Why a 3-goal lead is the worst in hockey

Most people say a two-goal lead is the worst lead you can have in hockey. I disagree… a three-goal lead is worse. That is the deficit where the team ahead kind of takes the foot off the pedal and attempts to coast to a victory. All it takes for the losing team is a couple quick goals to get back in it. All of a sudden it’s a one-goal game, and the team that thought they had a win sealed up is on its heels trying not to give up the tying goal. And sure enough, they wind up giving that third goal up if there’s enough time left in the game.

We saw three examples of this last night. The Senators, Oilers, and Stars all came back from 3-goal deficits. The Sens and Stars didn’t win, but they forced overtime. The Oilers did come away victorious, scoring 5 unanswered after trailing 4-1. In each case, the teams that were ahead were on their heels once that lead shrunk to one. We’ve also saw many cases of this in the playoffs last year: Carolina vs. New Jersey (Game 4), Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia (Game 6), Calgary vs. Chicago (Game 4), Vancouver vs. Chicago (Game 1) to name a few!

You can debate all you want that a two-goal lead is the worst hockey. You’re just not going to convince… especially after last night!