Sports

Ten things: comebacks

In the wake of the New England Patriots incredible 25-point comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, here are 10 other incredible sports comebacks.

  1. Feeding off the stellar play of goaltender Jonathan Quick, the Los Angeles Kings rallied back from a 3-0 series deficit in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs to upset the San Jose Sharks in game seven of the series. The Kings became just the fourth team in NHL history to pull off such a comeback and carried their momentum to a Stanley Cup victory.

  2. When soccer superpowers Liverpool and Milan met in the 2005 Champions League Final, Milan came out strong, taking a commanding 3-0 lead. But Liverpool came storming back, tying the game in the second half. The Reds took the game in a 3-2 shootout after a spectacular save in the final round by Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek.

  3. Leading 4-1 in the third set of the 1993 Wimbledon Women’s Final, Jana Novotna was beating Steffi Graf 40-30 in the set’s sixth game. Despite Novotna needing just five points to win the championship, Graf thundered back, eventually winning the game, the set, and her fifth grand slam.

  4. During the 1993 playoffs, the Buffalo Bills orchestrated the largest comeback in NFL history. Down by 32, the Bills rallied back to force overtime against the Houston Oilers and won the game 41-38. The comeback came off the back of a 50-yard scoring drive by Buffalo, a 38-yard touchdown, and an additional four touchdown passes. Most Bills fans reverently refer to the game simply as “The Comeback.”

  5. In the first game of the 1995 NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals, Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers were down 105-99 against the New York Knicks with 18.7 seconds left in the game. Miller scored eight points in nine seconds, hitting two three-pointers, two free throws, and snagging a rebound. The Pacers won the game 107-105 and eventually the series 4-3.

  6. After squandering a 3-1 series lead in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Boston Bruins found themselves down 4-1 in game 7 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Nathan Horton found the back of the net to narrow the lead and the Bruins netted a pair in the final two minutes to force overtime. Patrice Bergeron then clinched the series with an overtime winner.

  7. The rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees reached a pinnacle during the 2004 American League Championship Series. In a 3-0 series hole, David Ortiz led the Sox all the way back, forcing game seven and eventually clinching the series with a 10-3 victory. Boston would go on to win the World Series that year.

  8. At the 2016 Rio Olympics in women’s 4x200m freestyle swim, the American relay team fell behind the Australian team by almost a second. On their final swimmer, Katie Ledecky made up the difference by the end of the first leg and stormed ahead to win gold for the U.S.

  9. Halfway into the Canadian Grand Prix in 2011, Jenson Button crashed twice. Though Button re-entered the race after patching up, his mangled car, all seemed lost as he remained almost two minutes behind first place. Remarkably, Button raced past his opposition into second place with five laps left, then squeaked into first place to win the race.

  10. All seemed lost for the Canadian Women’s Hockey team in the 2014 Olympic gold medal game against Team USA. The Canadians were down 2-0 with three minutes left in the game before Brianne Jenner scored to launch the comeback. The momentum turned after the Americans hit the post on an empty Canadian net and Marie-Philip Poulin scored the game-tying goal, and again in overtime, to capture gold for Canada.
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