Until this year, NHL playoffs had not featured any best-of-five series since I was a child who understood that The Natural Way Of Things was for the Islanders to be annual Stanley Cup contenders.
So it was strange this year, with the Panthers qualifying round, to be up 2-0 and think, “Wait...series is basically over?!” Except maybe not, because three is less daunting than four.
I am completely used to the mindset of the best-of-seven. And that mindset is: 0-2 is bad but not insurmountable, 0-3 requires a miracle.
Even with a few contrary examples in the last decade, where a couple of NHL teams finally pushed the 1975 Islanders down on the “Last team in pro sports to every come back from an 0-3 series deficit” chyron, we know in our hearts 0-3 is the end.