May 29, 1993: The Great One's greatest

TORONTO - By the spring of 1993, Wayne Gretzky had been a member of the Los Angeles Kings for five full seasons, so most hockey fans were probably over the shock of seeing him wearing the Kings' black and silver instead of the Oilers' royal blue and orange. Even still, seeing the Oilers miss the playoffs in 1993 had to have been a shock, one that was compounded by the Kings' improbable run to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Kings' opponents in the Conference finals were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who Gretzky had never played in the playoffs in his years in Edmonton. The series was brutal, with hard hits and fights all series long. After Game 1, the Kings' Marty McSorley had 97 threatening messages on his hotel phone after a vicious hit on the Maple Leafs' Doug Gilmour. The Maple Leafs emerged from the first five games with a 3-games-to-2 series lead.

Gretzky turned the series around in Game 6, but not in the way people would have expected. In overtime of Game 6, Gretzky high-sticked Gilmour in the face, cutting it open, an infraction that should have led to at least a five-minute penalty if not a game-misconduct. No penalty was called, and Gretzky scored the game-winner moments later.

That set the stage for Game 7 on May 29 in Toronto. Before the game, a Toronto newspaper columnist had written that Gretzky looked like he was playing the series with a piano on his back. That might have been all he needed to hear. Gretzky scored in all three periods, capping his hat trick by scoring after an attempted pass deflected off a defender's skate, to lead the Kings to their first Stanley Cup final.

Gretzky had many memorable games in his career, including three different instances when he had 7 assists in a game and 10 playoff games where he had a hat trick. But he said his performance in Game 7 against the Maple Leafs was the best game he played in his career.

Against Montreal in the finals, the beating the Kings took against Toronto might have cost them. After winning the first game, Los Angeles, lost the next three, all in overtime, before dropping the series in five game. It was the last time Gretzky would play in the Stanley Cup finals.