Fans of NHL Teams: What is your team's most Heartbreaking moment in the playoffs?

[The Worst One]

No heartbreak. It is just a game.

 

[super6646]

It was in damn it!

 

[sycamore]

By far blowing the 3-1 series lead to. Montreal in 09-10…

But the Caps were FAR from perfect that year. In 2017 they WERE perfect. That's why I cited Game 7 2017 against Pittsburgh as the worst.

 

[Taluss]

1. Goal. Away. f***ing. 1. Goal

 

[Los Capitales]

This one, by far. I thought this broke my team.

 

[sabremike]

Because of the long term ramifications there is only one answer for me: Whalers-Habs game 7 of the 1986 Adams Division Final where we lost at the Forum in OT. There is no doubt in my mind if the Whalers had won that game they go on to win the cup and would never have been allowed to be murdered.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

At least as of right now, I'm sure the Lightning have a pinpoint heartbreak moment in their history. They have some real bad losses, especially in recent years, but heartbreak will often times come in the form of losing winner-take-all games in OT, or something to that effect. Things that might be heartbreak moments in retrospect - think the Drouin goal in Game 6 against PIT in 2016 that was waived off for offside - weren't known to be heartbreaking moments at the time, and only might have become so in retrospect.

I can't find an iso video of it on YouTube, but the best answer is probably Andrew Shaw's eventual GWG in Game 5 of the '15 SCF. I think the Lightning had just missed a chance on the other end, the 'Hawks got a quick transition, and Shaw scored to give them the lead in the 3rd period. And they never trailed again the rest of the series. So, probably that.

But the Caps were FAR from perfect that year. In 2017 they WERE perfect. That's why I cited Game 7 2017 against Pittsburgh as the worst.

I feel that's a little bit of revised history. I remember thinking the Caps were going to murder the East that year. They had depth in attack and they had a young phenom, emerging goaltender in Varlamov (and Theodore was pretty decent that year IIRC). And if you remember, the ECF was eventually #7 vs. #8, so it's not like the rest of their fellow top contenders proved to be anything special either. Something was off with the Pens, and the other top seeds were the Devils and Sabres; neither of them figured to mount much of a threat.

And it's not like they lost because their D and goaltending hurt them. They lost because Halak stopped nearly 98% of the shots he faced in the last three games. Dude was in a flat-out zone. At least until the Caps finally won it all last year, if I were a Washington fan then I would still be having nightmares about what happened there. The only series I can think of that might've been a bigger shocker was perhaps in 2003 when the (Mighty) Ducks swept the Red Wings. I never expected the Habs to do what they did.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

1998 Blues v Kings, game 3. The Blues were up in the series 2-0, but the Kings were now back at home. The Kings werere up 3-0 with 12 minutes left in the 3rd period when the Blues' Jeff Courtnall ran Jamie Storr, the Kings' goalie. Sean O'Donnel attacked him and the Kings got hit with a 5-minute major (and a game misconduct for OD). Nobody knew Storr was concussed, and the Blues scored 4 goals in 3 minutes in that PP to win the game 4-3 and take a commanding series lead. I was at that game with my girlfriend (now wife). I took my parents to that for their first (and last) live NHL game. It sucked.

Edit: 2012 was sweet, sweet revenge.

That was one of those moments where I look back and wonder what the reaction would've been like had HF existed back then. It would've crashed the site, that's how bad an injustice it was. Yeah NHL reffing is sketchy now, but I haven't seen an NHL ref bone a team quite as badly as Koharski did the Kings that game.

Oh, and the missed high stick by 99 on Gilmour. Imagine what a joy that would have been to moderate for the next four months.

 

[swflyers93]

Wow, no Flyer fan has posted yet? Shocked. Obviously, as a fan base, Patrick Kane in 2010.
.

For me, it was 2004 vs. TB, we had just beaten the Bolts in OT in game 6. We thought, finally, we will get our Cup. I actually cried at the end of that game. I didn't cry in 2010 or USA in the Olympics. But that TB series, I cried. I have hated their horn ever since hearing it from that year.

 

[Addison Rae]

The only people who truly deserve to complain in this thread are people who haven't watched their team hoist the cup.

Imagine being "heartbroken" that your team couldn't win 3 cups in a row, give me a f***ing break.

 

[Herby]

For the Kings I would say 2001 vs. Colorado.

Game 7 in Denver, the Kings tie it at 1-1 late in the 2nd, and with under 10 seconds left in the 2nd Bryan Smolinski has 3/4 of an open net to shoot at and somehow hits the post. If he scores there the Kings are a decent favorite to win the game and eliminate the Presidents Trophy Avs (after eliminating the 2nd best team Detroit in round 1). It would have been so crazy because Ray Bourque never wins a SC and it sets up an LA vs. St. Louis Western Finals. 2 Teams who had come into the league 35 years earlier and had never won a SC. There was also the Rob Blake factor, could you imagine a team trading for another teams best player at the deadline and then losing to that team in the playoffs, would have been quite an interesting story.

 

[Herby]

Penguins:

1. Losing to the Islanders in game 7 in 1992-1993 at home. That team was so good.

2. Losing to the Panthers in game 7 in the eastern conference finals in 1996

3. Losing to Detroit in 2008 and seeing them hoist the cup in Pittsburgh

I was living in Pittsburgh in the Mid 90's, still have no idea how that team lost to the Panthers. I know it was amazing goaltending and an ugly era of NHL hockey, but still Pittsburgh had like 9 players who were better than Florida's best player (goalie not counted).

We were robbed of a potentially great final too.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

When the rigged Golden Knights somehow beat the Jets by like 1-2 goals and made it to the finals where they lost to Washington in 5.

 

[4chandler]

Well Wayne himself said his best single game performance of his career was game 7 in MLG

The high stick on Dougie in game 6 though

 

[Rangediddy]

I don’t wanna talk about it

 

[kuzy92]

But the Caps were FAR from perfect that year. In 2017 they WERE perfect. That's why I cited Game 7 2017 against Pittsburgh as the worst.

They were far from perfect but they absolutely dominated that series and got Halak'd!! Super disappointed that year. .

 

[JoVel]

The only people who truly deserve to complain in this thread are people who haven't watched their team hoist the cup.

Imagine being "heartbroken" that your team couldn't win 3 cups in a row, give me a ****ing break.

The good old "you can't be sad because someone somewhere in the world is feeling even worse".

 

[66871]

Most Pens fans would say David Volek. I go back a little further to the Game 5 collapse vs. the Islander dynasty. I don't care that the 93 team would maybe have won the cup and the 82 team didn't have a chance in hell. That loss sucked.

 

[Devils090]

2001 Finals

Up 3-2 after stealing Game 5 in Denver, home ice and a chance to go back to back. Get blown out in Game 6, go back to Denver and get completely outplayed and lose game 7. I hate Ray Bourque, I hate Patrick Roy, I hate the Avs, I hate Gary Thorne’s stupid call when Bourque lifted the Cup.

 

[Silencio]

Jeff Friesen's late goal in Game 7 of the 2003 ECF. That year's Cup was Ottawa's to lose.

Kunitz's double OT goal in 2017 is a close second - not sure if Ottawa would have been the favourite over Nashville in the final, but we would have at least had home ice.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

David freaking Volek.

Funny thing about that goal was that Volek was the isles fan’s whipping boy all season.

 

[Srsly]

Gretzky’s uncalled highstick to Gilmour in game 6(which was followed up with a goal by the great one) was something that will always stick out to me. I was a child at the time but I remember being frustrated that Wayne could cut someone open and still be allowed to score a game winner with no penalty. There was a lot of favoritism shown towards the leagues poster child back in the day.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

1995 Cup finals. The Wings win the presidents trophy and then cruise through the playoffs. It finally felt like this team was putting it all together. Only to get crushed by the Devils, personified by Scott Stevens crushing Kozlov.

At that point it felt pretty certain that I’d never see Yzerman hoist the Cup.

 

[District 5]

2003 Western Conference Finals, Game 1. Miracle run by the Wild and had home ice for the CF. Low scoring as low scoring goes, but Gaborik gets absolutely robbed by Giguere in Game 1. Wild end up losing 1-0 in OT (Sykora!) and get swept. I think the series is a barn burner if the Wild get a W in game 1.

 

[Danythegod]

That time the sens destroyed the Habs in 5 games and literally beat them all up at same time... Helluva time to be a sens fan.. The good ol' days.