Forward thinking.(2001 Stanley Cup)

When the checking gets tight in the playoffs, a defenseman like Ray Bourque jumping into the play becomes the key to success

It's more than an hour after he fired a shot over the shoulder of Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. Ray Bourque, dripping with sweat after spending 25 minutes playing against physical center Jason Arnott and nifty wingers Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias, slumps to the bench in the Avalanche locker room.

As Bourque pulls his sweater over his head alter a 3-1 victory, an ugly braise on his ribs becomes visible. It's a typical red badge of courage any defenseman might acquire at this time of year. Being a defenseman in the today's NHL is kind of like playing football without all of the requisite padding: It's a black-and-blue battle every night.

But on this night, despite the braise, there's a smile on the 40-year-old Bourque's face that no slash or high stick could remove.

"I've never been two games away from clinching a Stanley Cup championship," Bourque says. "How can that not be the most important goal of my life?"

Defensemen suffer through a lot of abuse in the comers and dish it out in front of the net but still are expected to provide 25 quality minutes or more without taking a shift off. A team can play as many as 30 games in 60 nights on the way to celebrating a Stanley Cup championship, so it needs durable defensemen like Bourque who can be relied upon time and time again.

Bourque has logged those minutes and more in his career. But coming into this year's finals against the Devils, he had played 1,821 games--playoffs and regular season--without winning a Stanley Cup. Although he has won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman five times, he had never gone home on a winning team.