No Game 7s, No Problem: The NHL Playoffs Are Already Unhinged

Overriding it all, the catchphrase of this year’s playoffs has been “comeback.”

There have already been 11 overtime games, including Tuesday’s double-overtime 5-4 win by the Carolina Hurricanes to eliminate the Devils—the only series completed so far.

That victory featured one of the craziest comebacks yet in this year’s playoffs, with the Hurricanes erasing a 3-0 deficit, falling behind again, then finding another tying goal to force overtime.

The stats reflect just how wild it has been. Fans have witnessed 11 game-tying goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation, and 17 tying or go-ahead goals in the final 10 minutes.

If that’s not enough, all eight opening-round series have featured at least two games in which a team erased a deficit. Arguably the most comeback-heavy series has been the clash between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers have pulled off three third-period comebacks, with all three of their wins coming in games they trailed.

Remember what it was like in the 2004 playoffs, before the season-destroying lockout that not only brought in the salary cap but forced the league to admit the game needed rules enforced so speed and talent could shine?

Far too often back then, the team that scored first clutched and grabbed its way to a win. The 2004 Stanley Cup Final between the Lightning and Calgary Flames had seven games that followed that dull formula.

Instead, we now get games like the Oilers’ Game 3 win—a clash in which they led 2-0 midway through the first, trailed 4-3 going into the third, then rattled off four goals in the final frame to win 7-4.

Or instant classics like the Panthers’ Game 4 win over the Lightning—a game in which Tampa Bay erased a 1-0 deficit with two goals just 11 seconds apart, only to see the defending Cup champion Panthers score twice, also 11 seconds apart, in the third period en route to a 4-2 victory.

This year’s playoffs may lack all four U.S.-based Original Six teams, but the result has been don’t-miss action all the way to the final second.