A Brief History of 3-0 Series Comebacks in the NHL
When one team goes up 3-0 in a Stanley Cup Playoffs series, the team that is down is often written off, and rightfully so. Since the best-of-seven series format became a regular occurrence in 1939, there have been a total of 756 playoff series. Of these, 205 series had one team go up 3-0, and of these 205, only four times has a team come back to win the series, which equates to 2.0% of all teams down 3-0. An additional five teams have come back to force a game seven, but ultimately failed to complete the comeback. Because a 3-0 series comeback is so rare, each one is memorable and has its own fascinating moments. With the Capitals, Islanders, and Lightning all down 3-0 in their respective series, and the Stars currently down 2-0, let’s go back in history and look at both the successful 3-0 comebacks, as well as the ones that came up short.
Successful 3-0 Comebacks
1942 Stanley Cup Finals - Toronto Maple Leafs Come Back Against Detroit Red Wings
The first 3-0 series comeback was early on in the lifetime of the best-of-seven series. In the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals, the first three games were won by the Red Wings by scores of 3-2, 4-2, and 5-2 respectively. The Maple Leafs won a close game four, before blowing out the Red Wings 9-3 in game five, shutting out the Red Wings 3-0 in game six, and ultimately winning game seven 3-1, where all three Maple Leafs’ goals were scored in the last 13 minutes of the game. Since this series, not only has no team ever come back from down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals, but this is also the last time a team has ever come back from down 3-1 in the finals.
The Red Wings would redeem themselves by winning the Stanley Cup the following season, and these two teams would be involved in another 3-0 comeback situation only a few seasons later.
1975 Quarterfinals - New York Islanders Come Back Against Pittsburgh Penguins
The New York Islanders made their first ever playoff appearance a magical one. In the quarterfinals, they found themselves down 3-0 in the series after some high scoring games, in which they lost by no more than a margin of two goals. After switching goalies from Billy Smith to Chico Resch, the Islanders would allow an average of only one goal per game for the remaining four games, successfully completing the comeback with a 1-0 game seven win. What makes this playoff run so amazing is the fact that we are not even done talking about the 1975 Islanders in this article. Stay tuned.
2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals - Philadelphia Flyers Come Back Against Boston Bruins
There was quite a long pause between 3-0 series comebacks, as between 1975 and 2010, no team down 3-0 had even forced a game seven in this 35 year span. This changed when the Boston Bruins played the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the 2010 playoffs. After going up 3-0 in the series, the Bruins were a goal away from completing the sweep in overtime of game four. However, Simon Gagne of the Flyers would score instead, giving the Flyers life. The Flyers would then win games five and six 4-0 and 2-1 respectively, forcing a game seven. In the game seven, the Bruins seemingly put out the fire early on, going up 3-0 in the first period. However, the Flyers would score late in the first, giving them momentum for two more goals in the second, and a third period goal by Simon Gagne, who would achieve his second game winning goal of the series. This game seven perfectly represented this series as a whole, as it was a three goal comeback within a 3-0 series comeback.
Luckily for the Bruins, they would get their revenge the following year by sweeping the Flyers en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
2014 Western Conference Quarterfinals - Los Angeles Kings Come Back Against San Jose Sharks
Despite a 35 year gap of 3-0 series lead ending in six games or less from 1975-2010, there were four occurrences of a 3-0 series going seven games from 2010-2014. The Kings’ comeback against the Sharks in 2014 saw a large momentum swing after game three, as the Sharks took the first two games by a combined score of 13-5, as well as game three with an overtime winner. In the latter four games that the Kings won, they outscored the Sharks 18-5. The only lead the Sharks had in these four games was in game seven, which lasted 4:29 (four minutes, 29 seconds). The Kings would go on to win the Stanley Cup, setting the record for most elimination games played by a Stanley Cup winner, as they would finish the playoffs with a 7-0 record in games where they would have been eliminated with a loss.
The Sharks would miss the playoffs the following year, which was their first playoff miss since 2003. In 2016, the Sharks went to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing.
Unsuccessful 3-0 Comebacks
1939 Semifinals - Boston Bruins Beat New York Rangers
Funnily enough, in the first ever best-of-seven series in NHL history (not including the one straggler in 1919 between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, before the best-of-seven series was a regular format), we almost saw the rarest best-of-seven event occur. In this series, the Bruins took the first three games, two of which were overtime winners. The Rangers would go on to win the next three, which also included an overtime winner and an average of one goal allowed per game. The Bruins would hold on and prevent the comeback in an epic triple overtime game seven win. According to NHL records, this game seven was the 34th longest game in NHL history, but is the second longest game seven in NHL history, beaten only by the Islanders versus Capitals in 1987.
The Bruins would go on to win the 1939 Stanley Cup, and the Rangers would win the Stanley Cup the following year before going on a 54 year cup drought.
1945 Stanley Cup Finals - Toronto Maple Leafs Beat Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings were victims of the 3-0 comeback in 1942, and were looking for revenge on the Maple Leafs in 1945, coming ever so close to accomplishing this feat. The Maple Leafs won the first three games by a combined score of 4-0. The Red Wings finally scored their first goal in game four, ultimately winning 5-2. They would then add a couple shutouts of their own in games five and six, winning 2-0 and 1-0 in overtime respectively. In game seven, the Maple Leafs would score with approximately eight minutes left in the game, winning 2-1, and holding off the Red Wings from completing the comeback.
This series would set an NHL record that still stands today, which is the fewest goals scored by both teams in a seven game series. The 18 combined goals is three less than second place.
Source: NHL records
Similarly, this series set the record, which has since been tied, for most shutouts by both teams in a single series, with five combined shutouts.
Source: NHL records
1975 Semifinals - Philadelphia Flyers Beat New York Islanders
As mentioned previously, the 1975 New York Islanders would reappear in this discussion. After successfully completing the reverse sweep in the previous round, the Islanders once again found themselves down 3-0 in the following round against the Flyers. The first three games included two shutout wins and an overtime win, with a combined score of 10-4 in favour of the Flyers. Game four saw the Islanders on the line, but they managed to hold on with an overtime win. The Islanders would allow only one goal in each of the following two games, setting themselves up for an opportunity to complete back-to-back 3-0 series comebacks. Unfortunately for the Islanders, the Flyers would hold on and win game seven 4-1 thanks to a Rick MacLeish hat-trick.
In back-to-back series, the New York Islanders forced a game seven after being down 3-0, something that has only been done seven other times in NHL history, and something that didn’t occur again until 2010. Because of a game three win against the Rangers in a best of three series in the preliminary round, the 1975 New York Islanders would set an NHL record for most wins in elimination games in a single post-season, as they would go 8-1 in games that they had to win to stay alive in the playoffs.
The Flyers would go on to win the Stanley Cup in 1975, and the Islanders would see success years later, winning four Stanley Cups in a row from 1980-1983.
2011 Western Conference Quarterfinals - Vancouver Canucks Defeat Chicago Blackhawks
After losing to the Blackhawks in the previous two post-seasons, the Vancouver Canucks looked like they were going to slay their demons with ease in 2011, winning the first three games in regulation. However, the Blackhawks would win both game four and game five by a five goal margin, winning 7-2 and 5-0 respectively. Game six was closer, but the Blackhawks would ultimately win 4-3 in overtime. In game seven, the Canucks were finally in a position to close out the series, up 1-0 with two minutes remaining and on the power play. Against all odds, Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks would score a shorthanded goal to tie it and send game seven to overtime. The Canucks managed to win it with an epic Alex Burrows slapshot goal, barely hanging on to win the series.
The 2011 Canucks would go on to the Stanley Cup Finals, and were one win away from winning the Stanley Cup.
2011 Western Conference Semifinals - San Jose Sharks Defeat Detroit Red Wings
Only one round later, we once again saw a 3-0 series lead turn into a seven game series. If you have been keeping track, the San Jose Sharks have played in multiple game sevens after being up 3-0 in a series in a span of three years, or four post-seasons.
After going up 3-0 against the Red Wings and ultimately winning in five games the previous year in 2010, this series rematch in 2011 looked like it was going to be extremely similar, with the Sharks up 3-0 again. However, the Red Wings would win both games four and five by a score of 4-3, with game five consisting of a 3-1 lead blown in the third period. Game six saw the Sharks up 1-0 with approximately 10 minutes remaining, before a mini comeback and a 3-1 Red Wings win. The Sharks managed to hold on and win game seven, with Patrick Marleau scoring his first goal of the series, and also the series winning goal.
The Sharks would lose the next round against the Canucks in five games. The Sharks started the playoffs with a 7-2 record, and would go on a 2-7 run to finish 9-9.
All occurrences of 3-0 series leads that were either lost, or needed seven games to win.
Interesting Stats
To conclude, here are some interesting stats from these nine series:
Occurrences per round:
First round - 2 (1 comeback, 1 failed comeback)
Quarterfinals - 3 (2 comebacks, 1 failed comeback)
Semifinals - 2 (0 comebacks, 2 failed comebacks)
Stanley Cup Finals - 2 (1 comeback, 1 failed comeback)
7 out of 9 series had the higher ranked team up 3-0. The two series where the road team gave up a 3-0 series lead were:
1942 Detroit Red Wings
1945 Toronto Maple Leafs
The New York Islanders forced game sevens in back-to-back series after being down 3-0 in both. This didn’t happen again for 408 series in a row, spanned over 35 years. When it occurred again in 2010, there were four occurrences among 56 series, spanned over four years and five post-seasons.
If you enjoyed this blog post and want more trips down memory lane, be sure to check out a list of most lopsided playoff series by clicking here.