Rank ‘Em: Which trailing Eastern Conference teams have the best chance to come back?

While, at first glance, most of the four first-round series in these Eastern Conference playoffs might not be as exciting as one might expect, they certainly have given fans plenty to talk about.

However, as of Monday afternoon, three of the four series see teams holding a 3-1 lead.

The Carolina Hurricanes have done an excellent job of decimating the shorthanded New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan Division Semifinals. However, the other series in the Metro has been filled with drama and entertainment. Though the Washington Capitals have the edge on the Montreal Canadiens, the Habs have shown their ability to keep up with the team that finished with the best record in the East.

Then, there’s The Battle of Ontario. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators have traded blows for most of the series, and they’ve been in some close games. Outside of a lopsided Leafs win in Game 1, the past three games have gone to overtime, with Toronto having a second chance to close the series out on Tuesday night.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli ranks which of the three teams facing elimination have the best chance to come back.

Frank Seravalli: In order, best chance would be the Montreal Canadiens. Second-best chance would be the Ottawa Senators, and third being the New Jersey Devils. Gotta be honest, I don’t really like any of them to do it. If you put a gun to my head and said you have to pick one, I would say the Canadiens. They had a third-period lead, were very close to tying up that series and making it all even to where we’d have a ton of questions for the Washington Capitals. … I think, moving forward, it’s been a great sign from the Canadiens that they won’t back down to this bigger, tougher, more experienced Washington team.

That said, I thought what you saw in the third period of Game 4 on Sunday night was really the mark of a team that has a core of championship players, Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, John Carlson, a whole group of guys that have been there and done it before. They didn’t show any signs of panic when Montreal was up in the third period, and that’s a big reason why I think they’re going to be able to close this out relatively quickly, even though this has been a great showing by the Canadiens.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…