The NHL statistical crew always keeps the historical data locked and loaded and ready to fire into the air in situations like this.
On the weekend after first firing out the fatal fact Saturday, the talented team of tabulators sent the traditional flare in the air three more times on Sunday.
“Teams with a 3-1 lead are 284-29 (90.7 per cent) winning a best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series, including 6-0 in the first round this season.”
The statistician magicians fired it out Saturday when Tampa sent Boston to the brink then Sunday did likewise when Dallas defeated Colorado, the NY Islanders downed Philadelphia and Vegas took a similar stranglehold on their series against Vancouver.
In a matter of hours all four second round series went to 3-1 and the Bruins, Flyers, Avalanche and Canucks moved to the brink of elimination.
A lot has been made of how much opportunity existed for an unusually high number of teams to have a serious shot at winning the Stanley Cup with all the unique circumstances in the coronavirus pandemic-inspired August-September playoff tournament in two hub cities with 24-teams involved that had a four month pause to get healthy.
Is that what’s happening here?
Boston finished first overall and won the President’s Trophy. Colorado finished first in the West and third overall. Philadelphia was sixth.
Or maybe it’s just the Stanley Cup playoffs still being the Stanley Cup payoffs as usual even if everything involved is unusual. Tampa Bay won the President’s Trophy last year and was swept in the first round.
With Vancouver, it will likely be the most difficult to bounce back.
“It’s unchartered territory for a lot of players. We have a lot of young players on this team,” said J.T. Miller, a veteran of 75 playoff games.
“We’ve been working all season for this and we’re not going to back down without a battle,” swore 21-year-old first-timer Ellias Pettersson.
Developing defenceman Ivan Provorov of the Flyers said it’s not over until it’s over.
“We have a great team. We know how to battle with adversity.”
It was interesting to listen to the thoughts of the Avalanche and the Bruins before they headed back on the ice for games Monday night.
Colorado had given up 19 goals in four games and had been getting underwhelming goaltending. Sunday they didn’t get a shot on goal until the 18th minute of the first period when they were down 3-0, two on power plays resulting from penalties to Nazem Kadri.
Nathan MacKinnon was asked in the post-game Zoom media interviews how the Avs could keep up any belief.
“We have no choice. We’re just trying to get to Game 5 to make it 3-2 and go from there. You can’t win three games in one day.”
Coach Jared Bednar said it was ‘Will To Win’ time.
“You’ve got to really want it. You have to remember all the hard work you’ve put in for over a year with off-season training, the regular season through to the pause, back into another training camp and then here. The guys have been invested for more than a year to try get after that Cup. Do you really want it? You have to believe.”
In Toronto the Bruins were telling themselves to reach back and find what they found last year when they were down three games to two to Toronto and gave up the first goal of Game 6 to the Maple Leafs.
“We haven’t played up to our level. We have to get there fast. We have to do what made us the best team in the NHL this year for a reason. We’re a good team for a reason. We wear teams down,” said Torey Krug.
“It comes down to will. You have to out-will the guy across from you,”
said coach Bruce Cassidy.
Being down 3-1 in a series is generally a death sentence.
But the fact is that compared to the NBA and Major League Baseball, a comeback happens much more frequently in the NHL.
Only 11 times have NBA teams turned the trick, the most recent being the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Golden State Warriors in 2016, the only time it’s happened in an NBA Final Series.
In baseball it’s happened 13 times, the most recent being when the Chicago Cubs came back from 3-1 against the Cleveland Indians to do it in the World Series for the first time since 1985 when the Kansas City A’s came from behind against the St. Louis Cardinals.
In hockey it has become a regular occurrence since the Edmonton Oilers did it against the Colorado Avalanche in 1998.
St Louis (1999), New Jersey (2000), Minnesota (twice in 2003), Vancouver (2003), Montreal (2004), Washington (2009), Montreal (2010), Philadelphia (2010), Tampa Bay (2011), Chicago (2013), Los Angeles (2014), New York (2015 and again in 2016) and San Jose last year in a first round series over Vegas have all authored comebacks from the dreaded 3-1 series starts.
I’d offer to tape that up on their dressing room walls but it’s 2020 and you can’t get near a dressing room.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
