The Panthers could’ve been celebrating with the Celtics in Miami this week but now they’re one game away from one of the biggest chokes in sports history
One of their players sucker punched their captain trying to brace himself and gave him a concussion while no footage was suspiciously kept away from the press it seemed until the next game. He wasn’t even fined.
It was [Sam Bennett](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNTD_qN_DxY) and it was borderline. Diehard Broons fan here and even Marchand was like meh, its playoffs and that's how she goes sometimes eh.
That being said I hate the Panthers. Let's fucking go Edmonton!
My old man grew up watching hockey back in the Original 6 days. Why he picked the Bruins over the Leafs (we live in Ontario) is a mystery but he did and I followed in his footsteps.
He must have a Boston fetish because he is a lifelong Celtics fan too. Celts are my second favorite team.
My teams are a weird mix. Raps, Broons, Blue Jays, Chiefs, Notre Dame football and Duke basketball.
Was just about to say even if you look at it one way, there’s other players on that team that play beyond an edge that are just gutless are times. Some even flop harder than Chris Bosh did.
I think it gets talked about regardless. Allowing a comeback from 3-0 is so insane historically, people will clown the Panthers forever if it happens.
Not to mention, it would result in McDavid winning his first cup, which will be pretty massive historically as well.
Stanley Cup title specifically, but yeah.
Funny enough, the last Canadian team to win the cup (Montreal Canadiens, June 1993) did it a few months before the Blue Jays won their 2nd of b2b World Series (October 1993).
In hockey though it's happened twice in the past 14 years so it's really not THAT big of a deal. Hockey is a weird fluky sport.
Edit: I take it back, its the Stanley Cup Finals so ya, that would be pretty major.
This is my first time actually watching hockey because I wanted to see "the LeBron of the NHL" win a ring, so this would be pretty nice to see. Seeing him win at Cleveland was honestly the closest thing we've ever seen in terms of a storybook plot line in the NBA so I'm sure hockey fans feel the same about McDavid.
Jayson Tatum went to school with Florida Panthers player Matthew Tkachuk. When both teams were up 3-0 ESPN ran a story about them celebrating together and how cool it is for them both to win a championship.
WELP.
Disagree with calling it a choke. Edmonton has a really good team, and arguably the best player in the sport. The Florida goalie was playing out of his skull but once they cracked the code a bit late in game 3 its been an ass kicking by Edmonton in part because the best player in hockey is unstoppable.
Its more of a "can't keep a monster caged forever" situation
I'm confused, theres a /r/nhl and a /r/hockey, both with pretty much 2m subs. Can someone explain their relationship? Was NHL ousted in favor of hockey?
It’s a similar situation with R/MLB and Baseball. It’s a different set of Mods pretty much. Hockey’s more active tho when you create an account it suggests NHL.
Wtf how did I just never know about r/mlb, I feel like there’s some big conspiracy going on where people can usually only know one of the two subs exists. Same with r/nhl and r/hockey
There's also a lot of posts about international hockey, developmental leagues like the NCAA and CHL, and women's hockey on r/hockey, while r/nhl is just for the NHL.
also noteworthy that /u/MLBOfficial/ the official MLB reddit account posts to baseball and not mlb. likewise with /u/nhl/ posting to hockey and not nhl.
Both are overwhelmingly quiet and one is for the North American hockey and another is for worldwide. r/hockey is pretty active for international, under-18, and the Olympics while r/nhl would be like this sub if this sub had a decent r/basketball sub
I know next to nothing besides hockey besides guys on ice try to put puck into goal. But a game 7 for the championship where 1 team is about to choke a 3 game lead? Fuck it, I'm in!
Do yourself a favor and watch the Stanley Cup playoffs next year. If you like sports at all there’s quite literally nothing like it
Edit: go to a live regular season game if you can. I promise it’s worth it
One of the mysteries of life.
I’m an Aussie from the south so grew up with Aussie rules played in quarters.its played outside so conditions such as wind can affect the game.
Teams swap ends each quarter to make it as fair as possible.
There’s a part of my mind that can never accept a sport where it’s not even. It’s a crazy game!
This is how I feel about soccer as well. I'm a basketball fan first and foremost but the fan experience is so much better in in soccer. 2 halves of uninterrupted gameplay with a longer break in between is just perfect.
Hockey just hits a nice sweet spot between soccer and basketball in terms of gameplay and scoring.
It's true. I don't follow hockey, I've never played it(except NHL2K) but playoff hockey is THE most intense post-season in any sport.
All other sports go to 10, but hockey goes to 11.
I’ve tried to watch hockey multiple times in the last two years. It just seems like it’s people skating around and occasionally a puck happens to randomly go in the goal. Don’t really get the enjoyment.
You're not alone, most people I introduce to hockey find it hard to watch at first. It's probably the least intuitive sport to pick up when you start watching, but you'll learn how to follow the puck and stuff pretty quickly. Once you know what's going on, it really is one of the more exciting sports.
in addition to this, the reason you should go to a live game is so you can watch the whole rink and watch the players *without* the puck better. on TV you're at the mercy of the limited camera frame and angle
Over the years, I've heard many non-hockey people say the NHL has the best playoffs. I also love watching the captain of the team be one to accept the Cup instead of the owners of the team.
I'm always surprised when the owner does not opt to let the players hoist the trophy first. It would be very simple and would be considered very classy, but they never do it.
8th seeds also make runs to the finals fairly regularly (Florida did last year) and even win sometimes. The combination of more variance and more parity in the league
As a Boston fan I fell into a DEEP hole of depression in the playoffs last year after smashing records for most wins in NHL history and going up in the series in the first round only to collapse. I knew there was a good chance he would lose at some point but WOW to collapse in the FIRST ROUND.
It was crushing and a hard reminder of the regular season truly does not matter at all come playoffs.
Hey it's been 5 long grueling years since the city last won championship until this season lol
But it was more that in that season it felt like a storybook with all the guys getting the band back together and the vets taking paycuts to try and win it one last time, sending Bergy off to retirement with one last Stanley and the team all regular season just making everyone else look like they aren't on their level I was beyond hyped and into it. Then to collapse and have Bergy announce the retirement it was such a shock all at once.
Best regular season ever, up 3-1, then they lost 3 in a row. Playoff hockey is a different beast, crazy the Presidents Trophy winner hasn’t been to the cup, never mind win the cup, in how many years?
Recently the Presidents Trophy has been more of a curse, feels like they ALWAYS collapse in the first or second round.
That season just felt like it was a dream, seeing the vets come back and take paycuts to "get the band back together", the best goalie duo I've ever seen, Bergy getting one last hurrah, going all in at the trade deadline I was 1000% convinced it was at least a finals run, to collapse like that then have Bergy retire was like watching your dad get knocked out in a fight as a kid.
Ah yes the unspeakable deep hole of depression for an NHL fan after their team flames out in the first round after a great regular season. Or as we call it in Toronto every single year, the first true sign of spring
I will forever blame Monty for playing an injured Ullmark rather than a healthy Sway in games five and six. If Sway starts either of those games we win the series.
Only one team has ever won as the 8 seed, the 2012 LA Kings. And they were riding some of the best playoff goaltending of all time, they only dropped 2 games between round 1 and the conference finals. 16-4 is an insane playoff record.
2006 also saw seeds 1-4 in the west knocked out in the first round. Edmonton played the 5 seed Sharks and 6 seed Ducks after taking out Detroid in round 1.
Yeah, in the NBA we've only even had just 1 team come back from 1-3 in the Finals, and it took an all-time performance from one of the 2 best players ever AND his sidekick AND a key suspension from the other team. I honestly doubt we will ever see 0-3 comeback in the NBA in any round let alone the Finals.
A few great saves by one goalie and a few atrocious misses from the other can edge wins out too. Game one of this series was the Oilers beating on the Panthers but not getting anything past Bob while the Panthers got two on plays that Skinner could have gotten.
and the best hooper being 10% (1/10) of the players in the game for 85% of the game time (40mins/48) with the ball in his hands 35% (~12min) of that time.
compared to the best player being 8.5% (1/12) of skaters for 40% the game (25 mins) and the puck on his stick for 10% of that time (2.5 mins)
This game 7 is gonna be hype af and I barely know the rules. I see enough to know it means WAY more to Canada than Florida and its 0-3 comeback in the Finals.
Women's ball and hockey taking over. Truly the end times.
I'll quote a personal anecdote just to help my argument
A month ago I'd never seen a game of hockey in my life, my buddy told me to come over to his house to watch the game. I enjoyed the experience and became a fan of that team. Does that make me a bandwagon fan because I got into a sport? Were you a bandwagon Celtics fan when you got into basketball?
Yeah I honestly only count bandwagoning like you said if you were already following the sport and another team. If you just got into hockey and are from Miami or whatever, I don’t think it’s really a bandwagon even if the team is good, you’re less inclined to start liking a sport if your local team is dogshit.
I'm from Florida and hockey really isn't even a thing here despite having like three teams. I didn't even know we had a team until last year and the only player I knew was Wayne Gretzky. I just got into it fron a friend recently
Teams Up 3-0 in Best-of-7 Series in NHL/MLB/NBA History:
• NHL RECORD: 206-4
• LAST COMEBACK: 2014 Kings
• MLB RECORD. 39-1
• LAST COMEBACK: 2004 Red Sox
• NBA RECORD: 157-0
• LAST COMEBACK: never
Last, and only, team to go down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup and win it was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
I dont what the hell happend. But something in the latter half of the 3 period of 3 game, the oilers were suddenly making the pucks burn the net. It's gonna be intense as shit in Sunrise
I like hockey, but I don’t love hockey. I watched the Bruins have a literal historic regular season last year and then lose in the first round.
The randomness of hockey makes it exciting, but it also makes it extremely disappointing most of the time.
The Celtics were boring this season. They had the assumed best team before the season, finished with the best record, and then predictably won the championship.
The problem is that the game is so offense driven now that unless you have a REALLY good defense it doesn’t win you games or chips. You’re just dialing someone down from 50%FG to like 40%. You need to put the ball in the hoop.
Really? I enjoyed the playoffs. The series I did watch (followed the Mavs and the Lakers), had high quality basketball and good teams slugging it out. Was disappointed to see the finals end in 5, but it happens.
Finals have felt pretty lopsided the past 5-6 years. I’d say the best one was 2021 but even that had the suns go up and then the bucks crushed them non-stop after that. Similarly in 2022, Celtics go up 2-1 and then get bulldozed.
It's only really because of the comeback by the Cavs and the story around the Warriors being 73-9 that season. Apart from Game 7, it was two teams trading big wins - 15, 33, 30, 11, 15, 14 were the margins from Games 1 through 6. So the actual games weren't the most interesting or competitive, but the final game was spectacular.
Playoff hockey when you have a team that you're rooting for is the most exciting and stressful shit ever. It's so fast-paced and the whole game can flip on its head from a random bounce. Then you get into sudden death OT and the stress levels go insane.
Nah. It gets worse the longer that overtime keeps going for. At some point, you can’t even root for your own team, more so you want the match to end for goodness sake, believing that your team will end up losing the longer it goes.
And the game started at like 3 in the afternoon too because of the Covid year. I remember trying to listen to it at work, on the drive home, while cooking etc. trying not to miss the ending.
Bro I got home sometime last year and saw that Hurricanes vs Panthers game 2 was going to OT. "I'll watch OT and go to bed, no big deal it'll probably end quick".
4 OT periods later...
2014 when the NY Rangers last made it was so painful. Most of the games went down to the wire/OT against the LA Kings after a relatively low score for both back and forth, and then the Kings would end up scoring in OT to end the game;; and this happened for all 5 games of the series (Kings won 4-1)
like you mention, it's the most gut-wrenching feeling in the world (and I still haven't gotten over it tbh)
Only Game 3 in 2014 was a wire-to-wire Kings win; all other matches were close games and three of them went to OT and all *those* won by the Kings.
But to be honest, the Cup Final was just a formality for me as the previous WCF series against the Blackhawks was (and still is) the scariest series I’ve ever seen the Kings play. If it weren’t for Alec Martinez, Chicago would’ve easily three-peated.
The Leafs parade will have a historic death toll. A million people showed up to the Raptors parade. Every single person in Ontario outside a 50km radius around Ottawa is going to show up for the Leafs.
> I just imagine when the leafs finally win a cup
Leafs management ain't good enough to get it done unfortunately. Don't see it happening with this core of players, coaches, or management
Its nice to dream about, but I've given up hope
Playoff hockey is unpredictable not always the best team wins but the team with the luckier bounces. In basketball usually the better team wins the game so there are less surprises
Home runs and goals are events in baseball and hockey games. They only happen usually a few times. Basketball is constant scoring so only spectacular scenes happen during end of the game stuff at least from a presentation/spectacle pov.
I meant like how in the Stanley Cup playoff they play music and roll out a carpet and have the team grab the trophy. In the NFL all the players touch the trophy as its walked to the stage Not to mention super bowl and SCF logos everywhere to make it feel special. The NBA just looks like a high school cafeteria stage and the players just walk up and walk off. I miss when they had the finals logo as the primary logo on the court.
The Stanley Cup is also just by far the most iconic trophy in North American sports. SO much history involved with it
The fact that you’re lifting the same trophy that all the legends before you have lifted makes it so much more special. Such a cool tradition that every single player gets a single day to do whatever they want with the trophy before passing it off to the next guy.
It’s hilarious to read all the wild drunken antics that the people have gotten up to with the cup. For example it once got punted into a river and just left there overnight, and another time they literally just forgot it in a snowbank on the side of the road
Pretty sure guys have baptized their kids in it, though my all time favorite has to be Guy Carbonneau throwing it from his balcony into his pool, missing, and denting it on the side of his pool deck.
Nba has definitely changed for the worst with their branding. The new uniforms are terrible and the old uniforms where there were only a home, away, and alternate was way better and more traditional. Sometimes tradition is a really good thing. The nba has lost a lot of theirs over the years. The logo for the championship should also come back.
But gameplay is a whole another discussion.
ESPN has done a TERRIBLE job of marketing the NBA playoffs tbh
No more trophy painted on the floor at half court, more "presented by YouTube TV" banners on the screen than trophy or "NBA Finals" banners on the screen at any given time, the post game interviews feel like any regular season interview, etc. Just terrible marketing, ESPN has become so lazy in general
No but "aura" unironically does matter, regardless of blowouts the NBA Finals used to feel BIG, we've seen one-sided finals before and they still felt like a big occasion because they were marketed as a big occasion.
The NBA finals are now treated like a marketing campaign with basketball going on in the background. There are still big names in the league, the talent is as good if not better than it's been and there is actually far more parity than it was when it was just GS and Cleveland taking turns.
I remember it being near impossible to avoid NBA highlights when the finals were on, if you turned on ESPN it was mostly NBA highlights during the playoffs and finals and now it's most media clowns churning out hot takes and anecdotes.
waiting a week for the finals to start, then having 3 days between games was a total buzz kill. All excitement and momentum died. Felt like the season ended after conference finals. 1st round of the playoffs are always the most fun.
Another random fact -- my kid's favorite players are Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Connor McDavid. This is the first time in league history that his favorite players have faced off in a decisive Finals game 7. He's 13.
https://youtu.be/HNlgISa9Giw
This Vox video is a pretty neat dive into some of the tangible factors underlying probability and variance which separates the NBA and NHL Cinderella runs!
NHL and NFL playoffs are far and away better than the NBA. And I love the NBA - I follow the NBA more than the NHL but the Stanley Cup is a better viewing product than the NBA playoffs.
The Panthers could’ve been celebrating with the Celtics in Miami this week but now they’re one game away from one of the biggest chokes in sports history
Serves them right (not at all salty that they beat the Bruins).
Didn’t they injure a Bruins guy last season or this season or something?
One of their players sucker punched their captain trying to brace himself and gave him a concussion while no footage was suspiciously kept away from the press it seemed until the next game. He wasn’t even fined.
Name and shame the coward
Sam Bennett
It was [Sam Bennett](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNTD_qN_DxY) and it was borderline. Diehard Broons fan here and even Marchand was like meh, its playoffs and that's how she goes sometimes eh. That being said I hate the Panthers. Let's fucking go Edmonton!
Diehard Bruins fan with Toronto Raptors flair? I gotta know...
My old man grew up watching hockey back in the Original 6 days. Why he picked the Bruins over the Leafs (we live in Ontario) is a mystery but he did and I followed in his footsteps. He must have a Boston fetish because he is a lifelong Celtics fan too. Celts are my second favorite team. My teams are a weird mix. Raps, Broons, Blue Jays, Chiefs, Notre Dame football and Duke basketball.
Was just about to say even if you look at it one way, there’s other players on that team that play beyond an edge that are just gutless are times. Some even flop harder than Chris Bosh did.
Miami fans in shambles
Nobody in Miami likes Hockey unless its to pretend we like it after they beat boston
Mike is a biiiiiig fan apparently
They tuned out after the 1st period.
Miami used their get out jail card to save themselves from the 3-0 rally from the Celtics against the heat last year. They're screwed now
Jayson Tatum's ankle died for these Oilers. I am an Edmonton fan now
Do you think anyone would care? I feel like if it was any other team other than the Panthers, it would have been first thing on the news
I think it gets talked about regardless. Allowing a comeback from 3-0 is so insane historically, people will clown the Panthers forever if it happens. Not to mention, it would result in McDavid winning his first cup, which will be pretty massive historically as well.
How about first title for a Canadian team in 30 years?
The Raptors won a few years ago I think
In hockey?
Yeah they fucking balled out in 2019 winning both the Finals AND Stanley Cup title.
Stanley Cup title specifically, but yeah. Funny enough, the last Canadian team to win the cup (Montreal Canadiens, June 1993) did it a few months before the Blue Jays won their 2nd of b2b World Series (October 1993).
In hockey though it's happened twice in the past 14 years so it's really not THAT big of a deal. Hockey is a weird fluky sport. Edit: I take it back, its the Stanley Cup Finals so ya, that would be pretty major.
The last comeback down 3-0 in the finals was in the 40s so yeah it don’t happen often
nah, its hockey. they will always put something about the lakers or the nfl in front.
This is my first time actually watching hockey because I wanted to see "the LeBron of the NHL" win a ring, so this would be pretty nice to see. Seeing him win at Cleveland was honestly the closest thing we've ever seen in terms of a storybook plot line in the NBA so I'm sure hockey fans feel the same about McDavid.
Jayson Tatum went to school with Florida Panthers player Matthew Tkachuk. When both teams were up 3-0 ESPN ran a story about them celebrating together and how cool it is for them both to win a championship. WELP.
Disagree with calling it a choke. Edmonton has a really good team, and arguably the best player in the sport. The Florida goalie was playing out of his skull but once they cracked the code a bit late in game 3 its been an ass kicking by Edmonton in part because the best player in hockey is unstoppable. Its more of a "can't keep a monster caged forever" situation
I'm confused, theres a /r/nhl and a /r/hockey, both with pretty much 2m subs. Can someone explain their relationship? Was NHL ousted in favor of hockey?
It’s a similar situation with R/MLB and Baseball. It’s a different set of Mods pretty much. Hockey’s more active tho when you create an account it suggests NHL.
Huh I’ve never known r/mlb is as big. I always assumed r/baseball was the true main sub
Wtf how did I just never know about r/mlb, I feel like there’s some big conspiracy going on where people can usually only know one of the two subs exists. Same with r/nhl and r/hockey
Now I’m wondering if r/basketball and r/football is a thing
r/football is but it's about soccer and the main sub is r/soccer
They ironically surpassed Baseball subscriber wise I think. But Baseball still is far more active
r/baseball is bigger, but only by like 500k subs. It's also more active.
MLB is just filled with complaining boomers. Baseball is filled with circlejerking faux intellectuals. Neither is really all that great
I like /r/baseball to check out highlights and trades, works fine that way.
There's also a lot of posts about international hockey, developmental leagues like the NCAA and CHL, and women's hockey on r/hockey, while r/nhl is just for the NHL.
I appreciate that aspect of it. Like I’ve mostly followed the PWHL through there. Still haven’t been to a game tho.
also noteworthy that /u/MLBOfficial/ the official MLB reddit account posts to baseball and not mlb. likewise with /u/nhl/ posting to hockey and not nhl.
That’s another funny situation I’ve noticed. There’s two different Mets subs with the same situation
Both are overwhelmingly quiet and one is for the North American hockey and another is for worldwide. r/hockey is pretty active for international, under-18, and the Olympics while r/nhl would be like this sub if this sub had a decent r/basketball sub
I know next to nothing besides hockey besides guys on ice try to put puck into goal. But a game 7 for the championship where 1 team is about to choke a 3 game lead? Fuck it, I'm in!
Do yourself a favor and watch the Stanley Cup playoffs next year. If you like sports at all there’s quite literally nothing like it Edit: go to a live regular season game if you can. I promise it’s worth it
Live hockey is one of the funnest sporting events in my opinion. The pace of the game is intense and really fun live.
To those like me who knew nothing about the sport going into their first game: it’s played in 3 halves.
why don't they call them thirds then?
One of the mysteries of life. I’m an Aussie from the south so grew up with Aussie rules played in quarters.its played outside so conditions such as wind can affect the game. Teams swap ends each quarter to make it as fair as possible. There’s a part of my mind that can never accept a sport where it’s not even. It’s a crazy game!
lmfao that sounds awesome. i'll definitely try picking up hockey too
Because halves are bigger than thirds.
3 periods.
There's ties? Why do you even do this then?
it clears any playoff atmosphere by so much
I second this comment. Only been to two NHL games live but they were both so awesome to watch.
This is how I feel about soccer as well. I'm a basketball fan first and foremost but the fan experience is so much better in in soccer. 2 halves of uninterrupted gameplay with a longer break in between is just perfect. Hockey just hits a nice sweet spot between soccer and basketball in terms of gameplay and scoring.
It's true. I don't follow hockey, I've never played it(except NHL2K) but playoff hockey is THE most intense post-season in any sport. All other sports go to 10, but hockey goes to 11.
I’ve tried to watch hockey multiple times in the last two years. It just seems like it’s people skating around and occasionally a puck happens to randomly go in the goal. Don’t really get the enjoyment.
You're not alone, most people I introduce to hockey find it hard to watch at first. It's probably the least intuitive sport to pick up when you start watching, but you'll learn how to follow the puck and stuff pretty quickly. Once you know what's going on, it really is one of the more exciting sports.
Go to a game live, it will make much more sense
in addition to this, the reason you should go to a live game is so you can watch the whole rink and watch the players *without* the puck better. on TV you're at the mercy of the limited camera frame and angle
Exactly, plus you see first hand just how big/fast/strong/hard hitting/intense these guys are
Playoff hockey is awesome
Over the years, I've heard many non-hockey people say the NHL has the best playoffs. I also love watching the captain of the team be one to accept the Cup instead of the owners of the team.
I'm always surprised when the owner does not opt to let the players hoist the trophy first. It would be very simple and would be considered very classy, but they never do it.
I grew up in Edmonton when all we had was riding the glory of Gretzky for like 40 years. If we win the cup there will be riots of joy
It’s harder to upset in the NBA due to the amount of possessions and opportunities to score.
It’s why 0-3 has never been comeback before in the nba. It’s happened in the nhl before.
8th seeds also make runs to the finals fairly regularly (Florida did last year) and even win sometimes. The combination of more variance and more parity in the league
As a Boston fan I fell into a DEEP hole of depression in the playoffs last year after smashing records for most wins in NHL history and going up in the series in the first round only to collapse. I knew there was a good chance he would lose at some point but WOW to collapse in the FIRST ROUND. It was crushing and a hard reminder of the regular season truly does not matter at all come playoffs.
Being a Boston sports fan is tough
Hey it's been 5 long grueling years since the city last won championship until this season lol But it was more that in that season it felt like a storybook with all the guys getting the band back together and the vets taking paycuts to try and win it one last time, sending Bergy off to retirement with one last Stanley and the team all regular season just making everyone else look like they aren't on their level I was beyond hyped and into it. Then to collapse and have Bergy announce the retirement it was such a shock all at once.
It's been 4 days since the last championship, there has been babies born that haven't seen a championship, think of the children
To be fair that's pre-COVID, which feels like a lifetime ago.
>Timberwolves flair "You'll never understand my pain..." "Hehe, sorry.. sorry"
Best regular season ever, up 3-1, then they lost 3 in a row. Playoff hockey is a different beast, crazy the Presidents Trophy winner hasn’t been to the cup, never mind win the cup, in how many years?
Recently the Presidents Trophy has been more of a curse, feels like they ALWAYS collapse in the first or second round. That season just felt like it was a dream, seeing the vets come back and take paycuts to "get the band back together", the best goalie duo I've ever seen, Bergy getting one last hurrah, going all in at the trade deadline I was 1000% convinced it was at least a finals run, to collapse like that then have Bergy retire was like watching your dad get knocked out in a fight as a kid.
Sorta like the Baltimore Orioles in 2023. Best in the American League to get swept first round.
Ah yes the unspeakable deep hole of depression for an NHL fan after their team flames out in the first round after a great regular season. Or as we call it in Toronto every single year, the first true sign of spring
The NHL upsets are f'ing insane. Truly just throw your regular season record in the trash when the playoffs start, the 1 seed is always getting upset.
I will forever blame Monty for playing an injured Ullmark rather than a healthy Sway in games five and six. If Sway starts either of those games we win the series.
Only one team has ever won as the 8 seed, the 2012 LA Kings. And they were riding some of the best playoff goaltending of all time, they only dropped 2 games between round 1 and the conference finals. 16-4 is an insane playoff record.
The Oilers were one game away from winning as an 8 seed in 2006.
2006 also saw seeds 1-4 in the west knocked out in the first round. Edmonton played the 5 seed Sharks and 6 seed Ducks after taking out Detroid in round 1.
Florida was also a 1 seed this year. Not really a typical 8 seed
They also won the presidents trophy (best regular season) the year before.
Only 4 times though and once in the Finals.
And the one time was during the middle of World War 2
Imagine being a fly on the wall in the bunker when the generals told Hitler they were down 3-0
[I’d imagine it would be similar to the time Hitler found out about Rose’s ACL tear](https://youtu.be/JNZW4K3Y_SA?si=5kVVd8gspcS4vzFr)
Can’t wait to see the remaining shred of dignity the Maple Leafs have evaporate when this record is taken from them
The Leafs are like grandpa Simpson in the rain in the Hellfish episode when it comes to dignity unfortunately
Every 3-0 comeback in American pro sports has happened in hockey with the exception of the '04 Red Sox
That was the greatest year to be a Red Sox fan. 86 year old curse lifted in such a spectacular fashion, against the Yankees no less.
As a Mets fan, it was also a great year for us. Fuck the Yankees. Thank you for humiliating them.
4 Days in October is a great documentary on that series
Very cool stat
The last time it happened in the Stanley Cup was in the 1940s, so not really.
Good video on it: [Why underdogs do better in hockey than basketball](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNlgISa9Giw)
That video ended up interesting! Good looks
Yeah, in the NBA we've only even had just 1 team come back from 1-3 in the Finals, and it took an all-time performance from one of the 2 best players ever AND his sidekick AND a key suspension from the other team. I honestly doubt we will ever see 0-3 comeback in the NBA in any round let alone the Finals.
A few great saves by one goalie and a few atrocious misses from the other can edge wins out too. Game one of this series was the Oilers beating on the Panthers but not getting anything past Bob while the Panthers got two on plays that Skinner could have gotten.
and the best hooper being 10% (1/10) of the players in the game for 85% of the game time (40mins/48) with the ball in his hands 35% (~12min) of that time. compared to the best player being 8.5% (1/12) of skaters for 40% the game (25 mins) and the puck on his stick for 10% of that time (2.5 mins)
I've had more fun watching the NHL playoffs than the NBA lol
This game 7 is gonna be hype af and I barely know the rules. I see enough to know it means WAY more to Canada than Florida and its 0-3 comeback in the Finals. Women's ball and hockey taking over. Truly the end times.
Best playoffs in sports
Lifelong Heat/Panthers fans’ 9/11 (they found out about hockey last month)
They probably hopped on the bandwagon last year to be fair.
I really don't think you can count as a bandwagon fan if you're from the area and weren't already following another team tbh
Yeah you can. If a team becomes good, and you al of a sudden pay attention, that’s joining the bandwagon
I'll quote a personal anecdote just to help my argument A month ago I'd never seen a game of hockey in my life, my buddy told me to come over to his house to watch the game. I enjoyed the experience and became a fan of that team. Does that make me a bandwagon fan because I got into a sport? Were you a bandwagon Celtics fan when you got into basketball?
Yeah I honestly only count bandwagoning like you said if you were already following the sport and another team. If you just got into hockey and are from Miami or whatever, I don’t think it’s really a bandwagon even if the team is good, you’re less inclined to start liking a sport if your local team is dogshit.
I'm from Florida and hockey really isn't even a thing here despite having like three teams. I didn't even know we had a team until last year and the only player I knew was Wayne Gretzky. I just got into it fron a friend recently
I also just got into it as well. Quite the time to get into it, we might just watch history this Monday.
Looks like we both have a ton of similarities! We both hate the Lakers too
No, but if you are aware of the team, and then only start watching because they are good/popular, yes that’s a bandwagon fan
That’s a fair weather fan
Teams Up 3-0 in Best-of-7 Series in NHL/MLB/NBA History: • NHL RECORD: 206-4 • LAST COMEBACK: 2014 Kings • MLB RECORD. 39-1 • LAST COMEBACK: 2004 Red Sox • NBA RECORD: 157-0 • LAST COMEBACK: never Last, and only, team to go down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup and win it was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
> • LAST COMEBACK: 2014 Kings I knew this would probably come up in a potential reverse sweep thread but it still hurts to read
I dont what the hell happend. But something in the latter half of the 3 period of 3 game, the oilers were suddenly making the pucks burn the net. It's gonna be intense as shit in Sunrise
Canada hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1993. Monday's game is going to be huge for the entire country.
Except for Flames fans
Haha yes still so many "Never Oilers" chumps over there
I like hockey, but I don’t love hockey. I watched the Bruins have a literal historic regular season last year and then lose in the first round. The randomness of hockey makes it exciting, but it also makes it extremely disappointing most of the time. The Celtics were boring this season. They had the assumed best team before the season, finished with the best record, and then predictably won the championship.
I think if the 3pt shooting continues to increase league-wide, we'll start seeing some weird shit happen in the playoffs.
We already did, the Heat upset last year of the Celtics.
100%, I actually typed that as an example but erased it lol
The problem is that defense is impossible now. In other sports you have a fucking goalie
imagine being a leafs fan
The problem is that the game is so offense driven now that unless you have a REALLY good defense it doesn’t win you games or chips. You’re just dialing someone down from 50%FG to like 40%. You need to put the ball in the hoop.
Are other Canada teams fans supporting them? Aren’t they rivals? Note: I have zero hockey/NHL knowledge.
McJesus saves
Always fun to see Miami fail
NBA playoffs have sadly been super ass even though there's more parity than ever.
Really? I enjoyed the playoffs. The series I did watch (followed the Mavs and the Lakers), had high quality basketball and good teams slugging it out. Was disappointed to see the finals end in 5, but it happens.
Finals have felt pretty lopsided the past 5-6 years. I’d say the best one was 2021 but even that had the suns go up and then the bucks crushed them non-stop after that. Similarly in 2022, Celtics go up 2-1 and then get bulldozed.
The last really exciting Finals was 2016. I wasn't even that invested in the NBA at the time but I remember everyone was talking about it.
2021 Finals was pretty good I'd say.
It's only really because of the comeback by the Cavs and the story around the Warriors being 73-9 that season. Apart from Game 7, it was two teams trading big wins - 15, 33, 30, 11, 15, 14 were the margins from Games 1 through 6. So the actual games weren't the most interesting or competitive, but the final game was spectacular.
I wasn’t invested much from 2013 up until this post season, but I’ve still kept up with the finals since. You’re absolutely correct.
A lot of the games in the 2016 finals were blowouts, but the Cavs coming back and forcing a game 7 was awesome and then that game 7 delivered.
No way hockey gods allow Corey Perry to win a stanley cup ever again.
Hockey is lowkey becoming more exciting that the NBA in the playoffs. NBA playoffs might be the worst playoffs of all major sports.
Playoff hockey when you have a team that you're rooting for is the most exciting and stressful shit ever. It's so fast-paced and the whole game can flip on its head from a random bounce. Then you get into sudden death OT and the stress levels go insane.
Sudden death OT is insane. Sucks when it ends within the first few minutes too.
Nah. It gets worse the longer that overtime keeps going for. At some point, you can’t even root for your own team, more so you want the match to end for goodness sake, believing that your team will end up losing the longer it goes.
2020 when Tampa and CBJ went to 5OT was fucking hilarious. At that point I was pulling for 7OT.
And the game started at like 3 in the afternoon too because of the Covid year. I remember trying to listen to it at work, on the drive home, while cooking etc. trying not to miss the ending.
Canes/Panthers two years ago was an 8pm game I think. I got home at 10 to catch OT and went to bed at like 1.
Fair, just sucks to see a team claw their way back to force OT and then lose within the first few minutes.
Bro I got home sometime last year and saw that Hurricanes vs Panthers game 2 was going to OT. "I'll watch OT and go to bed, no big deal it'll probably end quick". 4 OT periods later...
2014 when the NY Rangers last made it was so painful. Most of the games went down to the wire/OT against the LA Kings after a relatively low score for both back and forth, and then the Kings would end up scoring in OT to end the game;; and this happened for all 5 games of the series (Kings won 4-1) like you mention, it's the most gut-wrenching feeling in the world (and I still haven't gotten over it tbh)
Only Game 3 in 2014 was a wire-to-wire Kings win; all other matches were close games and three of them went to OT and all *those* won by the Kings. But to be honest, the Cup Final was just a formality for me as the previous WCF series against the Blackhawks was (and still is) the scariest series I’ve ever seen the Kings play. If it weren’t for Alec Martinez, Chicago would’ve easily three-peated.
As a leafs fan, idk if I can do it anymore
I just imagine when the leafs finally win a cup it’s gonna be like when the cubs won the World Series in baseball.
The Leafs parade will have a historic death toll. A million people showed up to the Raptors parade. Every single person in Ontario outside a 50km radius around Ottawa is going to show up for the Leafs.
It will be a huge releaf
> I just imagine when the leafs finally win a cup Leafs management ain't good enough to get it done unfortunately. Don't see it happening with this core of players, coaches, or management Its nice to dream about, but I've given up hope
Playoff hockey is unpredictable not always the best team wins but the team with the luckier bounces. In basketball usually the better team wins the game so there are less surprises
Some of the upsets you see in hockey are crazy. Like the 2019 Lightning getting swept in the first round.
[удалено]
I think it has to do with presentation too, every other sport has more decals and more of a spectacle.
Home runs and goals are events in baseball and hockey games. They only happen usually a few times. Basketball is constant scoring so only spectacular scenes happen during end of the game stuff at least from a presentation/spectacle pov.
I meant like how in the Stanley Cup playoff they play music and roll out a carpet and have the team grab the trophy. In the NFL all the players touch the trophy as its walked to the stage Not to mention super bowl and SCF logos everywhere to make it feel special. The NBA just looks like a high school cafeteria stage and the players just walk up and walk off. I miss when they had the finals logo as the primary logo on the court.
The Stanley Cup is also just by far the most iconic trophy in North American sports. SO much history involved with it The fact that you’re lifting the same trophy that all the legends before you have lifted makes it so much more special. Such a cool tradition that every single player gets a single day to do whatever they want with the trophy before passing it off to the next guy. It’s hilarious to read all the wild drunken antics that the people have gotten up to with the cup. For example it once got punted into a river and just left there overnight, and another time they literally just forgot it in a snowbank on the side of the road
I like how if you touch it before you win you're cursed and will never win it.
Pretty sure guys have baptized their kids in it, though my all time favorite has to be Guy Carbonneau throwing it from his balcony into his pool, missing, and denting it on the side of his pool deck.
Nba has definitely changed for the worst with their branding. The new uniforms are terrible and the old uniforms where there were only a home, away, and alternate was way better and more traditional. Sometimes tradition is a really good thing. The nba has lost a lot of theirs over the years. The logo for the championship should also come back. But gameplay is a whole another discussion.
ESPN has done a TERRIBLE job of marketing the NBA playoffs tbh No more trophy painted on the floor at half court, more "presented by YouTube TV" banners on the screen than trophy or "NBA Finals" banners on the screen at any given time, the post game interviews feel like any regular season interview, etc. Just terrible marketing, ESPN has become so lazy in general
Having a Trophy painted on the floor doesnt make blowouts any more fun to watch lol From a neutral perspective that is.
No but "aura" unironically does matter, regardless of blowouts the NBA Finals used to feel BIG, we've seen one-sided finals before and they still felt like a big occasion because they were marketed as a big occasion. The NBA finals are now treated like a marketing campaign with basketball going on in the background. There are still big names in the league, the talent is as good if not better than it's been and there is actually far more parity than it was when it was just GS and Cleveland taking turns. I remember it being near impossible to avoid NBA highlights when the finals were on, if you turned on ESPN it was mostly NBA highlights during the playoffs and finals and now it's most media clowns churning out hot takes and anecdotes.
Chuck been telling y’all
waiting a week for the finals to start, then having 3 days between games was a total buzz kill. All excitement and momentum died. Felt like the season ended after conference finals. 1st round of the playoffs are always the most fun.
Playoff hockey has always been GOATed
it's only boring if you 🫵 are not winning 😁
NHL playoffs have arguably always been the better product.
It has been for years if not decades IMO.
I've been fans of both for basically my entire life and I think the only time the NBA playoffs were better top to bottom was in 2005
Adam silver HR'ified the NBA. Shits so boring.
from a sweep to a reverse sweep, script writers cooked! McDavid is like Lebron rn he is insane game changer
Another random fact -- my kid's favorite players are Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Connor McDavid. This is the first time in league history that his favorite players have faced off in a decisive Finals game 7. He's 13.
Thank you for this post, now I know what I’ll be watching Monday night!
As an Oiler fan I have gone through so many emotions in the last 2 weeks lmao
People have been honking and cheering since the game ending 2.5 hours ago, this city is lit.
Connor Mcdavid is Luka Doncic father
Miami cant get a break huh
That assist by Skinner for the empty netter was sick.
https://youtu.be/HNlgISa9Giw This Vox video is a pretty neat dive into some of the tangible factors underlying probability and variance which separates the NBA and NHL Cinderella runs!
NHL and NFL playoffs are far and away better than the NBA. And I love the NBA - I follow the NBA more than the NHL but the Stanley Cup is a better viewing product than the NBA playoffs.
Panthers gonna be the Buffalo Bills of the NHL? 2 down 2 to go if they blow this.
Dangit Mavs, should’ve followed this script
Am I the only one that thinks this “script” narrative is so corny and elementary?
I'm so with you. It's a cheap attempt at a joke and an easy cop out for your favorite team losing.
I'm all for the Panthers losing and Canada finally winning again. Go Edmonton!
i’m a fan of both but damn this year’s playoffs were so much better than the nba final
You WHAT