You’re not supposed to be a fan as a professional sports journalist, but most of us know that’s a deep-seated lie we all tell ourselves. It’s in our best interest if the team we cover does well, you want the players you cover to be in a good mood and it makes for an easier work environment. As a 15-year-old kid in 2004, Joe Nieuwendyk’s evisceration of Patrick Lalime was a larger-than-life moment and it’s still resonant as a reporter/editor covering the Toronto Maple Leafs, 21 years later.

If you’ve been keeping up with our recurring series, or were a Leafs fan at the time, you know that the 2004 first-round series between the Maple Leafs and Senators was an inflection point. Toronto won the previous three playoff series in 2000-2002, then bowed out in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2003, setting the stage for a renewed rivalry the following year.

Joe Nieuwendyk was entering the latter stages of his career when he signed a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs ahead of the 2003-2004 season, looking for a chance to add another Stanley Cup to his decorated resume. The three-time champion provided another veteran presence to a Maple Leafs team looking to get over the proverbial wall, and fought through injuries during his lone season with the team, but he met expectations, recording 22 goals and 50 points in 64 games. And while the Hall of Fame forward is celebrated by many fan bases, helping the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils lift the Stanley Cup, he will be arguably remembered first among Leafs fans for his Game 7 heroics against the Senators in 2004.

The series was already shaping up to be an instant classic in its own right. Ottawa took Game 1 at the Air Canada Centre on the strength of two goals from Marian Hossa, then Toronto responded with a 2-0 victory as Gary Roberts recorded a brace of his own. Nieuwendyk notched his second goal of the series, and an insurance goal from Mats Sundin punctuated another 2-0 victory for the Maple Leafs in Game 3. Ottawa clawed back in Game 4, on the strength of Lalime’s best performance of the series, but Nieuwendyk rose to the occasion again, scoring his third goal of the playoffs in another 2-0 victory in Game 5.

And on the verge of the elimination, in a double overtime classic, Mike Fisher scored the winner for the Senators, setting up the stage for an epochal Game 7. Nieuwendyk and company had other plans, turning Game 7 into a party on Bay Street.

An unlikely source got the jam started, as Tie Domi worked tirelessly to win a puck battle, emerged out of the scrum unscathed and fired a pass over to Chad Kilger at the net-front, jamming it home for a 1-0 Leafs lead six minutes into the contest. Nieuwendyk then took over.

Sportsnet’s title for the video recap is pretty apt: Nieuwendyk gets two soft goals against Lalime. We don’t want to be overly cruel to the former Senators goaltender, who put together a better career than his popular reputation suggets, but Nieuwendyk indeed lit him up from outer space.

Nieuwendyk burst down the left wing with some pace with his head down, then he looked up, tossed a speculative shot on net and Lalime inexplicably swung and missed. Bob Cole and Harry Neale were at their best, breaking down what happened:

Neale: No, you don’t and he should’ve had that. It was a 45-foot wrist shot and Lalime blew it. And often, it’s not that the goal went it, it’s how it went in that can deflate everyone. How he missed this one, I don’t know! He could’ve taken his glove hand off and caught it bare-handed. He’s had a terrific playoffs, but he missed this one and his team is in a hole now.

Senators head coach Jacques Martin immediately called a timeout, and while it’s impossible to state that it backfired, no one figured that history would repeat itself almost 12 minute later.

In the closing minute of the first period, Nieuwendyk corralled the puck and raced up the ice, getting to an almost identical spot to where he beat Lalime the first time. Nieuwendyk fired it right through Lalime’s pads as the Senators’ goalie appeared to be frozen in the net, a surreal experience, where Cole delivered arguably his best call of his legendary career.

Lalime looked devastated as the Maple Leafs’ fans roared through the first period, and the game was for all intents and purposes over. Vaclav Varada scored in the second period for the Senators, but it was rather inconsequential, as Bryan McCabe restored a three-goal lead in the third period. Nieuwendyk already cemented his Hall of Fame resume long before he joined the Maple Leafs, and though he moved onto the Florida Panthers following the 2004-05 lockout, he will always be fondly remembered by Leafs Nation.