Would this Panthers collapse be the worst in NHL history? Yes, and it’s not close

Theoretically, the question is exactly my thing.

If the Panthers lose Game 7 on Monday, would that be the biggest collapse in NHL history?

It’s the kind of history-based debate I usually like to have. When it became apparent that the Oilers were going to turn this Stanley Cup Final into a series, I started thinking about what this article might look like. If you’ve read my posts over the years, you can probably imagine how it would be structured. We’d ask the question and then list a number of potential contenders for the award. We’d weigh the pros and cons, put everything in historical context, throw in a few one-liners, and then come to a conclusion about 2,000 words later.

The problem is, I can’t give you 2,000 words to say the Panthers collapse is the worst ever. I don’t need them.

I just need one: Yes. And then a few more: It’s not even close to that point yet.

Believe me, I’ve tried. I’ve looked at the history of teams blowing leads. But there’s no reasonable evidence that anything in the history of the NHL comes anywhere close to what we’re about to witness.

Let’s start with the obvious comparison: the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, the only other time a team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the championship. This isn’t unique to the NHL, by the way – it’s the only time in MLB, NBA or NHL history that this has happened. That year, the Maple Leafs came back and beat the Red Wings.

Does it work? Not really. Except that we’re talking about a series from more than eight decades ago that almost no one reading this remembers. The early 1940s were also in the midst of a world war that saw many of the world’s best young athletes being drafted overseas. The NHL’s MVP in 1942 was Tom Anderson. The points leader was Bryan Hextall. This wasn’t even the era of the Original Six, because that hadn’t started yet. I love NHL history as much as just about anyone else out there, and even I’m not going to pretend there’s any comparison here.

Besides, the 1942 Red Wings weren’t all that good. They had finished fifth in a seven-team league, with a record well under .500, and had only made it to the Finals because of the league’s extremely odd playoff format. They were probably just happy to be there. Unlike, say, the Panthers, a team that spent weeks telling us that they were vowing to make it back to the Finals and finish the job.

So 1942 is out. But the problem is that once you do that, you really don’t have any realistic options. The Islanders were the next team to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a series, and they did it in 1975 against the Penguins. That was a matchup between two teams that had only recently expanded. It was certainly a big win for the Islanders and a bad loss for the Penguins. But it was the quarterfinals. That’s not in the same ballpark.

The Bruins’ loss to the Flyers in 2010? No. That was in Round 2, too, and while it had the added pathos of Game 4 going into overtime, not to mention the Bruins were up 3-0 in Game 7 and blew that too, it wasn’t the Finals. The same was true of the Kings’ win over the Sharks in 2014. That might have been the most devastating collapse of the modern era, considering how much heartbreak the Sharks carried on their shoulders, but it was a first-round series. Next.

Except there is no next, at least as far as the 3-0 series goes. We just went through the entire story. And none of it even comes close to what is happening right now.

Of course, a collapse doesn’t necessarily have to be a 3-0 deficit. If we broaden the definition a bit, we can talk about some of the teams that have blown 3-1 leads, including the Bruins, who won the Presidents’ Trophy last year, against those same Panthers. There were the Leafs’ losses to the Habs in 2021, the Flyers’ losses to the Devils in the Eric Lindros/Scott Stevens series in 2000, or any number of Washington Capitals collapses. Perhaps the best candidate would be the Golden Knights’ loss to the Sharks in 2019, that famous game in which they blew a 4-0 lead in the third period.

If we expand the scope even further, we could mention the 2011 Canucks blowing a 2-0 lead against the Bruins in the final, or the Red Wings doing the same to the Penguins while on the verge of winning back-to-back Cups. We could even go into individual games, like the “Miracle in Manchester,” “It Was 4-1,” or the “Monday Night Miracle.”

All of these losses were devastating – the kind of absolute low blows that some fans still don’t want to talk about. These losses can make you cry. They can make you rethink your fandom. They can leave lasting psychological scars.

But in a connected age where the whole world can watch and the hottest scenes fly, they won’t just throw away a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final while pursuing their franchise’s first championship.

The biggest meltdown in NHL history? Maybe that’s the wrong question. What about the biggest in sports history, period?

That’s more of a debate. I don’t think the NBA or even the MLB can offer anything comparable, although Red Sox and Yankees fans might disagree. The NFL could argue that the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI. I don’t know enough about football or other sports, so maybe someone can make an argument. Has an Olympic gold medal race ever ended with someone tripping over their own shoelaces and landing face down on the ground right at the finish line?

I don’t know. I’m not an expert in sports history. But I know the history of the NHL and I know that this one isn’t nearly as good. What we’re seeing here is by far the biggest collapse in the history of the league.

That is… if it happens.

That’s the Stanley Cup-sized caveat here. The Panthers Are collapses, which means they haven’t really made it yet. There’s still Game 7 on home ice. That’s what you play for all year, or so they say. The Oilers have won three in a row, but three isn’t four, as the Panthers can now tell you.

So those are the stakes on Monday. The Panthers win, and we all joke that it was never in question as the Stanley Cup rolls across Florida ice and a new generation of hockey fans grows up. Or they lose, and they go right to the top of the list of the most miserable teams you can build. There is no middle ground here. Not anymore.

Worst collapse ever? There’s no question about it. Except for one: Can the Panthers get the win they need in their very last chance to avoid ignominy?

(Photo: Curtis Comeau / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)