Top 5 One Man Armies
Patrick Roy, 1993
In 1986, a 20-year-old rookie goalie named Patrick Roy led the famed Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup victory, with a .923 save percentage in his first 20 playoff games.
During the 1993 NHL regular season, the Montreal Gazette ran a poll asking readers whether the Canadiens should trade goaltender Roy; a whopping 57 percent of respondents (frustrated by an oh so long seven years between championships) answered "yes", and the movement only swelled after the club dropped the first two games of their opening round playoff series against the rival Quebec Nordiques.
Little did they know they were about to witness one of the greatest playoff performances in league history.
Roy and the Canadiens went on to win the next 11 games - seven of which were decided in overtime - tying the record for consecutive postseason victories. The remarkable run was capped by a five-game series win over Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final, featuring an additional three playoff overtime wins.
All told, Roy guided a team without a top 20 regular season scorer to an unlikely championship, posting a save percentage of .929 and earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason's Most Valuable Player. It marked the second of his four Cups, a signal that he was able to lead this campaign in any given year.
Jaroslav Halak, 2010
Roy was not the first Canadien's goalie to steal the show in the playoffs (see: Dryden, Ken), and he wasn't the last either. Jaroslav Halak, the supposed backup to Carey Price (Montreal's "next one") stepped up big time in 2010, putting on quite a show and leading Montreal to an unlikely Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
The Canadiens, who finished eighth in the in the conference, matched up against Alexander Ovechkin and the President's Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the first round, and were predicted to come out on top by literally no one.
Enter Halak.
Despite allowing 10 goals in the Canadiens' two losses in the series, the team beat the Capitals on the strength of Halak's .929 save percentage, a number boosted after he stopped 128 of 131 shots in Games 4-6, completely stymieing Washington's potent attack.
After a rough start in the next round - a 6-3 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins - Halak allowed only 11 goals in the next six games, propelling his team to the Conference Finals.
Ultimately, Halak's play and the club's run ran out of steam, but defeating those two teams was no small feat, and would not have happened without a truly legendary performance.
Joe Sakic, 1996
Sakic endeared himself to Colorado hockey fans in a big way during the 1996 playoffs. While the aforementioned Roy was solid in net en route to yet another Cup victory, it was the sharp-shooting captain who took his game to the next level, earning himself the Conn Smythe trophy while setting a National Hockey League record in the process.
The Avalanche captain absolutely rolled over the competition, recording 18 goals (second most all-time in a single postseason) and 16 assists; the next highest Colorado scorer was Valeri Kamensky with 22 points.
On top of that, Sakic recorded six game-winning goals, setting a record in that particular category (since tied by Joe Nieuwendyk and broken by Brad Richards).
How dominant was Sakic that year? See for yourself.
J.S. Giguere, 2003
If you asked hockey observers about the Anaheim Ducks' chances of competing for the Cup back in 2003, some would have said it was about as likely as Paul Kariya getting up after a hit from Scott Stevens and scoring a goal on Martin Brodeur.
All the (then Mighty) Ducks went on to do was push the New Jersey Devils to a seventh and deciding game in the Final, fully on the strength of goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere's legendary performance in net.
In 21 games that postseason, Giguere allowed only 42 goals in 21 games, with a .945 save percentage, surpassed only by Jonathan Quick in 2012. Anaheim's leading scorers that year were Adam Oates and Petr Sykora, who managed only 13 points apiece.
While the Ducks failed to hoist the Cup that year, Giguere became only the fifth player in league history to win the Conn Smythe in a losing effort
Wayne Gretzky, 1985
We'd be remiss if the Great One wasn't mentioned on this list. While the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s can't be accused of being carried by a single player, there's no question that Wayne Gretzky stands was above the rest.
Case in point: the 1985 playoffs.
By that point, the Oilers had already won a Cup, and Gretzky had recorded a total of 73 points in 35 games over the course of the previous two postseasons.
In 1985, the Oilers rolled to a Final appearance against the Philadelphia Flyers, winning the series in five games. Gretzky set a single season playoff record with 47 total points (17 goals, 30 assists), with Paul Coffey ranking second on the team with 37 points and the next highest forward (Jari Kurri) recording 31. Nice performances to be sure, but all the offense went through Gretzky and his 2.6 point per game average.