Analysts would have you believe that playoff series are decided by variables such as goaltending and special-teams play and untimely injuries.
Some fans know better.
They realize that victory for their team hinges on them wearing their lucky socks. Or perhaps on having everyone in the group with which they watch games sitting in just the right chairs. Or maybe on having a pregame meal of six -- not five, not seven -- chicken wings and a Cobb salad, with the first bite taken precisely 37 minutes before the opening faceoffs.
The possibilities are limitless, of course, as are their origins.
Do superstitions work? Well, who really knows?
More to the point, who wants to ignore theirs and risk having their team lose a game just to find out?
Of course, fans -- even the ones who might be a few time zones away from the arena -- aren't the only ones who believe that their actions can influence what happens during a game. Plenty of players have them, too, although some likely describe them simply as game-day habits.
(Sidney Crosby, for example, purportedly insists on his sticks being taped a specific way, and on re-taping a stick if someone else touches it after he has taped it. Also, as mimicked by his teammates on the night of his 1,000th NHL game, Crosby reties his skates at center ice at the same time during every pregame warmup session.)
We don't know yet when the playoffs will begin, or even who the Penguins will face in the opening round, but at least some of us are pretty certain that outcomes will be determined by a pair of ratty socks with tiger stripes and a well-timed Cobb salad.
YOUR TURN: Do you have a superstition (even if you think it's just a routine) that you do everything possible to follow during the playoffs and, if so, what is it? And what is the most unusual superstition you've heard of another fan having?