A Look At The 5 Comebacks From 3-0 Down In Sports History
By Daniel Friedman
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The New York Mets lead the Chicago Cubs 3-0 in the NLCS, and though history is on their side, comebacks as difficult as the one Chicago will have to make have happened before. Here are the five previous instances:
5. 1942 NHL Stanley Cup Final (Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Detroit Red Wings 3)
The Leafs staged an impossible comeback to beat Gordie Howe's Red Wings after falling behind 3-0 in the series. It was the first time this ever happened in the history of pro sports.
4. 1975 NHL Campbell Conference Quarterfinals (New York Islanders 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 3)
The '75 Isles were a team of upstarts, eager to prove their worth at the NHL level. Down 3-0 in the series, they stormed back to win the next four games. Down 3-0 in the next round as well, they won three straight to tie it but couldn't take Game 7. No other team has ever tied a series down 3-0 twice in one playoff year.
3. 2004 MLB ALCS (Boston Red Sox 4, New York Yankees 3)
A cursed team was down 3-0 to a New York team. The New York team lost. The Mets hope the same thing doesn't happen to them.
2. 2010 NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals (Philadelphia Flyers 4, Boston Bruins 3)
This time, Boston found itself on the losing end of a 3-0 series comeback. The Flyers would win the next round, too, and advance to the Stanley Cup Final. (They'd lose to Chicago.)
1. 2014 NHL Western Conference Quarterfinals (Los Angeles Kings 4, San Jose Sharks 3)
The Sharks have had a reputation for choking in recent years, and their collapse in the 2014 playoffs didn't help. The Kings would end up winning the Stanley Cup, going on a rampage from Game 4 of that opening series and on.
