Stanley Cup Playoff Heroes: Joe Sakic Strikes Again

Colorado captain Joe Sakic bettered his own NHL record on Wednesday night, scoring his eighth career playoff overtime goal. The goal came at 11:11 of the first overtime stanza, giving the Avalanche a 3-2 victory in Minnesota in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinal.

Sakic scored two overtime goals during Colorado's run to its first Stanley Cup in 1996, had one each in 1998 and 2001, notched two in 2004 and passed the legendary Rocket Richard with his seventh career tally in 2006.

Here's a listing of the NHL's all time career playoff overtime goal scorers:

8 - Joe Sakic
6 - Rocket Richard
5 - Glenn Anderson
4 - Bob Nystrom
- Dale Hunter
- Wayne Gretzky
- Stephane Richer
- Joe Murphy
- Esa Tikkanen
- Jaromir Jagr
- Kirk Muller
- Jeremy Roenick
- Chris Drury
- Jamie Langenbrunner

The goal also moved Sakic moved into seventh place on the all-time playoff goal list with 83, once again passing Maurice Richard (82).

Obviously his goal was the game winner, giving him 19 playoff game-winning goals in his career and tying him for third overall with Claude Lemieux. Only co-leaders Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull (24 goals each) have more.