Records, the old saying goes, are made to be broken.

Not so fast.

The Montreal Canadiens' record of 10 straight overtime wins on its way to the 1993 Stanley Cup looks like it has plenty of staying power.

"You have to win 16 games to win the Stanley Cup and to win 10 of them in overtime is unheard of," said Vincent Damphousse, who started Montreal's impressive streak with an overtime goal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals after the Quebec Nordiques had won the first two games of the series.

"It's almost impossible, when you think about it. First off, you have to get a tie in regulation time, that's hard enough, but 10 of them? It will be a very tough record to beat. I don't think it ever will be broken."

Damphousse, now with the San Jose Sharks, said the Canadiens didn't think much about the streak until after they'd won five games in overtime to approach the New York Islanders' record of six overtime victories in 1980.

"That's what makes a great team, thinking about and getting ready for the next game and forgetting the last game," said checking center Guy Carbonneau, the team captain. "It was never mentioned but when it got to be eight, then nine and then 10 ..."

"We didn't think a great deal about the statistics at the time, but in hindsight what are the chances you'd win that many in a row, let alone in overtime?" Carbonneau's linemate Ed Ronan said. "The level of competition being so great, you hope you can catch a great playoff run and that's what we did."

Hockey fans stayed up late during the 1993 postseason. Three other major playoff records were broken: 28 of the 85 games went to overtime; the Canadiens had 12 one-goal victories and they started a streak of 14-straight overtime wins that continued into 1998.

Denis Savard didn't mind all the overtime games in '93, as it was the only time in his career that he won the Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens had a deep team, led by goaltender Patrick Roy, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Eric Desjardins headed a defense that included Mathieu Schneider, J.J. Daigneault, Patrice Brisebois, Sean Hill, Lyle Odelein, Donald Dufresne, Kevin Haller and Rob Ramage. Carbonneau, Damphousse, John LeClair, Kirk Muller and Benoit Brunet were among a cast of forwards that also included Ronan, Mike Keane, Stephan Lebeau, Denis Savard, Todd Ewen, Gilbert Dionne, Paul Di Pietro, Mario Roberge, Brian Bellows and Gary Leeman.

Andre Racicot was Roy's backup and did a great job in the regular season with a 17-5-1 record but he saw only 18 minutes action in the postseason.

Ironically, things started badly for the eventual champs as the Canadiens were beaten in Quebec City in Game 1 on Scott Young's overtime goal. Then Young had a pair in the Nordiques' 4-1 Game 2 win. Mats Sundin put Quebec ahead in the first period of Game 3 and Muller answered in the second period. Damphousse ended it at 10:30 of overtime with assists from Bellows and Desjardins.

"We had to win that game or it was over for us," Damphousse recalled. "I got a wraparound off the boards, spun off the defenseman, shot backhand through traffic in front of net and through Ron Hextall's leg. That was the start of the streak."

Brunet scored the winner early in the third period of Game 4, then Muller scored in overtime of Game 5 at Le Colisee. Back home, the Canadiens dusted off the favored Nordiques, 6-2.

Di Pietro gave the Canadiens a huge lift in the playoffs. In only his second season, the 5-foot-9 center had only four goals and 13 assists in 29 regular-season games but eight goals and five assists in 13 Playoff games. He had the first and last goal in the Stanley Cup-clinching Game 5 over the Kings.

"Di Pietro came out of nowhere. Gilbert Dionne came out of nowhere, Mathieu Schneider came into his own, Patrice Brisebois had played his first full season and Brian Bellows had a great playoffs," Carbonneau said. "Di Pietro had a chance to play in the playoffs and took advantage of it. I saw him two years ago in Europe. He was always a good skater and had a good knowledge of the game. On a big surface, he can be a better player.

Montreal won three games in overtime against the Sabres in the 1993 Division Finals.

"We had a bunch of guys that got better together over the 2 1/2 months of the playoffs. A lot of people came from out of nowhere. We had a good bunch of youngsters and smart veterans. There was a lot of trust built between the defense, the forwards and the goalies. Our coach, Jacques Demers, always said he wanted us to be a family and a family needed to trust each other. That was the approach we had in the playoffs. We stuck together. Patrick erased the mistakes we made up front and we grew and grew."

The players agree Demers, in his first year with the Canadiens after coaching three other NHL teams, provided an atmosphere in which they could thrive. He had replaced Pat Burns at the start of the season when management felt Burns' no-nonsense approach had lost effect. Ronan said much of Burns' system remained in place and Carbonneau played a big role in supervising adherence to his team-play systems.

"I think Jacques' strength was how he handled the players. He was a good communicator and we liked him," Ronan said. "The players wanted to play for him and that's important."

"Jacques was a very positive guy," Damphousse concurred. "He made sure everyone had a role on the team in the playoffs. Everyone accepted their role and that's what you need. Jacques was good at getting the best out of every player."

Paul Di Pietro gave the Canadiens a huge lift in the '93 Playoffs. In only his second season, the 5-foot-9 center had only four goals and 13 assists in 29 regular-season games but eight goals and five assists in 13 Playoff games

After ousting Quebec, the Canadiens met the Buffalo Sabres and the overtime magic continued. Damphousse's third-period goal got Montreal the win in Game 1 against the Sabres and Carbonneau scored in overtime of Game 2 to put the Canadiens up 2-0. Dionne scored at 8:28 of overtime in Game 3 with assists from Brisebois and Bellows to give the Canadiens a 3-0 edge. Odelein, Damphousse and Haller scored in Game 4 before Muller got the winner at 11:38 of overtime, giving Montreal a sweep over Grant Fuhr and the Sabres.

Next up was the Eastern Conference Finals and the New York Islanders. LeClair had two goals and Dionne and Bellows scored on Glenn Healy to beat the Islanders, 4-1, in Game 1. In Game 2, overtime returned. This time it was Lebeau's turn to step up with two goals, including the slap shot winner at 6:21 of the second overtime. In Game 3, Montreal again needed an extra session to get a 2-1 win. After two straight OT losses, the Islanders roared back in front of a sold-out Nassau Coliseum crowd to get a 4-1 victory in Game 4. It didn't take long for the Canadiens to grab the lead in Game 5, as Muller beat Healy 58 seconds into the contest. Keane put the Habs up 2-0 near the end of the first period and Damphousse, Daigneault and Bellows added to the Canadiens' total, catapulting Montreal to a 5-2 win over New York and berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Canadiens were in the Finals for the second time in four years and third in seven seasons. They beat Calgary in 1986 and lost to the Flames in 1989, the first time a rival had won the Stanley Cup in a deciding game at the Forum. Standing in their way in the 1993 Finals were Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings. Gretzky was gunning for his fifth Stanley Cup in nine years.

"The Great One" put on a clinic in Game 1, a 4-1 Kings' triumph at the Montreal Forum. Gretzky and Alexei Zhitnik set up Luc Robitaille's power-play goal at 3:03 of the first period. Ronan answered for Montreal late in the first, only to be followed up by Robitaille's second power-play goal of the game at 17:41 of the second period. Gretzky and Tony Granato assisted on Jari Kurri's goal early in the third period and Gretzky finished with an open-net score.

Carbonneau and Demers huddled after the game and they decided Carbonneau's line with Ronan and Brunet would be on the ice whenever Gretzky was on, with Desjardins on defense. That might help against Gretzky but it presented another strategic problem.

"Our job was to close down the other team's top line," Ronan said. "But you want your best guys out there for offense so there were times Muller's line was out there."

"What Wayne did in the first game was single-handedly beat us," said Carbonneau, three times the winner of the Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward. "All my career, that was what I did (defense) and I took pride in shutting down opposing players."

At the end of a Hall of Fame career as one of the NHL's great offensive centers, Savard was playing left wing on Carbonneau's checking line, alternating with Brunet until he got hurt.

Desjardins scored the opener in Game 2 but Dave Taylor scored a shorthanded goal in the second period and set up Pat Conacher for a score midway through the third period. With 1:45 remaining and trailing 2-1, Demers asked referee Kerry Fraser to check Marty McSorley's stick for an illegal curve. McSorley was penalized and Demers pulled Roy to give the Canadiens -- 0-for-32 on the power play and 0-for-11 already in the Finals -- a 6-on-4 advantage. Desjardins scored on a seeing-eye slap shot 32 seconds later and ended the game 51 seconds into overtime with a dart through Kelly Hrudey's five-hole for the first Stanley Cup Finals hat trick by a defenseman.

There was a feeling the McSorley penalty was the turning point and that was reinforced when the Canadiens opened a 3-0 lead in Game 3 in Los Angeles. But the Kings came roaring back on goals by Robitaille, Granato and Gretzky. But Montreal came out on top when LeClair lifted a wrister over three fallen Kings in the crease, including Hrudey, just 34 seconds into overtime.

After winning 10 straight overtime games, Mario Roberge and the Canadiens enjoyed the luxury of a 4-1 clinching victory in the last Stanley Cup celebrated in the Montreal Forum.

In Game 4, Muller and Damphousse gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead, but second-period goals from Mike Donnelly and McSorley tied it. Well into overtime, Robitaille fired a shot that Roy covered as Tomas Sandstrom crashed the crease. Roy with his glove firmly on the puck, looked up at Sandstrom and gave him "the wink," a little signal to show him and the Kings who was in control.

"Always Sandstrom is in my crease, bothering me, hitting at me when I have the puck," Roy said after his team won the game 3-2 in OT. "When I made the save on Robitaille, Sandstrom hit me. So I winked. I wanted to show him I'd be tough. That I was in control."

"You see that clip a lot and it brings back a lot of memories," Ronan said. "Patrick was a confident goalie and he had thick skin. That was part of his focus. That's how he maintains his focus, by expressing his competitiveness. His great strength was that he always wanted to outperform the other team's goaltender. With 'the wink,' he took it to another level. He had a competitive spirit second to nobody's."

Di Pietro scored late in the first period of Game 5 and McSorley answered early in the second for LA to tie the game. But that's all the scoring the Kings would do in the last game of '93 Finals, as Muller got his 10th goal of the playoffs a little more than a minute later and Lebeau scored midway through the period to give the Canadiens a 3-1 lead. Di Pietro finished out the scoring when he got his second of the game midway through the third period to give Montreal a three-goal cushion.

After winning 10 straight overtime games, the Canadiens enjoyed the luxury of a 4-1 clinching victory in the last Stanley Cup celebrated in the Montreal Forum.

"Everyone was a hero," Damphousse said. "We had eight guys score those 10 overtime goals. We rolled four lines and we knew our goaltender would make the big saves. We were underdogs throughout but when you look back at the players we had and the good careers that so many have gone on to, we had a pretty good team."