Playoff overtime is one of the most unique feelings in sport, as the game, and perhaps the entire season can change for better or for worse in the blink of an eye. When it goes long, like it did Tuesday night, the stakes only intensify.
With the qualifying round over the real playoffs have begun, and so far the first round has not disappointed. In fact, Game 1 of Tampa Bay vs. Columbus alone was probably more than enough drama for one round, as the quintuple overtime thriller became the fourth-longest game in NHL history, capped off by the beautiful Brayden Point winner.
While Sens fans are probably still a year or two away from experiencing that for themselves, we can still look into the past when the team went into an extra period or three and came out victorious. In fact, the Sens have won six games that go to multiple overtimes, so today let’s rank them from worst to best.
We’ll be judging based on three categories, assigning a score out of 10 for each. The first category will be the importance of the goal, so goals in later rounds, goals that stave off elimination, or games that win the series, etc. will be given priority. Second, we’ll rate the goal itself, this one is sort of a two-parter as both the beauty of the goal as well as the impact of the scorer will be taken into account. Finally, we’ll look at the long-term impact of the goal: did it lead to more memories later in the playoffs? Does the scorer or the goal itself have a cult status among Sens fans? Etc.
In my mind, this highly scientific ranking of a largely emotional event is foolproof, so let’s dive in.