Stanley Cup Heroes, Part 9: Get the Kid from Vermont

The Habs have won more Stanley Cups than any other franchise. 24 to be exact. You may think that it’d be hard to pick a favourite. I disagree, I think Habs fans above 30 have a very easy choice. 1993 is not only their most recent Stanley Cup, but it is also the craziest run in NHL history. On their way to the Cup, Montreal won 10 of their games in overtime. That is the most ever in a single playoff run. 2nd most is 7. It was a group of young players backstopped by the great Patrick Roy with old-man legend Denis Savard tagging along. One of the young players on that team was a man named John LeClair. LeClair was the first Vermont-born NHL player ever. To this day, he is one of just 2 Vermont-born players. He was a 2nd round pick in 1987 and became a regular for Montreal in 1993 as a big middle 6 forward. In the playoffs, LeClair wasn’t anything special. He didn’t get a single point in Montreal’s first 5 playoff games, then he put up 6 in the next 10 before the Habs made it to the Cup Final to face Wayne Gretzky and the LA Kings. Once there, LeClair was a -1 and pointless through 2 games. It seemed like he would be remembered as just another guy on that team. That changed forever in game 3. In Montreal, the Habs jumped up 3-0 in the first half of this game, only for the Kings to storm back and tie it in less than 15 minutes. The comeback was capped off by a Gretzky goal late in the 2nd. The 3rd period didn’t have any goals, so we got overtime. Just 30 seconds in, John LeClair scored the OT winner and put Montreal up 2-1 in the series. In game 4, Montreal had the chance to take a stranglehold in the Cup Final. It played out very similarly to game 3. The Habs jumped out to a lead, this time it was just 2-0. The Kings then made a comeback in the 2nd period with Gretzky assisting on the tying goal in the dying seconds. 3rd period had no goals, so we got another overtime. This overtime went differently to game 3. It took 15 minutes instead of 30 seconds for John LeClair to score the OT winner. With that goal, John LeClair became just the 2nd NHL player ever to score 2 overtime winners in the same Cup Final. Leon Draisaitl is the only other player to accomplish the feat. Even if we make it careers instead of a single Final, LeClair was just the 4th player ever to score multiple OT winners and remains 1 of 5 today. LeClair is also the only American to achieve it. LeClair had an amazing career. One that is, at worst, worthy of the Hall of Very Good. He is also a legend in Vermont athletics. He remains 1 of just 2 Vermont-born players to ever play in the NHL. The other player (Graham Mink), played 7 games. LeClair played 967 and racked up 819 points. He made another Cup Final with the Flyers while becoming a genuine star next to Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg as a part of the Legion of Doom line. But in 1993, the kid from Vermont became a Stanley Cup Hero.