A double-take stat popped up in Florida this week. When Carter Verhaeghe scored in overtime to lift the Panthers past the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2, he moved into a tie for third in NHL history in playoff OT winners with five. A sixth would vault&nbsp;him into a tie with Maurice Richard for second all-time. Joe Sakic is the leader with eight.



It inspired a highly subjective&nbsp;debate topic:&nbsp;Who is the most clutch player&nbsp;in NHL history,&nbsp;the guy you would trust more than anyone with the game on the line?&nbsp;



MATT LARKIN:&nbsp;I’m so tempted to go for Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams, but in my heart of hearts, I know who my real answer is:&nbsp;Patrick Roy. He’s the only player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy three times – and he won them in three different decades. He won six of 13 Game 7s in his career, which isn’t awe-inspiring, but consider that he had two Game 7 shutouts and allowed one or fewer goals five times in those games. If it’s overtime with my life on the line, I’m trusting Saint Patrick to keep me alive. (Hey, I know I chose the low-hanging fruit here, but the last time I didn’t, none of you galaxy brainers picked the Oilers for <a href="https://publish.dailyfaceoff.com/which-nhl-team-has-the-best-mount-rushmore-of-legendary-players/">best Mount Rushmore</a>, so I no longer trust you, LOL.)<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="221"></div>



SCOTT MAXWELL:&nbsp;I always hate the all-time questions because my confidence in my knowledge of anything pre-salary cap is a bit low, so this is less of a claim that this player is the most clutch player of all-time and more just pointing out how clutch this guy was. With that said, I’m going to go with&nbsp;Danny Briere&nbsp;here. We talk about a clutch player for their ability to step up in the big moments, but Briere just consistently stepped up in the postseason every time he was there. He was never an elite producer in the regular season, only having a couple of point-per-game seasons in his career, and his career totals averaged out to an 82-game pace of 25 goals and 58 points. But, in the playoffs? He had three playoff runs with at least a point-per-game, another five where he was at most two points under, an 82-game pace of 35 goals and 76 points, and he was even tied for 21st&nbsp;all time in game-winning goals with 13. He actually would have finished his postseason career above a point-per-game if not for his final run with the Montreal Canadiens in 2013-14, where he had just seven points in 16 games. Sure, he never won a Cup, but there’s only so much one player can do, and he did his best for a guy who was never considered a top-tier player in the league. And hey, the one time he got close was arguably his best run, with 12 goals and 30 points in 23 games during the Philadelphia Flyers’ surprise run to the Cup Final in 2010. The lack of a Cup probably takes him out of the running for most clutch of all-time, but he should definitely be in the conversation considering his consistent ability to show up in the playoffs.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="303"></div>



FRANK SERAVALLI: Man, so many good players come to mind. Mr. Game 7. Patrick Kane. Sidney Crosby. I’m going to go off-the-board a little bit as well and say&nbsp;Claude Lemieux. Maybe one of the all-time playoff players ever. On the whole, Lemieux ranks 27th in career postseason points with 158. But it’s not really the point total that does it for me. The four-time Stanley Cup winner and 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy recipient was a masterful clutch goal scorer. Nearly a quarter of his 80 career playoff goals were game-winners. He led the postseason twice in game-winners, scoring four each in 1986 and 1997.



STEVEN ELLIS:&nbsp;A Conn Smythe. Two Stanley Cups. A .921 save playoff save percentage. A run of five shutouts in series-clinching games. Yeah,&nbsp;Andrei Vasilevskiy&nbsp;had some great talent in front of him during that three-year stint in the Stanley Cup final, but he established himself as a future Hall of Famer with that run. Playoff goaltending can be so random at points, but Vasilevskiy rarely is the main reason for a Lightning loss. No goaltender was in the same stratosphere as Vasy’s 18.74 playoff GSAA at 5-on-5 from 2020-22. Even though he hasn’t been great this year in a write-off season for the Bolts, I’m not sure I’d trust any goalie more in a must-win situation than No. 88. A goalie can lose you a game easier than he can win you one, but Vasilevskiy won more than his fair share for Tampa.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="245"></div>



MIKE GOULD:&nbsp;This one is easy for me:&nbsp;Martin Gelinas. He wasn’t called “The Eliminator” for nothing. Gelinas won the Cup with the Oilers in 1990 and reached the Final with the 2002 Hurricanes and the 2004 Flames, earning his nickname during his time in Calgary. After scoring the series-winning goal in overtime to send the Hurricanes past the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2002 Eastern Conference Final, Gelinas signed with the Flames and tied an NHL record with&nbsp;three&nbsp;series-winning goals in one playoff run. It should’ve been four, too: Gelinas “scored” the non-goal on Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Nikolai Khabibulin late in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final that likely would have clinched&nbsp;the championship for the Flames, had it counted. Now 53, Gelinas remains a folk hero in Calgary and has served as an assistant/development coach with the team since 2012.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="141"></div>



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