Jon Cooper will make his first appearance behind an NHL bench in a Game 7 Wednesday night, but the second-year head coach understands this is hockey’s greatest stage.
“All the guys kept saying, two of the greatest words put beside each other in any sport. ‘Game 7,'” Cooper said following his club’s win over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 6.
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The first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs will come to a close Wednesday in a Game 7 meeting between the Lightning and Red Wings. Tampa forced a Game 7 with a decisive 5-2 win in Detroit Monday.
Here’s a look at how the Lightning and Red Wings have fared in Game 7s over the past 25 years.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are 3-1 all-time in Game 7s.
The Lighting had won just one playoff series in the franchise’s first 11 seasons before capturing its first Stanley Cup in 2004.
The 2004 Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup Final after knocking off the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.
The Lightning rode two goals from Ruslan Fedotenko in Game 7 vs. the Calgary Flames to the Cup. Of course, Flames fans will tell you there never should have been a seventh game.
Despite all-world goaltending performances from Miikka Kiprusoff and Nikolai Khabibulin, the arrival of Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, and Martin St. Louis as superstars, and Brad Richards’ Conn Smythe-worthy play, there may be no more lasting memory than the spirited scrap between Iginla and Lecavalier in Game 3.
The Lightning’s next brush with Game 7 atmosphere came in 2011 when Guy Boucher’s defensive dynamo knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins on their way to an Eastern Conference final showdown with the Boston Bruins.
The Lightning would fall to the Bruins in Game 7 of that series after Nathan Horton scored the game’s only goal with 7:33 remaining in the third period.
Steven Stamkos knows “nothing else matters,” when he hits the ice. He’ll look to lead the Lightning all the way this year, starting with a win tonight in Tampa.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings are 13-10 all-time in Stanley Cup Playoff Game 7s. Head coach Mike Babcock holds a 3-4 record in Game 7s.
If we set an arbitrary endpoint at the 1992 post-season (25 years ago), the Red Wings are 6-6 in Game 7s.
The Red Wings were involved in several iconic Game 7 moments of the 1990s. Any Toronto Maple Leafs fan who was old enough to breathe will remind of you one of the franchise’s better moments of the past 30 years… Nikolai Borschevsky’s Game 7 overtime winner that gave the Leafs its first playoff series win over the Wings since 1964.
The disappointments of falling to the Maple Leafs and suffering a Western Conference quarterfinal Game 7 upset at the hands of the San Jose Sharks in 1994 would become a distant memory as the Red Wings began a run of dominance in the mid-90s that saw them win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.
Although the Red Wings fell to the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, Steve Yzerman’s blueline blast versus the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of the Western Conference semi-final stands as one of the game’s all-time great overtime post-season goals.
On their way to the 2002 Cup Final, in a series where every game was decided by two goals or less, the Red Wings famously pounded their rival Colorado Avalanche 7-0 in Game 7 before disposing of the Carolina Hurricanes in five games for Lord Stanley’s mug.
Game 7 trends
Some information via our friends at NHL.com
A date with the Montreal Canadiens awaits
The Canadiens managed to fend off the magic of the Ottawa Senators to take their best-of-seven series 4-2. They will have home-ice advantage versus the winner of tonight’s Game 7.
The Lightning owned the Canadiens in the regular season, going 5-0.
The Red Wings finished their regular season series with the Habs with a record of 0-2-2.
Game 7 between the Lightning and Red Wings is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on CBC.
