Detroit Red Wings: Top 10 Red Wings Playoff Goals

The NHL playoffs are a different animal entirely. Rarely does the regular season's leading scorer dominate the playoffs as well. Memorable postseason goals have almost as much to do with being in the right place at the right time as they do with a player's ability to consistently light the lamp.

Not to disparage the stars who can leave their mark with a dazzling display of stickhandling and/or shooting.  The timely overtime goal or the late game-winner typically falls on the stick of a second- or third-liner who has no other choice but to bury it.

Since there is no legible video footage of Red Wings playoff games before 1995, we're going to start around there. You may have some goals that didn't make the list, and there are plenty more to choose from.

Here's the top 10 Red Wings playoff goals.

Nick Lidstrom: 2002 Conference Quarterfinals vs. Vancouver, Game 3

This well-documented howler changed Detroit's fortunes in the start of their Stanley Cup run in 2002. Cloutier had stifled the Wings at home in the Joe, stealing the first two games of the series.

Heading to Vancouver for Game 3, the experts were already talking about the biggest choke/upset in the history of the NHL.

Not so fast, pundits.

Lidstrom crushed Cloutier's confidence with a relatively pedestrian effort from center ice. The Wings took both games at Vancouver and went on to finish the Canucks 4-2.

Luc Robitaille: 2002 Conference Finals vs. Colorado, Game 7

This goal is significant because it unofficially ended the rivalry between the Red Wings and the Avalanche. With Claude Lemieux gone and the Holland Dream Team assembled in Motown, the 2002 squad probably shouldn't have needed seven games to dispatch Colorado.

The Avs still had a lot of talent, with Roy still in net, Sakic, Forsberg and Rob Blake. The 7-0 rout in Game 7 was an exclamation point to the series that clearly showed the better team.

Goal No. 3 by Robitaille was one of the prettiest, with Larionov threading a sweet pass between the defenseman's legs to complete the give-and-go.

Roy and company looked beaten after the fourth goal and the Wings were on their way to the finals again. As a bonus, I've decided to include all seven as a personal homage to Patrick Roy.

#yourwelcomePatrick

Pavel Datsyuk: 2008 Conference Finals vs. Dallas, Game 3

Detroit magician Pavel Datsyuk opened his playoff scoring with a top-shelf laser in 2002 as a fourth-line rookie. He was playing on a line with Brett Hull and Boyd Devereaux, and was a healthy scratch in his previous two games. Wait...healthy scratch, Datsyuk?!?!

Our favorite eye care spokesman has come a long way from 2002. This clip shows Pasha's hat trick against the Dallas Stars in the conference finals. Detroit had won the first two games at home and were able to swipe Game 3 behind Datsyuk's trio.

Goal No. 3 for Datsyuk features a beautiful forecheck and subsequent dangling, then a setup from "Euro-twin" Zetterberg.

The 3-0 series lead would prove to be too much for the Stars as the Wings headed to their fourth final in a decade.

Sergei Fedorov: 2002 Conference Quarterfinals vs. Vancouver, Game 5

After the Wings broke Vancouver's heart in Game 3 with Nick Lidstrom's center-ice screamer, Sergei Fedorov broke their backs with this one-handed effort.

The casual nature of the goal defined Fedorov in Detroit. He would amaze you with his supreme skill, then drive you crazy with his occasional indifference.

The Wings had won both games in the Pacific Northwest and headed back to the comfy confines of the Joe Louis Arena looking to build on their road success. They jumped out early, scoring often on the beleaguered Dan Cloutier before Fedorov put this one in.

They probably didn't need to play Game 6 because the Canucks were dead in the water after this one.

Jiri Hudler: 2008 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Pittsburgh, Game 4 (GWG)

Though Jiri Hudler has spent most of his career in Detroit being something of a pariah, he is still a pretty talented hockey player. His self-imposed exile from Detroit to get paid in buckets of rubles (KHL) didn't endear him to the Hockeytown diehards.

Hudler re-signed with Detroit in 2010.

Little Jiri, who showed so much promise early, and still shows flashes of brilliance, can't consistently match the offense he showed in the AHL and the KHL. While this goal was hardly a thing of beauty, it was a key to the Wings' 2008 Stanley Cup victory.

Hudler's tiebreaker at the Igloo in Pittsburgh put the Wings up three games to one, headed back to Detroit. While the Pens managed to stave off elimination at the Joe, they fell in Game 6 back at home.

Kris Draper: 1998 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Washington, Game 2 (OT)

I apologize for the quality of the video, but I guess the VHS conversion isn't HD. If you can decipher the pixels, you will see Kris Draper scoring arguably the biggest goal of his career, and the most important goal for the Red Wings in 1998.

His OT winner completed an improbable comeback against the Washington Capitals.

After trailing by two, the Wings had closed it to 4-3 in the third period. An unbelievable open-goal miss by the Capitals' Esa Tikkanen would have iced the game and given home ice to the Capitals heading back to DC.

Doug Brown tied it late in the third, and Draper finished the comeback with his overtime winner. Advantage and overwhelming momentum to the Red Wings, who finished the sweep on Washington's ice.

Igor Larionov: 2002 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Carolina, Game 3 (3OT)

Igor Larionov broke the hearts and dreams on Tobacco Road in "Cane Country." The classy Russian's marker in the third overtime won a crucial Game 3 for Detroit, wrestling home ice back for the heavily favored Wings.

After shocking Detroit at home with an overtime winner of their own from Ron Francis, Carolina ended an eight-game winning streak in the Stanley Cup Finals for Detroit. The Canes appeared to be the perfect foil for the highly touted Motown All-Star team.

With veteran leadership of their own in Ron Francis and Rod Brind'Amour, the Canes refused to be intimidated in a tough five-game series. In the end, talent won out. Red Wings, 4-1.

Honorable mention to Kozlov in 1997 for his 3OT winner vs the Ducks. I took points away for the Fox Traxx red laser beam following the puck.

Fedorov/Shanahan: Conference Finals vs Colorado, Game 6

This is a two-part entry here since there are two goals on the video. The first is the game-winner from Sergei Fedorov with a silky assist from Slava Kozlov, the second is the door slamming shut on the Avs with a Shanahan empty-netter.

Losing to the Avs in the conference finals the year before left no doubt who was the team to beat. Lemieux's egregious assault on Kris Draper's face provided plenty of fuel for vengeance. While Darren McCarty provided the retribution in the regular season, Detroit was still hearing that they couldn't win the big games.

A gritty, hard-fought series where home ice was taken away by the hungrier Wings. Coming back to the Joe with a chance to clinch Game 6, the Red Wings put in a complete effort to close out the series and head back to the Stanley Cup finals.

Darren McCarty: 1997 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (GWG)

ESPN's Bill Clement says it best. No Bill, no we can't believe that goal by Darren McCarty, which is what made the goal so awesome. McCarty played such a huge role in Detroit's run to the Stanley Cup, and in their hurdle to get past the Avs and villain extraordinaire Claude Lemieux.

A central figure on Detroit's "Grind Line," McCarty wore his heart on his sleeve and was the emotional leader of the Wings' Stanley Cup run. He embraced his role as a "pot stirrer" while providing a scoring touch when needed.

McCarty was a fan favorite for his entire career, which he wrapped up in 2008 with his fifth Stanley Cup ring.

Steve Yzerman: 1996 Confernce Semifinals vs. St. Louis, Game 7 (2OT)

So what if it's anti-climatic? If you're a Wings fan and you hadn't seen this goal on the list yet, then you knew it was coming. Or if you're a Wings fan and have never seen this goal, well, let's be honest then: You aren't really a Red Wings fan, are you?

Detroit didn't win the Stanley Cup in 1996, which takes away from the significance of this goal somewhat. But, it was Game 7, double overtime, Gretzky was on the ice. Am I really trying to justify this?

You couldn't walk over to the goal and place the puck with both hands any better into the top corner than Stevie did. It was a once-in-a-lifetime shot in a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The bitter disappointment of losing to the Avalanche in the conference finals was hard to swallow in the next round, but better days laid ahead.

Yzerman would vanquish the whispers that he couldn't win with the first of his three Stanley Cups the following season.

As mentioned earlier, every goal in the playoffs bears a certain level of importance. With the defense tightening at the seams in the postseason, goals are at a premium. There are certainly some key goals in Detroit's storied playoff runs that were left off the list.

However, given the situation, the point in the series, the particular opponent, these are the top 10 goals in Red Wings playoff history for the past 30 years.