Justin f'n Williams, As if There Was Any Doubt

Brock McGinn wins it in double OT to send the Canes through pic.twitter.com/xDqenIgp4P

— Heart of NHL (@HeartofNHL) April 25, 2019

Justin Williams assisted on the @NHLCanes’ overtime winner to record his 15th career point in a #Game7 (7-8—15 in 9 GP), extending his NHL record. #NHLStats #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/qWYpqsAYEu

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 25, 2019

In a way that you'd now be statistically and superstitiously stupid not to believe in, Justin Williams is unbelievable. In a way that's become all too real, his penchant for heroics is simply unreal. Unpredictably expected. Impossibly inevitable. Call is whatever you want, but 'Mr. Game 7' is so consistently clutch that he might as well have the moniker stitched atop the back of his jersey every time he's involved in a series that extends past Game 6. 

At this point, I think Justin Williams might have a playoff roster spot locked up for as long as he wants one. For, even if it requires him to be wheeled out for warm-ups at 82-years old, he'd still manage to get a cane on the puck in doing as opposed to dying. That's just who he is and what he does, as if the age old adage of "anything can happen in Game 7" only applies to the performance of every other player on the ice. 

Honestly, I don't know if his innate ability to contribute points when they are at their hardest to come by is entirely nonsensical or if it makes all the sense in the world. On one hand, the 37 year old is not super skilled in a way that makes it much more common for him to be involved in scoring chances. On the other hand, it's rarely an end-to-end rush that decides games in which everyone is at their most desperate. The fact that he is a solid, smart, and versatile player that knows where to be, when to be there, and what to do when he gets there, regardless of circumstance, likely behooves him when the hockey being played is at its most high strung. Whatever the case may be, you feel much better about your chances in Game 7 when you look down for bench and see the calm, cool, and collected face of Captain 'Cane, whose beard has been grayed by his greatness in such situations.

It's almost as if Brock McGinn was more likely to get his stick on an airborne puck in ending the season of the defending champs solely because it originated from the stick of Justin Williams. While that seems completely irrational, so does everything else regarding his sustained success in the most unstable of situations of the most erratic of postseason in sports. 

"MR. GAME SEVEN!"

This is what pure happiness sounds like pic.twitter.com/5gGNVHyNgn

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) April 25, 2019