Cam Neely's 8 Greatest Performances as a Boston Bruin

If the Boston Bruins are to invest in any trivial, historical reference points, they ought to percolate some motivation from the fact that Monday night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals falls on team president Cam Neely’s 46th birthday.

What’s more, it is also the 25th anniversary of the trade that had the opposing Vancouver Canucks export Neely―who grew up an hour-and-a-half away in Comox, B.C.―to Boston.

Can you beat that? With the first two games of this series in stone, Neely is now taking his employees along the exact same path he traveled 25 years to the date. In doing so, he and his franchise are marking a silver anniversary in symbolic fashion as they pursue a certain silver chalice.

Additionally, not unlike the Neely of 1986, the 2010-11 Bruins make the cross-continental trek yearning for better fortunes in Boston than they reaped in Vancouver.

While we wait to see what becomes of the latter, there is no time like the present to glance back at how Neely found thicker ice as a player at the Boston Garden. Here are painstakingly selected eight highlights from No. 8’s Black-and-Gold tenure:

October 16, 1988

In the single most-productive night of his NHL career, Neely nails a hat trick and adds four assists in a 10-3 win over the Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium.

April 1, 1990

With a goal in a 3-3 home tie versus New Jersey, Neely caps off the most prolific regular season of his NHL career and tops the Bruins scoring chart for the second consecutive year with 55 goals and 92 points.

From there, he will pilot Boston to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals with 12 goals and 18 points in a span of 21 playoff contests.

May 9, 1990

In the middle of an eight-game point-scoring streak and the fourth of what will be five straight multi-point performances, Neely scores twice on Mike Liut as the Bruins finish a third-round sweep of the Washington Capitals and claim the Prince of Wales Trophy. The team would not be awarded that trophy again until Neely’s first season as club president.

April 5, 1991

In Game 2 of the Adams Division semifinals, Neely singes Hartford goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz for a hat trick, including the game-clincher in a 4-3 triumph at Boston Garden.

That draws a 1-1 knot in the series, which the Bruins ultimately claim in six games, and jumpstarts a career playoff run for Neely in terms of goals and shots. In 19 games over three rounds, he will unleash 72 shots on net and put 16 in the net, including nine power-play strikes and four game-winners. (Not to mention, another hat trick in Game 5 of the division finals versus the Montreal Canadiens.)

April 29, 1991

In Game 7 of the Adams Division finals, Neely beats Patrick Roy on a slapper from outside the blue line 16 seconds into a Boston power play.

That will stand as a game-winner as the Bruins nudge the rival Canadiens aside, 2-1, and is Neely’s last of 13 career postseason goals at Roy’s expense. Roy was also the only netminder to yield more than one hat trick to Neely, sharing the honor with Brian Hayward in a 7-3 Boston victory Feb. 4, 1988.

March 7, 1994

Upon tipping Brad Shaw’s point shot over the trapper of Washington Capitals’ goalie Rick Tabaracci, Neely reaches 50 goals in a mere 44 games played on the year. The eventual 6-3 upshot at the Boston Garden will also cap off the Bruins’ season-high six-game winning streak, during which Neely potted eight of the team’s 29 goals.

By season’s end, Neely will have a 50-24-74 scoring transcript over 49 games played and be awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy after knee ailments sidelined him for the better part of the two previous years.

October 7, 1995

Neely christens Causeway Street’s new indoor pond, the FleetCenter, with what will be his 15th and final career hat trick as Boston draws a 4-4 tie with the New York Islanders. Quirkily enough, it is Neely’s second straight opening-night hat trick, having pulled the same feat against Philadelphia to commence the 1994-95 season.

January 11, 1996

It might as well be termed Neely’s personal “Last Hurrah.” In a 7-2 home romp over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, he scores two goals and an assist, puts 10 shots on goal and charges up a season-high plus-four rating. It is his final multi-goal game in the NHL.