Four teams in NHL history have won a series after losing the first three games and the Wild will need to become the fifth or their season will end earlier than most thought it would.
This year’s Wild-Blues series best resembles the 2010 Flyers-Bruins series that saw Philadelphia become the third team in league history to make such a monumental comeback.
- Both lost Game 1 in overtime
- Both lost by one goal in Game 2
- Both lost Game 3 despite badly outshooting their opponent
- Both were facing red-hot goalies
Even the 2010 Flyers thought they were outplaying Boston.
“We outplayed them pretty much in the first two periods,”then-Flyer Arron Asham said, via Yahoo.com. “Our confidence was fine, we just couldn’t get the puck past Tuukka. He made some big saves for them and blocked a lot of shots. I think if we play the same way Friday night, we will be fine.”
Sound familiar?
“It’s tight. I mean, it’s playoffs. It’s been one goal difference. It’s not like they’re getting chance after chance,” said Wild forward Eric Staal after Game 3. “We’re just not capitalizing when we have the chances and then they have. It’s two good teams, tight-checking. There’s not a lot of room, and you’ve got to fight to find ways to get there and you’ve got to cash in when you can, and we haven’t been able to do that.”
If the Flyers found a way to penetrate Rask, who led the NHL with a 1.97 goals-against average in 2010, the Wild can surely find a way to start getting the puck past Blues goalie, Jake Allen.
But here’s the sneaky difference. The Wild had home ice advantage while the Flyers were the 7-seed playing on the road, so they were at home for Game 4 whereas the Wild will be back in St. Louis.
“Because it’s been done you know it’s not impossible,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said Monday, according to Wild.com. “I’m sure St. Louis is going to be very aware of it and they’ll want to close it out in four more than anything. But it’s an amazing thing, this momentum thing. If you can get on a roll and things start going for you, it could be made into a series.”
Here’s how the rest of that 2010 series played out for the Flyers.
- Game 4: 5-4 overtime win
- Game 5: 4-0 win
- Game 6: 2-1 win
- Game 7: 4-3 win
Let’s hope the Wild find a way like the Flyers did in 2010.
For the record, the Flyers made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing in six games to the Blackhawks.
