The Year of the Comeback?

This quite possibly could be termed the Year of the Comeback. Why? We’re only about five games into the regular season, but we’ve already seen a ton of crazy comeback victories from all over the league.

Ducks fans need not look any further than two games from their last road trip, one against the Wild and another against the Flyers. The Ducks held a commanding 3-0 lead halfway through the third period in Minnesota before the Wild staged a furious comeback and tied the game in the final minutes. Minnesota would go on to score a power play goal in overtime to steal two points when the Ducks and goalie J.S. Giguere were thinking shutout.

Then, just four days later, the Ducks staged a comeback of their own. The Ducks were also being shut out into the third period when playing against the Flyers before deciding to come from behind. Teemu Selanne scored the first Ducks goal with under seven minutes to play and then tied it with only 16 seconds left. He also scored the deciding goal in the shootout to help the Ducks steal two points in a game that many had given up on.

These, however, are by no means isolated incidents. On Saturday, Boston had a similar comeback against the New York Islanders. The Islanders scored three goals in the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the third, and, much like the Ducks-Wild game, Boston scored three goals in the last 12 minutes of the third period before winning the game in a shootout.

But the most impressive victory goes to the Chicago Blackhawks for the resilience they displayed tonight against the Flames. Calgary got off to quick start and was helped by a combination of good bounces and bad Blackhawks goaltending and took a 5-0 lead just twelve minutes into the first period. The ‘hawks got on the board late in the first before adding three more in the second and another in the third. Defenseman Brent Seabrook capped the comeback with the winner in overtime, sending teammates and home fans at the United Center into a frenzy that resembled the team’s celebration after eliminating the very same Flames in last season’s playoffs. The comeback matches the biggest comeback in NHL history.

There were many other smaller comeback victories that were impressive but not as spectacular as the ones mentioned. Look no further than tonight’s Capitals-Devils game, in which the Devils got down by two goals early before battling back and taking the game in a shootout. The final play of the game was Martin Brodeur stoning Alexander Ovechkin in the shootout to seal the victory for the Devils.

But there was another comeback attempt that’s worth mentioning. Although unsuccessful, it could have rivaled tonight’s Blackhawks game had the Sharks succeeded. The Kings had taken a 4-0 lead with half the game in the books before the Sharks scored two at the end of the second and two more early in the third. The Kings, however, got a lucky bounce just 26 seconds after tying the game when Teddy Purcell banked the puck off Thomas Greiss, who became the goalie of record after the Sharks tied it, for the game winner. The Kings added an empty net goal at the end of the game.

I don’t know how everyone else feels about these games, but I absolutely love them. Not only are the games fun to watch, but even the highlights become exciting to watch. I just hope it doesn’t happen to the Ducks again because it’s just not good for my health.