Gutsiest Playoff Moment: Bobby Baun vs Paul Kariya [Finals]

Finals: BOBBY BAUN vs PAUL KARIYA

Bobby Baun

April 23rd, 1964 – In Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final, the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman blocks a shot, breaks his leg and is taken from the ice on a stretcher. However, Baun returns to the game and scores the game winning goal in overtime. The Leafs would go on to win the next game for their third consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

Baun slumped to the ice with about seven minutes remaining in regulation time and was carted off on a stretcher. The word had just got around that he had suffered either a broken leg or a sprained ankle when the 28 year old rearguard stepped onto the ice and scored the winner. A pressure bandage and shot of a pain-killing drug had eased the pain long enough for him to get back into the game. (Canadian Press, 1964)

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Paul Kariya

June 7, 2003 – It’s Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals with the New Jersey Devils leading the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 3 games to 2. Six minutes into the second period, Scott Stevens delivers a crushing open-ice hit on Paul Kariya that leaves Kariya motionless on the ice. Kariya is helped to the dressing room and presumed to be finished for the series but Kariya shocks everyone by returning to the bench a few minutes later. Kariya gets back into the game and scores a goal. The Ducks win the game and force a Game 7 back in New Jersey.

Kariya did something Eric Lindros, Shane Willis and Ron Francis could not — he came back from a vicious hit by New Jersey Devils captain Scott Stevens. And after coming back, the Ducks captain produced the signature moment of his nine-year career when he scored to restore Anaheim’s three-goal lead en route to a 5-2 win.

“Immediately when he came back on the bench, there was a lift in the building and a lift on the bench,” left wing Dan Bylsma said. (Sports Illustrated, 2003)