Best Game-Winning Goals in Hockey History

Key Insights:

• Bobby Orr's airborne Cup winner in 1970 and Patrick Kane's almost-missed OT goal in 2010 are the bookends of the greatest Cup-clinching moments in NHL history
• International hockey has produced its own tier of game-winning goals, from Paul Henderson's series winner in 1972 to Crosby's Golden Goal in Vancouver, that carry a weight beyond any individual franchise
• Alex Ovechkin holds the all-time NHL record for regular season game-winning goals with 140, passing Jaromir Jagr to take sole possession of a record that may never be approached again

Cup-Clinching and Series-Clinching Overtime Winners

Nothing ends a hockey season like an overtime goal in a Cup-clinching game. These are the goals every playoff montage leans on and every fan remembers exactly where they were when it happened:

1. Bobby Orr, 1970 Stanley Cup Final — Orr scored in overtime against the Blues and immediately got tripped, going airborne just as the puck crossed the line. The photo of him flying through the air is the single most iconic image in hockey history and it ended Boston's 29-year Cup drought. One goal, one photograph, one moment that defined the sport for a generation.
2. Patrick Kane, 2010 Stanley Cup Final — Kane's sharp-angle shot slipped under Michael Leighton and got stuck in the netting so quietly that Kane was the only person in the building who knew it went in at first. He celebrated alone for several seconds before everyone else figured it out. Chicago's 49-year drought ended on a goal nobody saw.
3. Brett Hull, 1999 Stanley Cup Final — Triple overtime in Game 6, Hull's skate in the crease, Dallas wins the Cup, Buffalo fans file a complaint that is still technically ongoing. The most controversial Cup-winning goal in NHL history and it happened in triple overtime because of course it did.
4. Alec Martinez, 2014 Stanley Cup Final — Double overtime in Game 5, Martinez scores to give Los Angeles back-to-back championships. The Kings were a team that had barely made the playoffs that year. Martinez made sure nobody remembered that part.
5. Martin St. Louis, 2004 playoffs — Part of a run of series-clinching overtime winners from an era of defensive hockey where every goal felt like it had been extracted by force. St. Louis scored in situations that should have been impossible for someone his size and made it look like the most natural thing in the world.

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Legendary Playoff Overtime Winners That Defined Eras

Not every iconic playoff goal wins the Cup. Some of them just end a series in a way that nobody who was watching ever forgets. Here are the overtime winners that defined entire eras and fanbases:

1. Stephane Matteau, Rangers vs. Devils, 1994 Eastern Conference Final — Double overtime wraparound in Game 7 that sent New York to the Final. The call from Howie Rose, Matteau, Matteau, Matteau, is still one of the most replayed moments in broadcast history. Rangers won the Cup that year. This goal is why.
2. Petr Sykora, Ducks vs. Stars, 2003 — Ended a five-overtime marathon in the eighth period of hockey after Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 61 saves. The third-longest game in NHL history finally ended when Sykora scored and allowed everyone in the building to remember they had lives to get back to.
3. Kevin Bieksa, Canucks vs. Sharks, 2011 Western Conference Final — Overtime winner on a knuckling point shot that took a weird bounce off the glass and found Bieksa in a spot nobody expected. One of the most accidentally perfect goals in playoff history and it sent Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Final.
4. Marc Savard, Bruins vs. Flyers, 2010 — Savard scored an overtime winner in his first game back from a serious concussion. The emotional weight of the moment, the crowd's reaction, and the circumstances made it one of the most affecting playoff goals of its era regardless of what happened afterward in the series.

International Best-on-Best Tournament Winners

Playoff hockey is high stakes. International hockey, when the best players in the world represent their countries in single elimination games, is something else entirely. These goals carried national weight that no franchise trophy can replicate:

1. Paul Henderson, Canada vs. USSR, 1972 Summit Series Game 8 — Scored with 34 seconds left to win the series for Canada. Still voted by Canadians as the goal of the century. Henderson scored the series winner in Game 6, Game 7, and Game 8, which is either the greatest clutch performance in hockey history or something that should not have been statistically possible.
2. Mario Lemieux, 1987 Canada Cup Final — Two-on-one with Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux scores late in regulation of Game 3 to win the series. Arguably the greatest line in hockey history finishing the greatest international series ever played. The pass from Gretzky and the finish from Lemieux looked like something two players had practiced for years specifically for that moment.
3. Sidney Crosby, 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game — The Golden Goal in overtime in Vancouver against the United States. Crosby scored it, the building exploded, and Canada had its gold medal on home ice. The defining modern moment for Canadian hockey and it happened in front of the largest television audience in Canadian history.
4. Peter Forsberg, 1994 Olympic Gold Medal Game — Forsberg's one-handed shootout move won gold for Sweden against Canada and got immortalized on a Swedish postage stamp. A shootout move becoming a national symbol is not something that happens very often. Forsberg made it look inevitable.

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Career Game-Winning Goal Kings

Beyond individual moments, some players built entire careers around being the person who decided games. Here are the players whose consistency in clutch situations turned game-winning goals into a personal specialty:

1. Alex Ovechkin — Holds the all-time NHL record with 140 regular season game-winning goals, passing Jaromir Jagr to take sole possession of the record in early 2025. The number is so far ahead of anyone currently active that it may stand for decades.
2. Jaromir Jagr — 135 career game-winners across multiple franchises and multiple decades. Held the record before Ovechkin passed him and spent the better part of 25 years as the standard for what a career clutch scorer looked like.
3. Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito — Both finished with over 115 career game-winners in eras where the game was played completely differently. The fact that their numbers still hold up in historical comparisons says everything about how consistently dominant both players were across their careers.
4. Sidney Crosby and Leon Draisaitl — Both already rank among the all-time leaders on the active leaderboard and are still adding to their totals. Crosby's combination of playoff game-winners and regular season clutch goals makes him the most complete modern example of a player who consistently delivers when the game is actually on the line.

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Game-winning goals are hockey doing what it is best at: producing one defining moment out of sixty minutes of chaos and making it feel like the only thing that ever mattered. The players and goals on this list did not just win games. They gave fans moments they are still talking about decades later. Someone is going to add their name to a list like this one very soon. Pay attention when overtime starts.

FAQ

What is the most iconic game-winning goal in NHL history?

Bobby Orr's airborne Cup winner in 1970 is the standard answer and the photograph that came from it made the argument for him. Paul Henderson's 1972 Summit Series winner gets the nod from anyone who factors in national significance over franchise history.

Who has the most game-winning goals in NHL history?

Alex Ovechkin holds the all-time record with 140 regular season game-winning goals as of early 2025, passing Jaromir Jagr who held the record for years with 135.

Has any player scored the Cup-winning goal multiple times?

It is extremely rare. Henri Richard won the Cup multiple times with Montreal but the specific Cup-winning goal record is not officially tracked the same way regular season game-winners are. Most players who scored one Cup winner consider it the defining moment of their career.

What is the most controversial game-winning goal in NHL history?

Brett Hull's Cup winner in 1999 with his skate in the crease. Dallas won the championship and Buffalo fans have been arguing about the call ever since. The rule has since been changed, which did not make anyone in Buffalo feel better about it.

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