Wickenheiser helped lead Blues to 'Monday Night Miracle' in 1986 playoffs

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week Fischler recalls one of the most pulsating games in St. Louis Blues history, "The Monday Night Miracle" in Game 6 of the 1986 Campbell Conference Final against the Calgary Flames.

Former St. Louis Blues owner Harry Ornest once said that what took place the night of May 12, 1986 at St. Louis Arena, "Defied credulity."
And he wasn't exaggerating.
Ornst had stepped in to buy the Blues in 1983 from Ralston Purina, which had tried to move the team to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He became the savior of hockey in St. Louis, though complications from the sale cost the Blues selections in the 1983 NHL Draft.
"That put us right behind the eight-ball," Ornest later told me. "Then I had to hurry up and find a general manager and a coach who could at least make the team competitive. I got lucky. Ron Caron was available as GM and he grabbed Jacques Demers as coach. Together they wove straw into gold."
One gift was left for Caron and Demers. A skinny kid who was the No. 134 pick in the 1982 draft by the name of Doug Gilmour.
"I had no choice," Caron said. "I needed players and I figured I had nothing to lose so I decided to try Doug Gilmour at camp and see what happens. He was just out of juniors (Cornwall) and showed me some skill."
Gilmour emerged as one of the Blues best players with 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists) as a rookie in 1983-84 and would go on to play 20 NHL seasons and eventually be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Caron made other wise decisions to fill out the Blues roster. One of the very best was trading for center Doug Wickenheiser, the No. 1 pick in the 1980 draft, who failed to pan out with the Montreal Canadiens but was solid with the Blues.
"The Canadiens had drafted Doug first overall but the Montreal fans really wanted the team to pick Denis Savard (who was selected No. 3 by the Chicago Black Hawks) because he was a favorite of the francophone fans," Caron explained. "As it turned out, Savard became a superstar for Chicago and Wickenheiser was a total bust with the 'Habs.' I grabbed him in a trade and what a break that was for us."
Neither Demers nor Caron had any illusions about the new owner, though. It was known throughout the League that Ornest maintained one of the lowest budgets in the NHL. As a result, the Blues had to grin and bear it while getting the most out of its players.
"We had a 'Lunchpail' team, there was no doubt about that," Demers remembered, "but it made for great camaraderie. By the time the 1985-86 season rolled around, we had a competitive club that came to play every night."
The Blues acquired two solid goalies, Greg Millen and Rick Wamsley, as well as forwards Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko and Greg Paslawski, and defenseman Rob Ramage.
"Just getting into the playoffs was a big deal for us," said Ornest. "I'd been in hockey long enough to know that anything can happen when you get into the postseason, but I never would have dreamed what my team would do that spring (in 1986)."
The Blues finished third in the Norris Division in 1985-86, three games over .500 (37-34-9), but Demers had his team playing its best hockey in the homestretch. The Blues defeated the favored Minnesota North Stars in a best-of-5 first-round playoff series that went the distance.
"It was an upset, but not much was made of it at the time," Federko said. "But then we beat [the Toronto Maple Leafs] in the second round that went the full seven games and now we were on a roll."
The Campbell Conference Final pitted the Blues against the Calgary Flames. After winning the opener on the road, 5-2, St. Louis lost three of the next four games to head home for Game 6 on the brink of elimination.
The venerable St. Louis Arena was sold out but there was little to cheer about for the home crowd after two periods. The Flames had a 4-1 lead and their goalie, Mike Vernon, was playing very well.
Hoping to inspire his players, Demers gave the Blues a pep talk between the second and third periods. According to Federko in Chris McDonell's book "The Game I'll Never Forget," the coach's speech was unforgettable.
"You guys have had a great playoff," Demers said. "No one expected you to be here. Let's go out and whatever happens, happens. If we don't come back and don't win, it's no big deal. Let's go down fighting."
Then a pause, and Demers added a thought about former Blues defenseman Barclay Plager, who, at the time, was fighting cancer.
Dermers closed with five words.
"Let's win it for 'Barc.'"
Wickenheiser responded with a power-play goal five minutes into the third period but just 2:04 later, Calgary scored. With eight minutes gone by, it was 5-2 for the visitors.
However, with 11:52 remaining in the third period, Sutter beat Vernon. Now it was 5-3 and remained that way with just over four minutes to play. Paslawski, who had missed a chunk of the season with injuries, scored at 15:49 and the old barn in St. Louis was rocking like never before.
So was Paslawski.
With the clock winding down, the kid they called "Pazzer" poke-checked the puck off Vernon's stick, then swung around the net and scored with 1:08 remaining to tie the game 5-5.
In overtime, Vernon and Wamsley remained steadfast in goal. Then Federko ignited the final rush by stripping Flames defenseman Paul Reinhart of the puck and skimming a pass to forward Mark Hunter.
Suddenly, Hunter took off on a two-on-one break, side by side with Wickenheiser. The initial shot by Wickenheiser was stopped by Vernon and the crowd sighed in momentary despair.
"It looked for a second like the Flames had dodged the bullet," Federko remembered.
Wickenheiser, though, pounced on the rebound and flipped the puck into the net at 7:30 of overtime. And, thus, "The Monday Night Miracle," as it became known in St. Louis hockey lore, was completed.
"It was one of the greatest experiences of my life," Ornest said. "Despite all the adversity we'd been through since '83, it thrilled me beyond words that we won. I might add that personally it made me feel good, having rescued the team from leaving St. Louis"
There were no miracles for the Blues nor a win in Game 7, however. They lost 2-1 and the Flames went on to play in the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost in five games to the Canadiens.