot on the net. The shot snuck just under the goal, into the netting and past Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton, creating a memorable reaction.
Plenty of hockey fans will proudly claim that they knew the puck was in (them and Kane). However, the Flyers fans in the arena had a stunned and confused reaction, and the same was true about most of the players, aside from a few Blackhawks. Kane celebrated the goal because he knew the puck was in the back of the net, and slowly, the realization hit for both sides and hockey fans everywhere that the Blackhawks had won the Cup. Little did they know that it would kickstart a run where the team would win three more titles in six years.
3: Alexander Ovechkin’s Record-Breaking Goal
For years, it seemed like Wayne Gretzky’s records would never be touched. The all-time records for points, goals, and assists were unbreakable. Even at the start of the 2024-25 season, Alexander Ovechkin was 41 goals away and couldn’t possibly catch or pass Gretzky (and certainly not after he missed time with an injury).
Something Ovechkin has taught us is to never doubt him when he’s on a mission, and with the record within reach, he wouldn’t be denied. From Dec. 28 until April 4, Ovechkin played in 42 games and scored 26 goals, tying him with The Great One. By the time the Sunday afternoon game against the New York Islanders rolled around, the question was when, not if, he would break the record.
With the Islanders taking a first period penalty, the stage was set for the record-breaking goal. There are so many gems from this moment that it’s hard to go through them all. The goal came on the power play with a Tom Wilson cross-ice pass and off one of his classic shots. There’s the celebration afterwards where Ovechkin dives across the ice while everyone mobs him. There’s the tweet from the Islanders’ social media, which doesn’t acknowledge the goal and simply says “WSH goal. 2-1 #Isles” as if Lou Lamoriello typed it himself. The goal also came against Russian goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who admired Ovechkin but never allowed him to score until then. The UBS Arena crowd, usually filled with Islanders fans, was a mix with many Capitals fans making the trip, but collectively, everyone gave him a round of applause, recognizing the achievement.
To cap it all off, the NHL realized the significance of the goal. The game was paused, and Ovechkin got the recognition he deserved. The record chase was a lifetime achievement, and for many fans, this goal and the journey there allowed them to reflect on a player who has been an integral part of hockey in this era.
2: Ray Bourque Lifting The Cup
Ray Bourque accomplished everything in his Hall of Fame career. The longtime Boston Bruins won the Norris Trophy multiple times and was the top defenseman of his era, who some put up there with Bobby Orr as the greatest ever to play the position. Yet, he could never get over the hump, and the Stanley Cup was always so close yet so far. As Bourque aged into the 1990s and the Bruins started to decline, the question was whether he’d ever win it all and if he’d become the greatest player to never hoist the Cup.
At 39 years old, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche with two more chances at the Cup. With Patrick Roy in the net, Joe Sakic leading the forwards, and a complete team around him, Bourque wasn’t asked to carry the team to the Cup like he was in previous years. The Avalanche ended up in a battle with the team of the era, the New Jersey Devils, a team that was coming off a Cup victory and defined the era with defense and lights-out goaltending.
Yet, the Avalanche controlled the series, and with Roy’s Conn Smythe-caliber play in the net (he’d end up winning his third Conn Smythe), they could sense the victory in the final seconds of Game 7. The 3-1 lead meant that Bourque could take a big sigh on the bench and watch the final second tick off the clock and watch the dream become a reality.
Fast forward to the moment itself. Usually, when teams are awarded the Cup by Gary Bettman, it goes to the captain and then the assistant captains. There are exceptions, especially when a veteran on the team has yet to win it, and this was the prime example of that exception. When Sakic was handed the Cup, he immediately turned to Bourque to allow him to hoist it and skate around the ice. Bourque jokingly told Sakic that it was “the best assist you ever had.”
The added layer to this moment is the call by Gary Thorne, which makes this perfect for viewers everywhere. As Bourque lifts the Cup, he goes, “and after 22 years, RAYMOND BOURQUE!!” It’s as if he’s commanding the crowd to erupt as he lifts the Cup with his timing and energy for the moment.
This could have been the best moment, and it has a good argument for it. The two things preventing it from being the top one from the past 25 years are that it isn’t a recent memory. Many hockey fans weren’t born when Bourque won the Cup, and fewer have a clear memory of his career to understand the significance of the journeyman Hall of Famer finally winning it. Another thing to keep in mind is that Bourque, while liked by many, was one player, while the number one moment on the list spoke to not just a team but an entire nation.
1: Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal
Some will go as far as to say it’s the most iconic goal in Canadian, or even international hockey history (fans from previous eras will point to a handful of others). The Sidney Crosby Golden Goal is iconic and the pinnacle of international hockey.
The stage itself added to the moment as Canada, specifically, Vancouver, hosted the Olympics in 2010 and was coming off a rare disappointment in the Olympics as they fell short at the 2006 Turin game. Crosby was left off the 2006 team but was one of the leaders of the 2010 group, which was the most talented in the tournament. They played a USA team in the Gold Medal game that had plenty of talent and could have won the game but with Canada, when they need a win, their star players deliver, and that’s what happened in the final game.
The game was a classic with Canada jumping out to a 2-0 lead but the USA squad crawled back into the game, and in the final second, Zach Parise zipped the puck past Roberto Luongo to tie the game. That’s when the Vancouver crowd and Canada got tense. The questions about whether this team would fail them or whether Luongo should have started the game in the first place (he was the best goaltender in the NHL that season but they had a multi-Cup winner and future Hall of Famer, Martin Brodeur, as a backup).
Sudden-death overtime is where Crosby came through in the clutch. He got the puck past the USA defense and deep into the offensive zone before cycling the puck into the corner to Jerome Iginla. That’s when another gem arrives as Crosby shouts “IGGY” while skating to the net, demanding a centering pass knowing the goal would follow. Iginla gave him that centering pass, and then the quick shot got past Ryan Miller and gave Canada the Gold Medal.
This moment had everything. From the clutch play to the significance, it’s one that any hockey fan can recall and also note where they were when it happened. For Canadians, it’s a moment of joy that led to a night of celebration. For Americans, it was another heartbreaker for a nation that hasn’t won Gold since 1980. This goal didn’t catapult Crosby into stardom but it cemented his status as the game’s best, winning everything there is to win and putting himself on a clear path to the Hall of Fame.
This list is sure to have fans up in arms. There are probably 25 or more moments that come to mind that didn’t make the list, and certainly, the top five can easily be disputed. So, let the debates begin, and comment below what your top hockey moments from the past quarter-century are.
