Two of the Best Comebacks in Stanley Cup Finals History
The 2023/24 NHL season is well underway and approaching its quarter distance point. Soon, we will reach the height of ice hockey season where the absolute best of the best come head-to-head to determine who are the frontrunners for the Stanley Cup this season. Even as early as 14 games in, there are already several standouts.
The Boston Bruins had a record-breaking season last term as they romped to the President’s Trophy with the best-ever regular season record. Much to the surprise of everyone, they were stunned in the opening round of the postseason by the underdog Florida Panthers, who would go on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes en route to a first Stanley Cup appearance in 27 years. But the TD Garden outfit are once again flexing their muscles at the top of the Atlantic Division with 11 wins and just three defeats. While their conquerors the Panthers are just two wins behind them in the hunt for divisional glory.
The Vegas Golden Knights are the reigning champions meanwhile. They comfortably dispatched their Floridian rivals in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season to lift the famous giant trophy for the first time in franchise history. They have started in a similar fashion this term, winning 12 of their first 15 games and forcing NHL Playoffs odds providers to install them as the early +650 favorites to retain their trophy at the end of the current season.
Their route to glory was somewhat simple last term. They took an early 2-0 series lead and the Panthers never looked likely to mount a comeback. But that isn’t always the case. Here are two of the best Stanley Cup comebacks in recent memory.
Bruins Beat the Canucks in a Seven-Game Thriller – 2011
The Bruins have known nothing but heartache in the postseason in recent years, and it looked like that would be the case once more back in 2011. They found themselves two games down against the Canucks almost immediately that year, and quite honestly, things weren’t looking great. The Canadian outfit managed to see out a nervy 1-0 in their home tie at the Rogers Arena in the opening game, before heading to the TD Garden and escaping with a 3-2 overtime win.
The home faithful must have thought that the Stanley Cup was on its way to Canada for the first time since 1993 and to Vancouver for the first time in franchise history. But the Bruins had other ideas. They battled back to level things up at two games apiece, before again tying things up at 3-3 after the Canucks took the lead once more. That set up a seventh-game decider at the Rogers Arena in a carnival-like atmosphere. But unfortunately for the Canadians, the Bruins well and truly reveled in their role of party-poopers, crushing the hosts 4-0 and claiming the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years.
Penguins Knock Off the Red Wings – 2009
The Pittsburgh Penguins were a force to be reckoned with in the late 2000s. The drafting of Sidney Crosby with the first pick of the 2005 NHL draft transformed the fortunes of the franchise and the Canadian sensation led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008. That would ultimately end in defeat as they lost to the Detroit Red Wings and when the two sides faced off the following year in a rematch for all the marbles, it looked as though history would repeat itself.
The Motor City outfit quickly raced into a two-game to-none lead. But this time around, the Penguins wouldn’t wilt under the pressure. They managed to claw their way back into the series and tie things up at two games apiece. The Red Wings roared back with a thumping 5-0 victory at the Joe Louis Arena to take a 3-2 series lead. The pressure was amped up on Crosby and Co., who knew they needed to win the final two games to put the ghosts of the previous year’s disappointment to rest. And that’s exactly what they did.
Goals from Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy were enough to secure a narrow 2-1 win in game six meaning that it was all to play for in game seven in Detroit. And it was the Penguins who held their nerve. A Maxime Talbot brace in the second period gave the visitors an imposing 2-0 lead on the night and even though Jonathan Ericsson pulled one back deep into the third, the Red Wings were unable to tie things up. That gave the Penguins their first Stanley Cup in 17 years and set the foundations for the best run-in franchise history throughout the 2010s.
Up until last season, they had reached the playoffs in each and every campaign since their 2009 triumph. They lifted the Stanley Cup twice in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017 and had they not managed to mount this comeback against Detroit, who knows if that run of form would have ever transpired.
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