The Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks and now the Detroit Red Wings have breathed new life into NHL playoff comebacks that once seemed impossible.
After 35 years and 112 consecutive series without a single comeback from a 3-0 deficit, the Red Wings have become the third team in the past 12 months to be in that position. They’ve battled back from an 0-3 hole to force a Game 7 and can knock off the San Jose Sharks tonight at 8 p.m. (TSN, RDS).
“The more comebacks that happen, the more teams believe, ‘Hey, we can do this and it’s possible,’” said Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman.
The Flyers shocked the hockey world last May when they knocked off the Boston Bruins after trailing the Eastern Conference semifinal 3-0, just the third comeback victory of its kind.
The Blackhawks almost did the same in the first round this year when they battled back from a 3-0 deficit against the Vancouver Canucks, only to fall short in a Game 7 loss.
Yzerman called the comebacks “great for our league” and said “competitive parity” is a factor for their sudden regularity.
The Red Wings-Sharks series illustrates that. It has been tied or separated by a single goal for 336 out of 376 total minutes, or 90 per cent of the series.
“The games are so close,” Yzerman said. “Every single game is one goal and it can go either way, so the teams that fall behind (in the series), as long as they don’t get discouraged and don’t make any (unnecessary) adjustments, there’s always hope.”
