10 greatest NHL conference finals of all time

The 35th pair of NHL conference finals commences this weekend, with the Nashville Predators becoming the 28th all-time franchise to participate in at least one such round.

Of the first 68 playoff series of this kind, 17 have required a seventh game. Of those 17, all but two have seen each team hold at least one lead, whether that was a 1-0 edge, a decisive 4-3 advantage or anything in between.

Eight Game 6 victors who did not receive the Prince of Wales Trophy or Campbell Bowl after that contest did so after the ensuing Game 7. Three of those teams finished their comeback on the road. Another three got the last gasp of momentum after failing to close out a series in the sixth game at home.

To date, the 10 best combinations of surprising starts, compelling conclusions and turbulent middles to a series with appetizer hardware at stake are as follows.

10. 1996: Florida 4, Pittsburgh 3
The Florida franchise faced elimination for the first time after losing Games 4 and 5 by a cumulative 5-1 margin. A Penguins team still featuring a generous sprinkling of key cogs from the 1991 and 1992 championships was within 40 minutes of closing the series on its first try.

But a timely reawakening brought out three more Miami Arena rat showers and sent the series back to Pittsburgh. There, Tom Fitzgerald snapped a 1-1 draw with 13:42 remaining while John Vanbiesbrouck stifled the home offense and audience for a 3-1 clincher.

9. 2011: Boston 4, Tampa Bay 3
Only the scoresheet pen-pusher got a breather in Game 7 of this series. That was only fair considering the cumulative goal tally would be a 21-21 tie when the ice chips settled.

A penalty-free goaltending duel between aging workhorses Tim Thomas and Dwayne Roloson would be decided on Nathan Horton’s icebreaker with 7:33 to spare in regulation. Two weeks removed from a 5-2 falter in Game 1 — and after each team had mounted two come-from-behind victories apiece in the middle of the series — the higher-seeded Bruins held on to secure their first fourth-round seed in 21 years.

8. 2015: Chicago 4, Anaheim 3
Neither team mustered back-to-back head-to-head victories until the Blackhawks took Game 7 at the Honda Center, 5-3.

Before Chicago won its two must-win contests, three of the first five matches went to overtime. Between the Blackhawks’ triple-OT Game 2 escape, their double-OT Game 4 win at home and the Ducks’ Game 5 retort, the Western finalists logged 72 minutes and 34 seconds of extra action on top of 420 minutes of regulation.

7. 2014: Los Angeles 4, Chicago 3
The defending champion Blackhawks — with their core group of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and head coach Joel Quenneville — were the toughest postseason out for the first half of the decade. They had previously won three straight elimination games versus Vancouver in 2011, two against Phoenix in 2012 and three to oust Detroit the year prior.

They nearly repeated the feat of surmounting a 3-1 series deficit by filling this pothole with a 5-4 double-overtime triumph and a 4-3 road win over the Kings. But L.A. did the near-impossible by cashing its final mulligan with a Game 7 overtime victory at Chicago’s United Center, avenging the previous year’s conference final loss and proceeding to claim its second Stanley Cup in three years.

6. 2000: New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 3
The 2014 Kings barred the Blackhawks from giving the Devils company among teams to have won a conference final after trailing the series, 3-1. A road win in Game 1 gave way to three consecutive losses, then a memorable fire-breath lecture from head coach Larry Robinson.

A subsequent 4-1 road and 2-1 home triumph gave New Jersey the challenging privilege of trying to claim a third victory out of four visits to Philadelphia. Patrik Elias’ go-ahead goal with 2:32 remaining in regulation secured just that in a 2-1 thriller.

5. 2016: Pittsburgh 4, Tampa Bay 3
Last year marked the fourth time an NHL conference final saw one team fall behind, 1-0, go ahead, 2-1, fall behind, 3-2, then take back-to-back must-win games for the series.

The Penguins pulled that off after conceding a fall-from-ahead 4-3 overtime decision in Game 5 at home. They wrested the momentum back in Tampa with a 5-2 Game 6 victory, then edged the Bolts back at the Consol Energy Center in the decider, 2-1.

4. 1999: Dallas 4, Colorado 3
Leading up to the 1999 playoffs, only three of the first 13 Presidents’ Trophy winners had matched their supremacy in the spring. Only five had even reached the Stanley Cup Final.

The Stars, who were repeat regular-season royals and repeat conference finals, were also in danger of becoming repeat Western Conference final six-game losers. But on the heels of falling behind for the second time in the series, they stifled an experienced Avalanche team in Denver, 4-1, then claimed an identical score back home in the ensuing Game 7.

3. 2006: Carolina 4, Buffalo 3
Five of the seven games in the 2006 Eastern Conference final ended in a one-goal margin. The second exception, Game 7, was only a 4-2 final because Justin Williams flicked home a late tally with 51.7 seconds left in regulation.

That dagger completed a third-period rally after the Hurricanes trailed the Sabres, 2-1, at the second intermission. In turn, Carolina, which filled 1-0 and 2-1 potholes earlier in the series, cemented its second come-from-behind victory in three games and the second lead change of the rubber match.

2. 1993: Los Angeles 4, Toronto 3
The last of the Campbell Conference finals had two franchises seeking their first Stanley Cup Final passport in 26 years. The storied Maple Leafs had not been there since their last championship, while the Kings had not been there since their inception.

With guaranteed catharsis for one party, the subsequent series witnessed the maximum possible number of lead changes with three. It had Toronto raise its second upper hand with an overtime victory in Game 5. Then it had L.A. retort and preserve its season with its own sudden-death strike after blowing a Game 6 lead late in regulation.

And then it had Wayne Gretzky deliver that first conference crown for the Kings, along with his last Cup final ticket, through a hat trick in a 5-4 Game 7 squeaker.

1. 1994: NY Rangers 4, New Jersey 3
Like the Kings-Leafs epic one year prior, the first Eastern Conference final featured three series lead changes. And the last turning of the tide in this series also came by way of a former Edmonton Oilers dynasty staple.

By Game 6, the Devils were on the cusp of their first journey to the fourth round. They tightened their stranglehold early by sculpting a 2-0 lead before their home rooters in the first period.

Then Mark Messier followed through on his well-documented pledge to bring the series back to Manhattan. The Blueshirts’ captain assisted on his team’s icebreaker to halve the deficit, then inserted three unanswered goals of his own to finalize the 4-2 victory.

The resultant Game 7 would ultimately become the series’ third double-overtime affair. (Between those three, the teams played an aggregate 86 minutes of bonus action). Previously, the Devils had claimed Game 1 on Rangers property in that night’s fifth period before the Blueshirts returned the favor in Game 3 at New Jersey.

This time, the instant clincher triggered overwhelming elation from the host audience, not to mention Howie Rose’s career-defining radio call.