In the National Hockey League (NHL), a game seven is the final game in a best-of-seven series in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Based on the playoffs format arrangement, [lower-alpha 1] it is played in the venue of the team holding home-ice advantage for the series. The necessity of a game seven cannot be known until the outcome of game six is determined, assuming that a series reaches the sixth game. In other words, game seven is the only one in a best-of-seven series that is not guaranteed more than one game in advance.
The Stanley Cup Finals first employed the best-of-seven format in 1939. The league's semifinals also used the best-of-seven format beginning that same year, as well as the quarterfinal round that was added in 1968. Beginning in 1982, the playoff format was changed from semifinals and quarterfinals, to conference finals and division finals, respectively. A division semifinal round was also added in 1982, but did not begin to use the best-of-seven format until 1987. Starting in 1994, the division final and division semifinal rounds became the conference semifinal and conference quarterfinal rounds, respectively. Beginning with 2014, these rounds were renamed to simply the "first" and "second" rounds. [1]
Since instituting the best-of-seven format for the 1939 Stanley Cup playoffs, 194 game sevens have been played. Of those, 81 have been won by the road team. There have been 19 seasons in which no game seven was played: 1940, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1977. In 2005, no playoffs were held due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. The only active NHL franchise that has never played in a game seven is the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 1994, 2011, and 2014 playoffs hold the record for most game sevens played, with seven out of a possible fifteen. The Boston Bruins have played in 30 game sevens in franchise history, the most of any team. The Bruins and Montreal Canadiens have won 15 game sevens each, the most of any teams in NHL history. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, Boston Bruins, and Los Angeles Kings hold the record for most game sevens played in a single season, having played three in 1993, 2002, 2011, and 2014, respectively. The Bruins and Kings won all three.
OT | Overtime (the number in front indicates the number of overtime periods played, if there were more than one) |
† | Indicates the team that won a game seven after coming back from an 0–3 series deficit |
§ | Indicates the team that lost a game seven after coming back from an 0–3 series deficit |
∞ | Indicates a game seven that was played at a neutral site |
Road* | Indicates a game seven that was won by the (designated) road team |
Year (X) | Indicates the number of game sevens played in that year's postseason Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season |
Team (#) | Indicates team and the number of game sevens played by that team at that point |
(*) – Number of overtime periods played in the seventh game.
The 1926–27 NHL season was the tenth season of the National Hockey League. The success of the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Pirates led the NHL to expand further within the United States. The league added three new teams: the Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Cougars, and New York Rangers, to make a total of ten, split in two divisions. This resulted in teams based in Canada being in the minority for the first time. To stock the teams with players the new teams brought in players from the Western Hockey League, which folded in May 1926. This left the NHL in sole possession of hockey's top players, as well as sole control of hockey's top trophy, the Stanley Cup, which was won by the Ottawa Senators. This was the original Senators' eleventh and final Stanley Cup win. The Senators' first was in 1903.
Christopher The Cross Higgins is an American former professional ice hockey winger and current Skills and Development coach for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing college hockey, he was selected 14th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He finished a two-year career with the Yale Bulldogs, earning ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, before turning professional for the 2003–04 season. After two seasons with the Canadiens' minor league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League (AHL), he joined the NHL in 2005–06. He recorded three consecutive 20-goal seasons to begin his NHL career before being traded to the New York Rangers in June 2009. After brief stints with the Rangers, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers, he joined the Vancouver Canucks in February 2011. Internationally, Higgins has competed for the United States in two World Junior Championships and one World Championship (2009).
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Lawrence Morley Hillman was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and coach. One of the most travelled players in hockey history, he played for 15 different teams in his 22 professional seasons. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1955 and 1973, and then in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1973 to 1976. After retiring he spent parts of three seasons as a coach in the WHA. Hillman had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup six times during his playing career.
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