Best Heritage Classic goals, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen

Welcome to the National Hockey List. Each week, NHL.com Senior Writer Dan Rosen will provide a list dealing with important topics around the NHL. Today, Rosen lists his top five favorite goals in Heritage Classic history.

It all started with the Heritage Classic.

The NHL's foray into outdoor hockey experience began on Nov. 22, 2003, when the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens played in frigid conditions at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

The Canadiens won 4-3. 

That was the League's first outdoor game.

The 46th will be played Sunday, when the Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets take it outside at the 2026 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).

It will be the eighth Heritage Classic, a tradition that has created iconic images like Jose Theodore wearing a toque over his goalie mask, elite alumni events, and the NHL staging games in out-of-market cities such as Regina, Saskatchewan and Hamilton, Ontario. 

There have been 37 goals scored in seven Heritage Classic games. Here are my favorite five:

1. Soar like Orr

Rene Bourque already had a goal in the game, the 99th of his career, and the Calgary Flames had a 2-0 lead against the Canadiens in the second period of the second Heritage Classic in history; at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Feb. 20, 2011.

Bourque, coming down the left side, got the puck and had to settle it as it bounced on him. He did so calmly and was able to then take it through the left face-off circle toward Carey Price in Montreal's net.

Bourque made a last-second deke to his backhand and stuffed the puck into the net to give Calgary a 3-0 lead with 5:14 remaining before the second intermission.

As he scored, Bourque's momentum carried him forward. He tripped over Price and went airborne. Celebrating as he landed.

It wasn't quite Bobby Orr's flying Cup-clinching goal in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final, but it was close enough to be memorable for that specific reason.

It was also Bourque's 100th NHL goal.

2. Breaking the freeze

The first Heritage Classic was scoreless through 20 minutes, the Oilers and Canadiens trying everything they had to battle the cold. It was 0 degrees Fahrenheit at puck drop and the temperature dropped as the game went along.

But history was made 39 seconds into the second period, when Montreal forward Richard Zednik scored the first goal in NHL outdoor game history to give the visitors at Commonwealth Stadium a 1-0 lead.

A shot from Zednik from the left face-off circle went wide left and was hard enough to rim around the net and up the far boards to Patrice Brisebois at the right point. Brisebois, the Canadiens defenseman, fired the puck at the net from the point. 

Zednik by now had crashed back down toward the net. Michael Ryder was in front of the net. He appeared to redirect Brisebois' shot across the top of the crease to Zednik at the left post. He put it in for the historic goal.

Zednik also scored what turned into the game-winning goal at 14:18 of the third period as the Canadiens won the first outdoor game 4-3.

3. Rocking in Regina

Only one Heritage Classic game has gone into overtime. It was the Jets and Flames playing at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on Oct. 26, 2019. 

Tied 1-1 after regulation, the 3-on-3 overtime crept just over the three-minute mark when Kyle Connor and Bryan Little came down on a 2-on-1. Connor busted up the left-wing wall to create the odd-man rush with Little on his right, dashing toward the net, stick ready for the pass.

Connor waited out Flames defenseman TJ Brodie, who went down, stick out in front, feet facing the net. Connor slipped a hard pass under Brodie's legs to Little, who redirected the puck past goalie David Rittich and into the net at 3:04, giving the Jets a 2-1 win.

4. Alberta's own

Mark Letestu grew up in Elk Point, Alberta, about two and a half hours from Edmonton. He grew up, like a lot of Canadian kids, learning how to play hockey on a homemade outdoor rink in his backyard.

It was like it was meant to be then that Letestu was playing for the Oilers against the Jets on an outdoor rink in Winnipeg, then known as Investors Group Field and now known as Princess Auto Stadium, the home to the 2026 Heritage Classic.

Even better, Letestu made the most of his moment in the sun, scoring the first goal in a 3-0 Edmonton win.

He was killing a penalty when Blake Wheeler tried to pass from the left-wing corner to the point. Letestu got his stick on the puck. It slowed as it approached Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. 

Byfuglien swung at it and missed. He tried to kick the puck and missed again. The puck kept going, and with Byfuglien unable to recover, Letestu slipped past the burly Jets defenseman, grabbed the puck and took off on a short-handed breakaway from the Winnipeg blue line.

Letestu, as if he was in a shootout, went left on his forehand and scored past goalie Connor Hellebuyck's glove to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 9:24 of the second period. It is one of three shorthanded goals scored in Heritage Classic history.

Anton Babchuk had the first with the Flames in 2011. Tage Thompson scored an empty-net shorthanded goal for the Buffalo Sabres in their 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Hamilton on March 13, 2022.

5. 'Bouch' bomb

Sometimes you love a goal because of who made it happen. In this case, it's Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard at 16:06 of the first period in the 2023 Heritage Classic between the Oilers and Flames at Commonwealth Stadium.

The puck went behind the net to Draisaitl, who quickly backhanded it to McDavid knifing down through the left circle. McDavid curled into the corner, the puck on his backhand. He twirled to get it to his forehand and delivered a hard pass through the slot to Draisaitl at the bottom of the right circle.

Bouchard was ready and waiting at the left point. Draisaitl found him. One-timer. Bang. In the net, with Zach Hyman in front providing the screen on goalie Jacob Markstrom.

Bouchard's goal turned into the game-winner as the Oilers went on to win 5-2.