Worth the replay?
Thursday, November 5's games ranked by how good they turned out to be: late drama, comebacks, lead swaps and overtime. No scores, no winners, so you can decide what to watch without spoilers.
Best games of the season →▸ Why this grade
Late tension0/30Swings14/25Comeback10/20Decided late0/15Back-and-forth3/10Drama 27 × pre-game weight 0.72 (pre-game Watchability 44) = 20
▸ Why this grade
Late tension0/30Swings6/25Comeback0/20Decided late0/15Back-and-forth8/10Drama 13 × pre-game weight 0.57 (pre-game Watchability 13) = 8
Ranked from each game's win probability as it was played (ESPN's for football and basketball; ours, from the goals, for hockey): how in doubt it was near the end, how far the winner came back from, how late it was decided, how big its momentum swings were and how often a team erased a deficit, with a bonus for overtime. That drama is then weighted by how good a matchup it was going in (its pre-game Watchability score), so a thriller between top teams ranks above an equally wild game between minor ones.