Orr's Cup-Winning Goal Played Out to Perfection

BostonBruins.com- Fred Cusick probably articulated it best.

Fifty years ago this weekend, the renowned voice of the Black & Gold called Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup-clinching goal from the WBZ radio booth alongside partner and former Bruins star Johnny Pierson.

"Bobby Orr from Sanderson!" Cusick - who called Bruins games on television and radio from 1952-97 - bellowed as Boston took home its first Stanley Cup in 29 years. "And what could be better than that?!"

The answer, quite simply, is nothing.

The best player - maybe in league history - scoring a drought-busting, championship-winning, chaos-inducing goal on home ice, cemented so perfectly in that photo by the Record American's Ray Lussier.

It was perfection.

"You keep thinking, what a way to win, what a big goal, what a great player…and we won the Stanley Cup - in Boston," said Johnny Bucyk, who had the tying goal with 6:32 left in regulation to send Game 4 against the St. Louis Blues to overtime.

The man who delivered the pass concurred.

"Bobby Orr had a Cinderella year," said Derek Sanderson. "Not that it was a fluke, but he did everything right, took it to another planet. For him to get that goal, Bobby, I was so happy. He did everything for everybody and it came to him. I said, 'This is great.'"

Sanderson is, perhaps, best known now for dishing the puck to Orr from behind the net as the blue liner cut to the crease from the corner. But the fact that he was on the ice at all for the opening shift of extra time was somewhat of a surprise.

With the Bruins holding a 3-0 series lead, the last thing coach Harry Sinden wanted to do was give the Blues any kind of momentum and send the series back to St. Louis. As such, he believed it was smartest to start his checking line of Sanderson, Wayne Carleton, and Eddie Westfall, saying that if the Blues were going to score it was likely to come within the first five minutes of OT.

"It was not a guess," Sinden explained. "I did it because I thought I should do it…we were so excited to be one goal away from winning a Stanley Cup, I was nervous that we would be a little overanxious to score that goal. And great lines like Esposito's line, [Fred] Stanfield's lines, if there's a fault to them it's that they once in a while get overexcited, take chances, take risks.

"I think that was going on with me at the time and I would prefer that the line that was out there would try and make sure that the other team didn't score. I know that's what I wanted to do…the longer the game went the better chance we had."

Esposito, who set a then-NHL record with 27 points in 14 games during the postseason run, was a bit perturbed.

"Phil might have been a little upset," said Sanderson. "I sat beside Phil. Phil was on my right and he goes, 'I can't believe that.' I said, 'Well, what are you gonna do?'"

What Esposito did is celebrate. Those few moments of disappointment faded quickly, of course, as Orr clinched the sweep just 40 seconds into overtime when he whacked Sanderson's feed by Blues goalie Glenn Hall.

"No, no. You make the play and hope it works," Sanderson said when asked if he had any idea that the pass would end with the winning goal. "[Blues defenseman] Jean-Guy Talbot should never have come to me and when he came to me and poke checked me and flipped it over, the rest was up to Bobby. That puck had to land flat, but he never held it, he just redirected it, really. I was pumped."

Though, he did take a second to process what had just happened.

"I saw it hit the back of the net and I said, 'Well, that's it, I think.' I never really reacted right away," said Sanderson. "It's kind of like in the NFL, you're waiting for a penalty flag, 'Is everything OK?' And it was. It was a lot of fun, an exciting moment, a great time.

"I'm glad he didn't miss the pass. That's good…there was nobody behind him but St. Louis Blues players."'

As Orr pinched down the wall to stop the Blues' clearing attempt, Sinden was thinking the same, as his attention immediately turned to Westfall, who ended up covering at the right point. It was a responsibility that Boston's forwards learned quickly given Orr's aggressive style of play.

"I've seen it a million times in my head," said Sinden. "To tell you the truth, what I was worried about was not so much what great plays Derek and Bobby were gonna make, but it was who was gonna cover up for Bobby went he went in.

"Our team was very aware of what kind of a player we had in Bobby Orr and for him to be at his absolute greatest, we had to be aware of what he might do offensively. They all were. As soon as I saw Bobby go in and leave the point, I looked to see where Eddie was and he was coming right over to cover for Bobby.

"It kind of comforted me as a coach. I didn't know Bobby was gonna score but I was happy to see Eddie coming over in case he didn't. And the next thing you know we're all out on the ice and all hell broke loose."

Orr ended up airborne - with a little help from Blues' defenseman Noel Picard.

"When I went across, I did see the puck go in and I was jumping," said Orr. "Noel Picard did have his stick under my ankle and he did lift me, yes. I saw it go in and I was also jumping with joy."

As was Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers, who raced to join the celebration, though not before realizing he better hold on to what was now a very valuable piece of memorabilia.

"When Bobby got the goal, in the celebration, I threw my stick up and it balanced on [top of] the glass," said Cheevers, who made a point-blank stop on Larry Keenan in the closing seconds of regulation to send things to overtime.

"I got halfway to the blue line, rushing for the celebration and said, 'Geez, maybe I could use that stick. It fell on the ice side, so I went and picked it up and joined the celebration."

In many ways, it's a celebration that has never stopped.

"We were part of the family and that's how people looked at it," said Orr. "We knew [the fans] couldn't wait until that next game. We knew there was a responsibility to go out and perform the way we were supposed to perform and put smiles on faces.

"That was really what we tried to do. We were proud of the Bruins logo. We went out every night and gave 100 percent."