Stanley Cup Final: Jordo Turns Back The Clock, Wins Conn Smythe
Along similar lines of needing someone to step up, when the lights got the brightest, it was the team's leader who stepped onto center stage.
Jordan Staal already contributed a major moment to the postseason run when he set the tone in Round 1, Game 1 by putting Brady Tkachuk on his backside, but it was only fitting that, to end a campaign in which he contributed 20 goals during the regular season for the first time in 10 years, his goal-scoring rose to the occasion once again.
Beginning with a game-tying goal in the third period in Game 1, "Jordo" got on the board in the Stanley Cup Final. In Game 2, it was a go-ahead goal in the third period.
When the series shifted to Vegas, he pulled his team back within one during the final frame of regulation in Game 3, helping them crawl out of a seemingly impossible 4-0 hole.
In Game 4, it was a double-dip. An early power-play goal was supplemented with yet another third-period strike to give his team the lead.
With the series knotted at 2-2 and every goal providing that much more of a momentum swing, Staal's first-period tip-in during Game 5 got his team back to equal footing after Vegas had struck first.
Contributing all of this while maintaining his usual steadfast defensive responsibilities, registering 20 hits, and winning 67.5% of his faceoffs, it was a simply remarkable final road to the mountain top for the oldest player in league history (37) to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
