How challenging is maintaining your focus in a playoff series?
Keeping your playoff dreams alive when you are facing elimination is a daunting task for many hockey players.
The fear of losing, disappointment, and harsh judgment can cause a player to be overwhelmed by the moment. The buildup of anxiety works against a player’s ability to perform at their peak in pressure situations.
This is often the reason why some teams fold in elimination games. It’s not so much the other team beats them; rather, some teams just beat themselves, because they don’t have the mental game skills needed.
However, adversity can bring out the best in some teams. In truth, a team must overcome significant adversity to make the playoffs. Regular seasons are long, and injuries are commonplace. Players must overcome slumps, mistakes, and underperformance.
The mental games skills that help you overcome adversity during the regular season are the same mental skills that can help you mount a comeback in a playoff series.
5 Mental Skills Essential for Playoff Comebacks
- Team Belief – Each player needs to have confidence in their abilities and the team’s ability to perform under pressure and bounce back. Unwavering confidence can fuel your motivation and determination.
- Present-Moment Focus—Making a comeback is a one-game-at-a-time proposition. Even within the game, you should focus one shift at a time. When your mind contemplates potential outcomes, anxiety ensues, and mistakes increase.
- Mental Toughness—Mental toughness is the hallmark of all successful teams. How you view adversity and challenges affects your composure and ability to make plays.
- Rebounding from mistakes—Recovering from mistakes means learning from mistakes earlier in the series, adjusting game strategy, and letting go of the past. This enables you to place your complete focus and energy on the task at hand.
- Positive Mindset—Your overall attitude toward your circumstances affects your energy, effort, and motivation. A positive mental approach lays the foundation for playoff comebacks.
In the 2024 NHL playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche trailed the Dallas Stars in the series 3-1. Instead of Colorado feeling the pressure to make a comeback, the team switched the narrative and saw the pressure was on Dallas to close out the series.
Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon referenced the 2022 NHL playoffs and the pressure Colorado felt to close out a series against the St. Louis Blues and the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup.
McKINNON: “We’ve never really chased a 3-1 deficit recently, but we know how it felt after we lost to St. Louis when we were up 3-1. It felt like the world was ending. Same thing with Tampa in the finals. It’s a lot. Obviously, we won the Game 6s, but it doesn’t feel great when you let a team back in. It’s our job to put a little pressure on them.”
Ultimately, the key mental game skill for coming back in the playoffs when trailing in a series involves a combination of belief, mental toughness, focus, and a positive mindset.
When you change the narrative and embrace any challenge, making a playoff series comeback can become a reality.
Examine the narrative you are telling yourself. If the narrative isn’t helping your mindset or game, flip the script in your favor.
Related Articles on Hockey Mental Game:
- Your Mindset and Finishing Hockey Games
- Are You a “Gamer” or “Choker” in The Playoffs?
- How to Respond When Your Team is Down in a Playoff Series
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