If the Edmonton Oilers win Game 7 and complete their comeback, they will win the Stanley Cup in historic fashion. But at the same time, the Florida Panthers would be victims of one of the worst choke jobs in sports history. And putting it into context compared to other notable collapses, it would be the most gut-wrenching of them all.
An Oilers’ Game 7 win would mark only the second time an NHL team rallied back from trailing 3-0 in a Stanley Cup Final. It would be the first such occurrence in 82 years. But this one would feel very different.
When the Red Wings blew a 3-0 lead to the Maple Leafs in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, Detroit already had two championships in the bank. In 1942, the NHL was a seven-team league and a quarter-century away from the 1967 expansion that led to the addition of six more franchises. The media coverage was nothing compared to the microscope every team is under today.
Moving away from hockey, the Red Sox breaking their 86-year curse in 2004 included rebounding from a 3-0 deficit in the American League Championship Series against the rival New York Yankees. Movies like “Fever Pitch” were made about that Red Sox team. No matter how many titles Boston fans enjoy across sports, that year in baseball will be cherished forever.
But when the Yankees lost that ALCS, they were coming off a dynastic run. New York was in the World Series the year before, granted in a losing effort, and won four championships and six pennants within the prior eight yea.