Bigger choke in the first round?

[Grigowski]

All time choke job for the most overrated team in a long time.

I saw a presidents trophy winner getting swept in Round 1 by Columbus in 2019........

I have seen LA completing a reverse sweep on San Jose in 2014.......

Every year there are upsets or "choke jobs". This year the laugh is on the AVS and maybe Blues for that game 7.

But "all time" choke... Come on...

 

[Reality Czech]

1.6 seconds is just tough. No Scheifle or Morrisey. 3-1 lead with 2 mins left and they blew it. That's a top tier choke job.

No one would know better than a Leafs fan I guess

 

[Connor McConnor]

I saw a presidents trophy winner getting swept in Round 1 by Columbus in 2019........

I have seen LA completing a reverse sweep on San Jose in 2014.......

Every year there are upsets or "choke jobs". This year the laugh is on the AVS and maybe Blues for that game 7.

But "all time" choke... Come on...

I said in a long time. You brought up 2019. That’s a long time bro. And yeah, all time choke job. Missing 2 of their best players, one of them being a Makar level player is embarrassing to all time levels.

You have 2 generational players. This is the level of criticism that should be warranted when they underachieve.

 

[Faterson]

We just saw two of the most memorable comebacks in playoff history and some people want to turn it into a negative story.

Yup... And that's why the Kings should win this poll (if nothing else), hands down. Their coach commanded them to self-destroy, and they did.

For Hiller, it was a series-long choke job, not just games 3 and 4, as he insanely decided to play the series with 3 lines and 4-5 defensemen.

 

[ijuka]

I think for Kings it was the biggest one. One game is whatever, shit happens, but Kings just systematically choked almost every match they played.

 

[bobholly39]

Lightning.

With the Kings - the Oilers were simply too big of a power house. Majority of people had them as #1 cup favorites going into this sesason. And while hockey fans have the attention span of a goldfish and change their opinions 25x in a week and thus many gave up on Oilers long ago, to me Oilers remain the same power house. So - Oilers were just too strong, not a choke job.

Blues. Man - i think Jets got lucky at the end of the 3rd with a couple of bounces, and they came to play in OT. I don't think Blues did anything bad per se....a hell of a performance overall in round 1, and in game 7 also. Hellebuyck finally looked like a decent goalie in OT with many strong saves. Sometimes you lose a close game with a couple of bad bounces despite a great effort - that's what I'd call the Blues. Not a choke job

Colorado. This one is a bit more tricky. Avalanche were a top ~5 cup contender this year, maybe higher. Flipside is - Dallas is right there with them, and this round 1 was always going to be 50/50. It looks really bad on the Avalance the third period comeback for Dallas....but again I'd say it's a case of a couple of lucky bounces in a super close game/series that could have gone either way, and they happened to lose. Want to call it a choke? Sure maybe.

Lightning. This is worst. This was a team expected to compete/contend. Vasi back in shape. Very strong regular season. Florida ripe for the picking - lots of playoff mileage past 2 years, lots of injuries too. And.....Lightning were simply never in it. Habs lost in 5 and it felt like a close series where with a couple of bounces going one way vs another it could have been 3-2 Habs after game 5 rather than 4-1 Caps. With Lightning? They simply never even got started. They completely choked, as did Vasi.

So - Lightning.

 

[Faterson]

Oilers were just too strong, not a choke job.

You quite manifestly didn't watch a single minute of that series. What the Kings did this year was the textbook illustration of self-destruction (the Oilers were more or less just looking on), and Hiller was the mastermind behind it.

 

[Shark Finn]

Avalanche and Blues choked in the late stages of a game but it was still a tight Game 7. Kings won two and then lost four in a row - they choked a series.

 

[Lshap]

"Choke" is a simplistic way to say "Most dramatic".

Colorado/Dallas: Rantanen was probably the best dramatic story, but "Choke" is the wrong word. Former player beating the team he left is "Ironic".

Winnipeg/St. Louis: The last 2 minutes of regulation were probably the most dramatic climax. Probably closest to a true 'choke', although it looked more like desperation from the Jets than the Blues screwing up. Of course you can point to this or that play that should've been done differently by St. Louis, but there was nothing egregiously wrong. Jets were just relentless, and got a couple of bounces their way.

Edmonton/LA: More frustrating than a 'choke'. LA never had the series; they had a good surge and were in control for awhile, but that's never enough. Oilers have playoff cred and simply overpowered them with experience and talent.

 

[Lshap]

You quite manifestly didn't watch a single minute of that series. What the Kings did this year was the textbook illustration of self-destruction (the Oilers were more or less just looking on), and Hiller was the mastermind behind it.

Whoever was rooting for the Kings naturally focused on what the Kings didn't do rather than what the Oilers DID do. Those of us who saw the Oilers as contenders weren't shocked they came back. Yes, it's frustrating to lose a two-game lead, but it was against last year's Finalist.

 

[Faterson]

Yes, it's frustrating to lose a two-game lead, but it was against last year's Finalist.

Last year is irrelevant. And it's not about "losing a two-game lead" but about losing third-period leads in both games 3 and 4, the latter with 29 seconds left in the game after Byfield fails to get past his own blue line with 45 seconds left and the puck on his stick with no one close by, and the coach sabotaging the entire series by playing with 3 lines and 4-5 defensemen. I'm pretty sure the Sabres or the Sharks would have crushed this Kings team just like the Oilers did – the Kings did all the heavy lifting for them.

 

[Lshap]

Last year is irrelevant. And it's not about "losing a two-game lead" but about losing third-period leads in both games 3 and 4, the latter with 29 seconds left in the game after Byfield fails to get past his own blue line with 45 seconds left and the puck on his stick with no one close by, and the coach sabotaging the entire series by playing with 3 lines and 4-5 defensemen. I'm pretty sure the Sabres or the Sharks would have crushed this Kings team just like the Oilers did – the Kings did all the heavy lifting for them.

Again, you're doing what fans usually do – seeing the games through the lens of the team that lost. You zoom in on each pass, each bounce, and each shot that went wrong, and the story becomes "We gave the game away" and "We beat ourselves". However, when you zoom out, you see skill and pressure from the other side and the results, while no less disappointing, make more sense. Whatever you think of the Oilers, they're not exactly an 8th seed pretender. Last year certainly does count for the experience it gave their roster.

For what it's worth, losing a series after being up 2-0 makes LA/Edmonton the most ulcer-producing series if you were rooting for LA.

 

[Faterson]

you see skill and pressure from the other side

Not really. Again, I believe that an AHL team would have been capable of exerting pressure on the Kings if they insisted on going into the playoffs with 3 lines and 4-5 defensemen, and the instruction to always sit back on leads. This series loss is 100% on Hiller, and the Oilers don't really deserve any credit. I'm confident Vegas will send them off to the golf course in the next round.

I don't care about "losing a 2-0 series lead". It's perfectly normal to win the first two games at home, then lose the next two on the road, and even game 5. It's not normal, however, and I'm sure it hasn't been done in the NHL playoffs for decades, if ever, to go into the playoffs with the self-defeating strategy ordered by Hiller. He never played a single game with this strategy in the regular season (more like the opposite: he frequently played 11 forwards with 7 defensemen), yet switches to that harakiri mode for the playoffs? Come on.

 

[Strangle]

Easily the Avs, not only game 7 but they choked the entire series vs a team missing two of their top players.

Colorado was supposed to be a contender but they turned out to simply be another pretender.

Epic choke from the avs

 

[bobholly39]

You quite manifestly didn't watch a single minute of that series. What the Kings did this year was the textbook illustration of self-destruction (the Oilers were more or less just looking on), and Hiller was the mastermind behind it.

No I honestly didn't watch a lot of that series. I watched only a couple of games.

But the point still stands. The Oilers have some MEGA fire power - and are not to be underestimated. They were the favorite to me, and they won.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Oof

 

[Faterson]

The Oilers have some MEGA fire power - and are not to be underestimated.

Right, but that MEGA fire power wasn't really a factor in this series. If your opponent is exhausted by the time the 3rd period arrives, in every game, and freely lets you attack them, you need no superstars to beat them. They're handing you victory on a silver platter. Perry must have felt like he was 15 years younger in this series.

 

[MessierII]

I’d say the Kings.

Colorado and St. Louis choked in a Game 7 for various reasons. However the series at large was on a needle’s edge the whole time. The choke was purely a specific thing from the last game of the series.

LA, on the other hand, choked an entire series away. Few people would say that LA wasn’t at minimum the better team in Games 1 through 3 and likely in 4 as well. They had taken a 2-0 series lead although nearly choking Game 1 away. However Game 2 made it look like Edmonton was dead after their failed theatrics in Game 1. Then came Game 3 where they dominated through 2 periods only to go full Alamo mode in the 3rd and double down with a ridiculous challenge. They had Edmonton in a headlock seeing stars and not only let go but offered them some tea, light snacks and gun for their trouble. Game 4 was just Game 3 but without the challenge. Then by Games 5&6 Edmonton had fully recovered from their early blunders and took the refreshments and weapon LA gave them and shot them before walking away after 6. They had a 2-0 lead in a series and somehow failed to make it 7 games. That’s bonkers.

Kings didn’t dominate anything in game 3. They could have won that game and still lost the series. Oilers found their game and are a way better team.

 

[Strangle]

What about them?

They choked

 

[stats1]

Ava and it’s not even close. Everything around it is legendary, Colorado giving up 3 goals in the last 12 mins.. Rantanen scoring a hat trick in the 3rd period. Crazy stuff

 

[wedge]

How can you not say the Jets? They were the President winners, after all. Hellebuyk was terrible. Losing 3-1 is unacceptable.

edit: damn, I shouldn't have gone to bed 2 minutes before the end of the third and not watch the summaries this morning. lol

 

[tfwnogf]

Avs getting dabbed on by Rantanen. It was literally 2-0.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Kings by doing it multiple times

I thought about the kings and the fact they had the oilers on the ropes 3 different times and could not put them away. I thought this was the kings year. In that series there were so many different players and coaches shooting themselves in the foot

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Blues have a garbage roster and garbage coach. If anything Jets are the one who choked the most in that series

 

[LeafsNation149]

No one would know better than a Leafs fan I guess

Were you tearing up while saying this?