What do they do for an encore?

With the 1928 Stanley Cup Final between the Rangers and Montreal Maroons tied at one win apiece, the Blueshirts still were in a survival mode.

While Lester Patrick's goaltending adventure in winning Game Two as New York's goalie remained the talk of the hockey world, Patrick was smacked in the braIn with a harsh, two-sided dilemma.

On the one hand, Lester knew that he was incapable of an encore performance between the pipes, but still couldn't find an able substitute for his hospitalized starting stopper, Lorne Chabot who was lost for the rest of the Final round.

"One of my biggest problems," Patrick later allowed, "was I had to get permission from my opponent – the Maroons of all people – as to who I could get to play goal for us through the rest of the series.

"The fellow they finally let us use was someone we knew very well. His name was Joe Miller and he was the New York Americans' goalie which seemed almost as bad as the thinking when I skated between the pipes in Game Two." 

Superficially, choosing Miller was roughly equivalent to sticking a skating sieve in the crease. Miller was miles from being a stalwart stopper but the blame was on the Americans, the worst team in the league. It wasn't Joe's fault that his defense has tissue paper substance.

Even Joe's nickname – "Red Light Miller" – was a turn-off to many but not Lester Patrick nor Frank Boucher, both of whom had seen plenty of Miller in action. "The Maroons thought Joe was the worst goalie in the league," said Boucher, "and that's why they were delighted when Lester announced that 'Red Light' Miller was his man."

Throughout Game Three against Montreal Miller played very well despite allowing two goals in the 2-0 defeat. "We didn't get the poor guy any goals," said Bun Cook. "The loss was our fault, not Miller's." 

The Maroons didn't care. With a 2-1 series lead, they were in position to win the Stanley Cup in Game Four at the Forum. So sure of themselves were the Maroons that they planned a victory banquet after Game Four. 

But the Maroons Cup victory party was marooned. And the Marooners were none other than Ching Johnson on defense and Red Light Miller in goal. 

Boucher: "Ching was simply stupendous. He took on the biggest and best of the Maroons at various stages and laid them all low while Joe Miller was splendid in our goal."

It was, however, Boucher who emerged the game's MVP. Frank scored the only goal of the game, setting up a Game Five Finale; winner gets The Stanley Cup!