One of the great things about the playoffs in professional sports is when an unexpected athlete comes up big in key moments.
While the NBA has Chicago Bulls guard Nate Robinson playing out of his mind, the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs features several unheralded players stepping up in a big way and helping their respective hockey clubs win games.
With that in mind, here are our top five surprise players through the first week of the post-season:
Josh Harding, Minnesota Wild
It cannot be said enough that good goaltending can do a lot for a team in the playoffs.
When Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom went down with an injury in warmups prior to Game 1, Josh Harding was thrust into the playoff spotlight and through his team’s first three games, he has not disappointed. Harding is 1-3 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage and is the reason why the Wild were able to steal a game against the league’s best team in the Chicago Blackhawks.
What makes Harding’s great performance even more inspiring is that he is doing this while dealing with multiple sclerosis. Harding was diagnosed with MS back in the fall after experiencing dizziness, seeing black spots and having numbness in his legs.
Prior to Game 1, Harding had not started a game in two months and now, here he is doing what he does best.
Kyle Okposo, New York Islanders
The New York Islanders may have some solid goal scorers in John Tavares and Matt Moulson but when it comes to their first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, there has been one player that has truly stepped up in a big way for this hockey club.
That player is forward Kyle Okposo. After scoring just four goals in the regular season, the Islanders’ 25-year-old right winger has three goals and an assist for four points through the team’s first four games of the series.
Okposo’s play picked up in Game 2 when he had his first career fight with Penguins defenceman Matt Niskanen and then scored the game-winning goal to help the Islanders knot up the series at one game apiece. Okposo has provided just the kind of spark the team needs in order to have success against the Eastern Conference-best Penguins.
Damien Brunner, Detroit Red Wings
Without the likes of Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, and Tomas Holmstrom, it has been a very strange first round of the post-season for the Detroit Red Wings.
With that said, the Red Wings find themselves tied at two games apiece with the Anaheim Ducks. One of the main reasons for that has been the play of forward Damien Brunner.
In his first four playoff games of his NHL career, the 27-year-old has two goals and two assists for four points. One of his two goals just happened to be the one that helped the Red Wings tie up the series.
Pascal Dupuis, Pittsburgh Penguins
On a team with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Kris Letang, it would be hard to imagine someone other than those players stepping up big for the Penguins this post-season.
As it turns out, that would be wrong because Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis is having quite a first round series for the Penguins against the Islanders. In four games, Dupuis has four goals and one assist for five points.
Dupuis may not have the slick moves that Crosby or Malkin have or the terrific shot that Neal does but he has certainly been a big part of the team’s offence through his club’s first four games of the series.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Ottawa Senators
One of the best things about the playoffs in professional sports is when a rookie is able to come through for his team in a big spot.
This is exactly the case for the Ottawa Senators. In one of the roughest playoff games in recent memory, Senators rookie forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his first career playoff hat trick along with his first ever playoff goals in his club’s 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2.
On the goals, Pageau showed his speed, skill and patience with his puck. Oh yeah, he also showed that he could score a goal and lose a tooth at the same time.
