Is Bobby Orr's Famous Goal or Nathan Horton's Game 7 Winner Against Lightning a Bigger Boston Sports Moment?

Is Bobby Orr’s Famous Goal or Nathan Horton’s Game 7 Winner Against Lightning a Bigger Boston Sports Moment?

by NESN Staff on Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 5:43PM

Bobby Orr’s 1970 Stanley Cup-winning goal squares off against Nathan Horton’s Game 7 winner over the Lightning in the second round of Boston’s Greatest Sports Moment tournament.

1. Bobby Orr scores ‘The Goal’Bobby Orr may have all the characteristics of a red-blooded human being, but the Bruins defenseman looked like an angel of the ice when he flew through the air after scoring “The Goal” to win the 1970 Stanley Cup. In that moment at the Boston Garden, with thousands of Bruins fans watching in anticipation, he was a gift bestowed upon all of Boston by the hockey gods themselves. Indeed, no single NHL moment is frozen in time more than Orr taking flight like Superman. The vision occurred 40 seconds into overtime as Orr put the puck past goaltender Glenn Hall to win Game 4 — and complete the sweep — against the St. Louis Blues. The iconic moment has never thawed. It is perfect.

9. Horton’s Game 7 winner over LightningThe Bruins kept making believers out of fans in their 2011 run to the Stanley Cup, and one goal in particular may have turned the most heads. In Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final against the Lightning, Nathan Horton put home a pretty pass from David Krejci with less than 10 minutes to play, and the Boston Bruins advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. Without Horton’s tally, Boston may not have advanced and eventually won the Cup. That goal united Boston fans — both the faithful that stuck with the team for 39 years between Cups, and the fans that strayed away at tough times. Before Horton’s score, the Lightning were 10-0 in Game 7s and had never lost a series after winning Game 1. With the strike, Horton also became the first player in NHL history to score the game-winner in two Game 7s in the same postseason.