The 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Finals
June 8: Florida Panthers 3, Edmonton Oilers 0 June 10: Florida Panthers 4, Edmonton Oilers 1 June 13: Florida Panthers 4, Edmonton Oilers 3 June 15: Edmonton Oilers 8, Florida Panthers 1 June 18: Edmonton Oilers 5, Florida Panthers 3 June 21: Edmonton Oilers 5, Florida Panthers 1
June 24: EDM @ FLA
With a win tonight in Florida, the Oilers would become the fifth NHL team to win a best-of-7 playoff series after losing the first three games.
1942 Stanley Cup Finals: Toronto Maple Leafs defeated Detroit Red Wings
1975 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals: New York Islanders defeated Pittsburgh Penguins
2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Philadelphia Flyers defeated Boston Bruins
2014 Western Conference First Round: Los Angeles Kings defeated San Jose Sharks
Any time a professional sports team loses the first three games of a seven-game series, sportswriters must tell the story of the 2004 Red Sox and their still-hard-to-believe-even-after-twenty-years-that-it-really-happened comeback against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. (Several books were written about that glorious 2004 postseason, including this one.) It's both the only time in major league history a team turned 0-3 to 4-3 and a team choked 3-0 to 3-4.
The Oilers are the 211th NHL team to lose the first three games of a seven-game series. Only four of the previous 210 teams then won four consecutive games (1.9%). Five other NHL teams won three games and tied the series, but then lost Game 7.
None of the 157 NBA teams facing an 0-3 deficit has rallied and won the series, and only four teams (2.5%) got to a seventh game, the last being the 2023 Celtics.
0-3 to 4-3
MLB: 1 of 39 teams (2.6%)
NHL: 4 of 210 teams (1.9%)
NBA: 0 of 157 teams (0.0%)
Total: 5 of 406 teams (1.2%)
3 comments:
The Islanders almost came back from TWO 0-3 deficits in 1975. After stunning Pittsburgh in the quarterfinals, they lost the first three of their semi-final round versus Philadelphia, then won three straight before losing Game 7 to the Flyers at the Spectrum.
Philadelphia would go on to beat the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup Final, four games to two.
Go Canada!
Bummed for Edmonton... despite being a Bruins fan who had my heart ripped out by them twice in the 1988 and 1990 Stanley Cup finals, I like the Panthers even less for reasons upon which I won't expand.
That's three championship wins from teams from Florida in the last five seasons, and either the Panthers or Lightning have been to the finals in all five of those seasons.
It's now 31 years and counting since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens won Lord Stanley's trophy. Since then, six Canadian teams have tried and failed:
1994: Vancouver (lost to NY Rangers)
2004: Calgary (lost to Tampa Bay)
2006: Edmonton (lost to Carolina)
2007: Ottawa (lost to Anaheim)
2011: Vancouver (lost to Boston)
2021: Montreal (lost to Tampa Bay)
(Besides baseball, I love hockey. Can you tell?)
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