The Miracle on Manchester is widely viewed as the greatest comeback in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It came in 1982 at the old Inglewood Forum (which was on Manchester Avenue) as the Los Angeles Kings wiped out a 5-0 third-period deficit against the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers and won Game Three of their playoff series in overtime, 6-5.
Here's a great video retrospective of that one:
We had a modern-day miracle take place late last night and, 29 years later, karma from the hockey gods went against the Kings in a Game Three at home. Now playing downtown at the Staples Center, the Kings blew a 4-0 lead in the second period and lost to the San Jose Sharks, 6-5, on Devin Setoguchi's goal at 3:09 of overtime.
It was just the fourth time in NHL history a team won a playoff game trailing by at least four goals and the first time since the Minnesota North Stars pulled the feat in 1985 against Chicago.
Oddly enough, Setoguchi said he saw the NHL's "History Will Be Made" commercial about the 1982 game on the locker room TV. Then the Sharks pulled off their own stunner. (You can see the commercial at this link).
The Sharks lost Game Two, 4-0, and gave up the first four goals in this one. They looked cooked. But they roared back after making a goalie change to Antero Nittymaki. The Kings, meanwhile, have to find a way to overcome the nightmare.
Here's NHL.com's full highlight package on the game. Great stuff.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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NHL | Stanley Cup
