C'mon man, the Blackhawks stunning come back win in game 7 over the Leafs is like, one of the best games ever played.
Worst Stanley Cup Finals ever??
- Thread starter Matty Sundin
- Start date
C'mon man, the Blackhawks stunning come back win in game 7 over the Leafs is like, one of the best games ever played.
Legionnaire
Help On The Way
96' The Panthers were a great Cinderella story that year, but by the time they reached the finals they were simply out of gas, and over matched by a very talented Avalanche team.
Pantokrator
Who's the clown?
Yes, 1996 was the worst. The game 4 was good, but by then the AVs had a 3-0 lead in the series, so you knew the game was meaningless if the panthers won.
frontsfan2005
Registered User
Any series that has a powerhouse team playing a cinderella team that is out of gas come finals time.
Examples: Colorado VS Florida in 96 (4 game sweep, Panther fans throwing rats on the ice after every single goal they scored causing delays made it even worse)
Detroit VS Washington in 98 (Didnt Washington have the lead for like 2 minutes in the entire series?)
Detroit VS Carolina in 02 (At least Carolina won the opening game to make it a bit more interesting...)
Examples: Colorado VS Florida in 96 (4 game sweep, Panther fans throwing rats on the ice after every single goal they scored causing delays made it even worse)
Detroit VS Washington in 98 (Didnt Washington have the lead for like 2 minutes in the entire series?)
Detroit VS Carolina in 02 (At least Carolina won the opening game to make it a bit more interesting...)
From a hockey fans perspective, the 95 finals probably were disapointing, but from a Devils fans perspective, especially one like myself who had been watching since the first season (During the "Mickey Mouse" days) It was a realsation of a 13 year dream.
I would suspect that 1968, 69 and 70 would have been among the worst. NHL teams vs AHL teams. Has any league ever stacked the deck for a final like the expansion era NHL did?
Psycho Papa Joe
Porkchop Hoser
When the AFL and NFL merged and created the superbowl would be the closest thing to it. Until the Jets HUUUUUUUGE upset of the Colts, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the NFL teams would win.
Jeffler
See You At Game 3
Foy
Registered User
- Jun 6, 2006
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The games were actually really good.
The Caps are still the only team in history to lose 3 consecutive finals games by 1 goal. There was also the great comeback by Detroit in game 2.
Esa Tikanen is still villified by Caps fans for failing to clinch that game when he missed the open net in the third period.
Foy
Registered User
- Jun 6, 2006
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Series = not exciting
3OT game 3 = exciting
96 Florida sweep has to be the "worst". There aren't really "bad" finals, just great ones and not so great ones. There's always something interesting every year.
And I can't see how anyone can say the last 2 finals were crap as they both went to a 7th game.
Shootmaster_44
Registered User
The worst was 1993, but only because I was and still am a huge Kings fan. Ever since then I hate Marty McSorley and Patrick Roy's cockiness.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
No, he could be right. It was the worst one I've watched, and that includes most of the last 20 finals. It did go 7 games, but the games were brutal. An the game 7 was definitely the worst game 7 of any series in any year. I nearly fell asleep, and that's to say nothing of the depression...
The Final had two overtime games
One great High Scoring goal fest in game 5
And the Stevens Kariya hit in game 6
It even had one of the weirdest goals ever scored by Brodeur.
Its way better than the 96,98, or 02 Finals.
Guttersnipe
LappinMakesItHappen
I enjoyed that Game 7 a hell of a lot because I'm a Devils fan, but I agree it wasn't exactly a thriller. Part of the problem was that the Ducks never came even remotely close to beating the Devils in NJ, we were dominating on home ice. The 2003 Final paled in to comparison to the Ottawa-NJ series preceding it, that was barn-burner, particularly Game 7.
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
I'm not convinced. One hit and a 5-3 game (or whatever it was) don't make a series.
Maybe it's just me, but I still consider the 2001 Final between Colorado/New Jersey to have been less compelling [compared to 2003] from a hockey sense. Couple blowouts, no OT games, teams just traded victories. Obviously you had sexier names involved (Roy/Sakic/etc), the Ray Bourque thing, and a Devils team that actually led the NHL in goals scored that year which inherently would seem like a better stage for hockey than an upstart Ducks team and a super defensive Devils squad.
I quite enjoyed the Wings-Canes series. There were a lot of storylines that gave it value beyond the actual games.
The one that bored me the most was the Wings-Caps series. It's odd because I'd really enjoyed the Eastern Conference playoffs, but the finals just didn't do it for me. It also had the worst miss I've ever seen.
The one that bored me the most was the Wings-Caps series. It's odd because I'd really enjoyed the Eastern Conference playoffs, but the finals just didn't do it for me. It also had the worst miss I've ever seen.
optimus2861
Registered User
Of the finals I've watched, which covers almost all of them since 1989, I'd rate 1998 as the most lopsided with one completely unwatchable team (I loathed the Capitals' style of play - that team started icing the puck as soon as they took a lead at any time in the game, completely killing the flow), and 2003 as the most overall unwatchable. Two teams out-trapping each other on their home rinks. YUCK! I actually flipped game 7 off to watch election returns, and the election turned out to be more exciting.
For worst, I'd give it to 1998. I think you do have to exempt a 7-game series from the "worst" list, even if 2003 was the nadir of the all-defence-all-the-time mess the NHL game had become by that time (the 2003 western final was also completely unwatchable, and it was heartbreaking watching the skating, flowing Senators defeated by the defence, defence, defence Devils in the east).
For worst, I'd give it to 1998. I think you do have to exempt a 7-game series from the "worst" list, even if 2003 was the nadir of the all-defence-all-the-time mess the NHL game had become by that time (the 2003 western final was also completely unwatchable, and it was heartbreaking watching the skating, flowing Senators defeated by the defence, defence, defence Devils in the east).
lux_interior
Registered User
As a Ducks fan the 2003 finals wasn't boring. But, trying to be objective I can see how a non-Ducks or Devils fan could say it was boring because of two trapping teams.
However it did have compelling moments which others have mentioned.
However it did have compelling moments which others have mentioned.
The series while not the most exciting had it's moments, the fluke goal that Broduer F'd up on, a great goalie matchup, the wild game 5, the Stevens hit on Kariya and the subsequent goal.
2001 was probably the most dissapointing. Two #1 seeds playing a 7 game series should have been a classic as talentwise this was probably the best matchup in the last 15 or so years.
But it instead it was incredibly boring. Tactically both teams played very passively and just seemed to sit around and wait for transition opportunities to present itself instead of attempting to instigate any offence. And the length of the series just exarcerbated this problem. In addition, the games weren't very close and had no real tension. And personally, despite the 7 games, from start to finish I was for some reason absolutely convinced that the Avs would win the series and so the outcome was somewhat anticlimactic.
But it instead it was incredibly boring. Tactically both teams played very passively and just seemed to sit around and wait for transition opportunities to present itself instead of attempting to instigate any offence. And the length of the series just exarcerbated this problem. In addition, the games weren't very close and had no real tension. And personally, despite the 7 games, from start to finish I was for some reason absolutely convinced that the Avs would win the series and so the outcome was somewhat anticlimactic.
nyranger61494
YNWA
McSorley changed the series' complexion with the illegal stick but outside of Gretzky, he was the best King on the ice IMO, in Game 7 of the Conference Finals and got the Kings there...
As for the question, 1998 for me. That WHOLE playoffs was brutal. Only ONE overtime game in the entire playoffs, and it lasted 46 seconds...Game 5 of Dallas/Detroit Conference Finals
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