Hockey’s history is filled with iconic moments. From Bobby Orr’s Flying Goal to the numerous memorable Stanley Cup celebrations, some hockey moments have stood the test of time and are appreciated even by fans who weren’t alive to witness them (the Orr goal for example, requires someone to be at least 60 or older to have a clear memory of it).
Related: NHL’s History of Game 7 Overtime Series-Clinching Goals
There are even some recent moments that have stood out and are sure to become etched into the memory of hockey fans everywhere. The past 25 years have not only delivered but also have iconic moments available on video to replay over and over again, something you might do as you look at the top 10 rankings below. But before diving into the top 10 hockey moments of the past quarter century, here are some honorable mentions.
Sidney Crosby’s Shootout Winner in the 2008 Winter Classic – The first Winter Classic lived up to the hype as the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins went to a shootout. It needed an iconic ending and got it with Sidney Crosby scoring the shootout goal to win the game.
Sam Gagner’s Eight-Point Night – On any given night, any player can catch fire and dominate a game. That’s what Sam Gagner did on a cold 2012 February night in Edmonton against the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring four goals and four assists to give the Oilers and their fans a memorable night in an otherwise forgettable season.
Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs Game 7 (2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs) – This was either a historic collapse or a historic comeback, depending on who you ask. The Maple Leafs had a 4-1 lead in the third period and a 4-2 lead with two minutes left. Yet, the Bruins scored three goals in 11 minutes to force overtime and eventually win it thanks to a Patrice Bergeron game-winner. Who would have thought this would be a prelude for the decade to come?
Alexander Ovechkin Hoisting the Cup – It took 12 seasons, but after years of coming up short, Alexander Ovechkin finally got to hoist the Cup. The joy as he lifts it is unmatched.
Pat Maroon’s Double Overtime Winner – Talk about a sliding doors moment! The St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars went to double overtime, and Pat Maroon scored the game winner. Then, the Blues go on to win their first Cup in franchise history. Then, Maroon goes and wins two more with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mike Smith vs Cam Talbot Goalie Fight – Goalie fights are always fun, but a rarity these days. With a line brawl between the Calgary Flames and Oilers already in full swing, Mike Smith and Cam Talbot dropped the gloves at center ice for a tilt that had Jack Michaels provide quite the call, saying, “This is the Battle of Alberta we’ve been waiting for for three decades!”
Artemi Panarin & Johnny Gaudreau’s Overtime Winners – One of the best nights in hockey in recent years. The New York Rangers forced a Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and in overtime, Artemi Panarin was the hero. Later that night, the late Johnny Gaudreau slipped the puck past Jake Oettinger from a sharp angle to give the Flames the first round victory and the fans one last iconic moment they will always look back on fondly.
Bruins-Florida Panthers Game 7 Ending – The Bruins held a one-goal lead with one minute left in Game 7. Then, Brandon Montour scored to force overtime, and Carter Verhaeghe netted the overtime winner to complete the comeback for the Panthers and upset the Bruins, who had the greatest regular season of all time.
Connor McDavid’s Game 4 (& Game 5) in the 2024 Final – There are plenty of McDavid moments to choose from. This is the stretch where he not only took over two games but also gave the Edmonton Oilers a chance to win the series against the Panthers. They had their backs to the wall, and McDavid scored a goal and three assists in Game 4 while adding two goals and two assists in Game 5 to help force a Game 7. This stretch was good enough to give him the Conn Smythe Trophy in a losing effort, which speaks volumes to his dominance.
Sam Reinhart’s Four-Goal Performance (Game 6 of the 2025 Final) – It’s still too early to say whether this performance will stand the test of time. That said, Reinhart scored four goals to close out the series and give the Panthers their second title in a row in one of the greatest single-game performances in the Final.
10. Auston Matthews’ 4-Goal NHL Debut
It’s rare for a top pick or an elite prospect to make an impact right away. Auston Matthews wasn’t a typical top pick. The Maple Leafs took him with the top pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft because of his scoring ability, and he proved in his NHL debut that it would become a skill set capable of taking over games.
Against the Ottawa Senators, Matthews not only scored at will but scored four goals in the same ways that make him a dominant Hart Trophy-caliber player these days. He powered to the net, found open looks, turned on the jets to create scoring chances, and found the back of the net with that accurate shot. Matthews arguably put together the best NHL debut in league history and certainly the best in recent memory.
9. Fleury Saves Penguins in Game 7 to Win Cup
The context matters for this moment. The Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, and in a rematch, they were looking to get their revenge. This time, the series went the distance, and the winner-take-all game was in Joe Lewis Arena, where a home crowd expected to win the Cup (after all, the Red Wings won it four times in 11 years). However, the Penguins had the upper hand, with a one-goal lead in the final minutes of play, and despite the pressure, they couldn’t beat star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
In the final seconds, the Red Wings got their best chance to tie the game and force it to overtime. They fired a few shots on the net, and the rebound found future Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom with an open look in the faceoff circle, and Fleury out of position. Lidstrom got a great shot off, yet Fleury sprawled out to make the stop, and as the puck rolled to the corner, the clock hit zero, and the Penguins won the Cup. It’s about as good an ending to a Stanley Cup Final in the NHL’s history.
8. Oshie Owns Sochi
When the United States faces Russia, the games mean more, and this preliminary matchup in the 2014 Sochi Olympics was no exception. Because of the time difference, many USA viewers had to wake up early in the morning to catch this game, and it was worth setting the alarm for as it went to a shootout and lived up to the billing.
What makes this game, and the ending in particular, great is that it’s that classic underdog story that gives Americans a similar sense of pride and joy that the 1980 Miracle provided. T.J. Oshie was a lesser-known forward on the Blues, far from a household name. Yet, the USA turned to him for the first shootout attempt and the rounds when it was still tied up. The Russians turned to Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk, two of the greatest scorers, especially in the shootout, of all time.
It took eight rounds, but Oshie outdueled them both. Better yet, he continued to beat Sergei Bobrovsky with the same move over and over again. Oshie would handle the puck one way, then the other, and slide it through the five-hole. The United States fell short of expectations in the Olympics, yet this was the defining moment of the tournament.
7. McDavid’s Goal in 4 Nations Final
The 4 Nations Face-Off exceeded the hype and proved to the NHL that there was no going back to an All-Star Game. The event came down to Canada against the USA at TD Garden in a classic back-and-forth game that needed a dramatic finish to put an exclamation point on the tournament. With the score even at two goals apiece heading into overtime, that’s what happened.
It’s worth noting that this game and the tournament meant more for Canada than typical international contests. The political climate and tension between the two countries, with the United States President threatening Canada with tariffs and the nation’s sovereignty, made the 4 Nations Face-Off a must-win. They needed their stars to deliver, and their goaltender to save the day, which Jordan Binnington did with his best performance of the event. It all came to a head in overtime.
With an offensive zone faceoff, McDavid won the draw and skated to his spot in the slot as Canada cycled the puck around the net. With an open look, he sniped the puck past USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck to give Canada the 3-2 victory and the championship. The best player in the world never had a big moment on the international stage, but with everything on the line, he became a national hero in a passing of the torch moment (from Crosby to McDavid).
6. 4 Nations Face-Off Canada vs USA “3 Fights in 9 Seconds”
There’s a good argument for McDavid’s goal to be ahead of this moment, but this game did more to grow the game of hockey than any other in the past 25 years. The timing worked out well since the entire sports world, and even casual fans, were drawn to the game, and the start had everyone hooked.
Context once again is important for this moment. With tension between the USA and Canada, and the game being Saturday night at the Bell Centre, the atmosphere was electric, and the anthems only further charged up the crowd (as the Canadian crowd booed the Star Spangled Banner). By the time the puck dropped, everyone knew a great moment or two was in store.
Then the puck dropped, and so did the gloves for Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel. They provided a classic tilt with both skaters trading punches and causing helmets to fly before tumbling to the ice. Then, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett went at it, and the two power forwards gave the audience a shorter but more intense fight with heavier punches. In case that wasn’t enough, JT Miller decided to drop the gloves with Colton Parayko to wrap up the three fights in nine seconds.
Nobody knew how the 4 Nations Face-Off would play out, and it was unclear if this change-up from the All-Star Break would be a success. The fights with the intense game to follow removed all doubt. It proved to the NHL that there was no going back to an exhibition (something, ironically, the NBA was getting mocked for that same Saturday night) and instead, there needed to be more international competitions. There’s a good chance that this game, with the three fights highlighting it, goes down in hockey history as one of the most significant for the growth of the game.
5. Crosby & Ovechkin Dueling Hat Tricks (2009 Eastern Conference Semi-Final
It’s hard to ignore how many moments include Crosby or Ovechkin. It speaks volumes to their significance and influence in the game for the past quarter century. Their rivalry was at its peak in 2009, and with the Penguins and Washington Capitals meeting in the Eastern Conference Semifinal, the two stars delivered one of the best duels in NHL history.
Game 2 of this series saw both Crosby and Ovechkin trade goals in a thrilling game between the Capitals and the Penguins. What stands out from the goals is not just that they kept scoring, but how they were finding the back of the net. For Crosby, it was about powering to the net and finding the physical “dirty area” goals. Ovechkin, meanwhile, kept searching for open ice in the offensive zone to beat Fleury with his shot, and he kept burying the puck past the elite goaltender.
The Capitals came out on top with a 4-3 victory, and it gave them a 2-0 series lead. However, the series flipped after that, with the Penguins winning four of the next five, including twice in overtime, to take the series in seven games as part of a run that saw them win the Cup. This was also a theme of the rivalry, especially in the early years, as Ovechkin would always have impressive seasons, but Crosby often got the better of him in the playoffs, while the Penguins had the Capitals’ number.
4. Patrick Kane’s Phantom Goal
The Chicago Blackhawks were a laughing stock, a punchline of the league for five decades. They won the Stanley Cup in 1961 and were irrelevant since. That said, throughout the decades, they were always seen as the sleeping giant. Once they figured things out and had an ownership group willing to spend, they were going to be a team nobody could beat.
A rebuild with drafting and development finally gave them that team. With Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and a young core, they were a team on the rise, and adding Marian Hossa, a veteran forward eager to win the Cup, put them over the hump. Fast forward to Game 6 of the Final, and the Cup was in the building with only the Philadelphia Flyers in their way.
The game went into overtime, and this is where Kane comes in and becomes a Chicago legend. He gathered the puck in the offensive zone and, with a few nifty moves, he shot it from the goal line to the back of the net. It went in, but he was the only person on the ice or in the arena who knew the puck was in.
It created one of the most iconic post-goal reactions. The Wells Fargo Center crowd was confused and stunned while Kane and the Blackhawks started celebrating. Then reality set in. The goal counted, the Cup drought was over, the Blackhawks were Stanley Cup champions, and a team that was only beginning their dynasty, as they’d win two more in the next six seasons.
3. Ovechkin’s Record-Breaking Goal
This is an unbreakable record! Nobody will ever catch or surpass “The Great One” or any of his records! That was the permeating thought surrounding the goal-scoring record, something that Ovechkin would come close to breaking but never best it. Even heading into the 2024-25 season, the record being 41 goals away meant he’d probably come close but not break it, certainly not that season.
Even as Ovechkin turned back the clock and started piling up the goals, there was plenty of doubt. Then he missed almost two months with an injury, and the record seemed out of reach, at least for the season. When he returned to action on Dec. 28, he found the back of the net, and then Ovechkin scored 25 more goals in 41 games. By the time April rolled around, it was a matter of when, not if, he’d break the goal-scoring record.
This sets the scene for the big moment, a Sunday afternoon game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena, where Ovechkin faced Ilya Sorokin, one of the few goaltenders in the NHL he had never scored on. There are a lot of hidden gems that make this moment special. Like the game before, where he scored twice on home ice against the Blackhawks to tie Wayne Gretzky, but didn’t want to score on an empty net, so he passed on the opportunity. Or how his goal came on the power play, with a Tom Wilson cross-ice pass finding him wide open above the faceoff circle, just outside “Ovi’s Office”. Or how once he scored and everyone had understandable wild reactions on social media, and the Islanders simply posted “WSH goal. 2-1 #Isles” as if general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello posted it himself. Or the diving celebration, which ties the goal to a picturesque moment.
Record chases are always memorable and often surreal. When something seems impossible, an athlete comes along and sets a new standard. Nobody believed anyone would catch Gretzky’s 894 goals, yet Ovechkin kept scoring and kept doing so in eras when goals were down and then back up, and goaltending was better than ever before. Ovechkin now has the new scoring record, and it might be another quarter century or longer before another player comes along and breaks it.
2. Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal
This game didn’t have the same tension that the 4 Nations Face-Off did, but the stage was bigger and the pressure was highest. Canada hosted the 2010 Olympics, and after failing to win gold in 2006, all the pressure was on to get the job done four years later. Canada faced the United States in the gold medal game, and the game itself was a classic as well.
The Golden Goal often overshadows how good this game was. Toews scored the early goal, and Corey Perry’s goal in the second period had the British Columbia crowd sensing a gold medal was on the way. Then USA cut the lead in half with a Ryan Kesler goal, and both nations entered the final frame with Canada ahead 2-1. Roberto Luongo was in his prime and made 34 saves on the night, meaning if the game was going to be tied, it would take a remarkable goal. With 30 seconds left in the game, that’s what happened as Kane flipped the puck to the net and Zach Parise collected the rebound and put it in to force overtime.
This is when Crosby cemented himself as the best player in the game. He went from rising superstar to Canadian hero and all-time great. With sudden-death overtime and the next goal winning or losing the gold, Crosby started up the play and sent the puck deep into the offensive zone. With a quick pass along the boards to Jarome Iginla, he darted to the net where the USA defense couldn’t stop him.
Like many great moments, there are some hidden gems in this goal as well. One of them comes after the pass to Iginla, where fans could hear some yelling but only afterwards it’s discovered that it’s Crosby yelling “IGGY” knowing if he got a centering pass from his linemate, it was a goal. Miller was also great that night, stopping 36 shots, but there was no stopping Crosby, who fired the puck past the goaltender on the short side to end the game and give Canada the gold.
This game and this moment embody a lot of things. For one, it embodied the rivalry on the ice between Canada and the United States. The USA had a good team and a great goaltender, making them just as capable of capturing gold. Yet, whenever Canada needs to win, they find a way to do so, and it’s their stars who step up and deliver. It was only fitting that Crosby, “Sid the Kid” from Nova Scotia, who was dubbed a generational talent since his childhood, was the one who scored the “Golden Goal,” which anyone from Canada can distinctly recall.
1. Ray Bourque Hoisting the Cup
After years of coming up short with the Bruins, Bourque finally got his chance as he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. He joined a team with a prime Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, and a roster good enough to beat the New Jersey Devils, the team of the era that won two Cups and was looking to win another in 2001 after winning it all the season before.
It set up a classic back-and-forth series that went the distance. Game 7 wasn’t close as the Avalanche jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held a 3-1 lead through the final frame as Roy shut the door on his way to winning his third Conn Smythe Trophy. That only made the moment better as the Pepsi Center crowd knew what was happening.
In the final 13 seconds, the fans were on their feet, and it was clear the Avalanche were going to win the Cup. Yet, Bourque was out of gas, and at 40 years old, there wasn’t anything left in the tank. The Avalanche players forced him out on the ice for one last shift, making sure he was out there as the clock hit zero and the final horn sounded so they could mob him in the celebration.
The Cup-lifting moment is something anyone can recall, even those who aren’t old enough to remember it live, but have watched the clip. Gary Bettman hands the Cup to Sakic, who, before lifting it himself, quickly turns to Bourque to allow him to hoist and carry Lord Stanley around the ice.
Rewatching the moment (which I’ve done multiple times while writing this), there are a few things that make it a perfect hockey scene. The first is Bourque’s son in the background, whom the ABC Sports broadcasts cuts to during the celebration to find in tears of joy. Some of the best hockey moments involve family, from parents watching their kids or loved ones in the stands, making sacrifices with the player committed to the game, to kids admiring their parents. This moment is a snapshot of all the work by Bourque and his family, finally paying off.
The other thing is the call. That call by Gary Thorne is on a different level, one that stands out like Dan Kelly’s “Bobby Orr Flying Goal” call. Just as Bourque gets the Stanley Cup from Sakic, Thorne goes, “And after 22 years, RAYMOND BOURQUE!!” with the full name coming just as the crowd erupts with cheers. It’s as if he’s commanding the fans to roar with him when the Cup is raised, as the timing and energy bring this moment to a different dimension.
Is there a moment we left off the list? Which moments were the most iconic from the past 25 years? Let us know in the comments section below!
