Suddenly the cup goes away and the Panthers go to hell

The psychology of sport, and more particularly that of long series, is absolutely fascinating.

Teams with little playoff experience are generally very unlikely to have long runs. Because facing the same opponents night after night, up to seven times in a row, has nothing to do with hockey played in season. It is a state of mind that must have been experienced collectively to be mastered.

In series, the mental and physical load is titanic. From match to match, each team adapts to the opponent’s tactics while maintaining a maximum level of ferocity. The outcome of games is often decided on a single play, whether it is a miraculous save, an unfortunate turnover, a lucky deflection, a brain cramp or a play gorgeous.

When you play in the series, you have to manage to level out emotions that are on a roller coaster. You should know that a victory means nothing. You should know that you can lose two nights in a row after clearly dominating. We must know how to forget a cruel defeat suffered in the second overtime period as if nothing had happened. You have to know how to behave when you are on the cables.

And we have to continue to fight when we play injured and our head tells us that it is no longer possible. Or when you look around and realize that, finally, there is no longer anyone in the locker room who is perfectly healthy.

In extreme cases, we must also expect, when we are leading a 3-0 series and we are at the end of our rope, to face unconscious people who refuse to pack up their things and who continue to fight without looking back.

However, no one can be really prepared for this latter eventuality because it almost never happens. It is not for nothing that in the entire history of NHLonly the Maple Leafs from 1942, the Islanders from 1975, the Flyers of 2010 and the Kings of 2014 managed to overcome 0-3 deficits in the playoffs.

However, it is precisely this extremely rare unconsciousness which makes the finale which opposes the Oilers from Edmonton to Panthers of Florida particularly interesting.

After falling behind 0-3, the Oilers managed to put together two victories in a row. They easily won 8-1 last Saturday in front of their supporters. Then, Tuesday evening, Connor McDavid and his gang came back with a precious 5-3 victory at Sunrise.

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THE Panthers can tell themselves that they are not collapsing and that, ultimately, they would have been very happy if they had been predicted before the final that they were going to hold a 3-2 lead against the Oilers.

Except that the rise of Oilers is not just any lift.

Before Tuesday evening, never a team from the NHL had managed to win a fifth game on an opposing ice after trailing 0-3 in a final.

Since the start of the modern era (1967), never has a team scored 13 goals in two games in a series in which it faced elimination.

And throughout the history of NHLnever has a player offered two 4-point performances in a row in a Stanley Cup final like Connor McDavid has just done.

In short, the Panthers Even though they are experienced and have all the possible qualities, they are clearly facing a situation that we almost never see and for which they cannot have been prepared.

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This column began by evoking the psychological aspect of sport because it is the essential marrow which has driven the greatest reversals in history.

Because you can’t just keep fighting when you’re on the edge of the precipice. You also have to be strong enough to believe that, ultimately, this posture is rather comfortable.

However, very few teams are capable of doing this.

After the first victory of Oilerslast Saturday, Connor McDavid made a statement that made many smile, but which reflected a very particular state of mind. Force Panthers in Alberta “,”text”:”Our goal for Game 5 is to bring the Panthers back in Alberta “}}”>Our goal for Game 5 is to bring the Panthers by force in Alberta launched the captain of Oilers.

McDavid knew exactly what he was saying. He knew the burden that would fall on the Panthers if they were forced to take a six-hour flight and play another match in front of a hostile crowd.

Just a few days ago, the Panthers felt like they were touching the cup with their fingertips and their general manager, Bill Zito, was called a genius. But Tuesday night, the same Zito threw his water bottle against a wall upon realizing he and his team had to return to Edmonton.

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In his biography entitled Mister PlayoffsDaniel Brière recounts the state of mind that animated the players of the Flyers of Philadelphia in 2010, when they found themselves in a 0-3 deficit against the Bruins from Boston:

: “OK, we’re going to win the next game at home and that will make the series 1-3. The big game of the series will be the fifth, because if we win that game, the Bruins will suddenly be put to panic. And the match6? It is certain that we will not lose him at home because we will have the wind in our sails. And the seventh game? We’ll see! Because anything can happen in a seventh match.””,”text”:”We then began to analyze what was going to happen next and it was as if the stars were totally positioned in our favor. We said to ourselves: ” “OK, we’ll win the next home game and it will make the series 1-3. The big game of the series will be the fifth, because if we win that game, the Bruins will suddenly start to panic. And match6? It is certain that we will not lose him at home because we will have the wind in our sails. And the seventh game? We’ll see! Because anything can happen in a seventh game.””}}”>We then began to analyze what would happen next and it was as if the stars were totally positioned in our favor. We were like, “OK, we’re going to win the next home game and it’ll make the series 1-3. The big game of the series will be game five, because if we win that game, the Bruins are going to go all out. start to panic. And game 6 is sure that we won’t lose at home because we’ll have the wind in our sails. a seventh game.”

This is how we approached the rest of things. And it wasn’t a show offsays Brière.

Doesn’t this story fit perfectly with the reality of Oilers and the nightmare into which the Panthers?

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In his biography entitled Tea Red Sox Yearsthe former manager of Red SoxTerry Francona, recounts the state of mind that animated his team in the fall of 2004. During the American League Championship Series, Boston then caused one of the greatest surprises in baseball history to the expense of Yankees from New York.

In the third match, the Red Sox had endured a thunderous 19-8 thaw that increased the Yankees’ lead to 3-0 in the series.

Despite the gravity of the situation, in the hours leading up to Game 4, first baseman Kevin Millar repeated the same analysis to anyone who would listen.

Don’t let us win tonight’s game! Because if we win, we will have Pedro [Martinez] on the mound tomorrow and we will have [Curt] Schilling the next day. And then anything could happen in a seventh game harangued Millar.

Doesn’t this sound like the trap that Panthers are now trying to extricate themselves?

Don’t come back to play in Albertasort of warned McDavid last Saturday.

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In the history of the Stanley Cup Final, never have two finalist teams been separated by such a great distance. Approximately 4,160 kilometers separate Miami from Edmonton and, as mentioned above, it takes about six hours to fly from one city to the other.

And due to all of the above, the Panthers will probably have the impression on Wednesday that the flight which brought back by force to Edmonton will last 12 or 15 hours.

If they ever have the misfortune of losing that famous sixth game on Friday night, they won’t even have the feeling of going home when they board their plane to go play the seventh.

Sports psychology is truly fascinating.