DENVER – Growing up in Stony Plain, west of Edmonton, Brett Kulak had a farm kid’s pragmatism about what might allow him to become a professional hockey player. But he still dreamed big.

“For being a defenceman, you wanted to be that guy who shuts it down, plays big minutes, always playing against top offensive lines and giving them nothing,” the 32-year-old recalled late Wednesday. “So that was kind of always the primary focus of what you wanted. But you also... you dream of being kind of the hero in the big moments. In overtime, getting the puck on your stick. I think that's just kind of the fun of being a kid growing up with big, big dreams of playing in the NHL and winning Stanley Cups.”

A fourth-round pick of the Calgary Flames, Kulak evolved into the defenceman he envisioned. With stops in Montreal and Edmonton, where he went to the last two Stanley Cup Finals before losing with the Oilers, before getting traded twice this season, Kulak has built a 663-game National Hockey League career by essentially not getting noticed — by playing solid, reliable defence in the middle of the lineup — while others got more glorious roles.

He probably never dreamed of doing what he did Wednesday when everyone was watching.

Kulak joined the Colorado Avalanche attack in overtime after his team had surged back from a three-goal deficit, found space across the slot from Martin Necas and then one-timed his teammate’s pass into the Minnesota Wild net to give his team a place in the Western Conference Final.

It was Kulak’s fourth playoff goal in 107 post-season games, and ended one of the wildest contests of this Stanley Cup tournament.

“You always like to dream about it,” Kulak, sitting beside superstar Nathan MacKinnon, told reporters in the post-game press conference. “But like you say, the player I am, I'm not the guy everyone's looking down the bench at,........

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