Why is postseason hockey the best sports postseason?

Desperation.

Hockey is the only of the major sports where desperation can be seen in the play on the ice.

Baseball is an 'event' based sport. The pitcher pitches and the batter hits it or he doesn't. The action stops until the next pitch. This slows everything down. And it is not as though the pitcher will throw harder or the batter will swing harder. Sure some of the players can be more aggressive running the bases, but that's about it. The desperation to win doesn't translate on the field.

Basketball degenerates into a free throwing contest. Whenever a game in basketball is close at the end of a game, the losing team immediately fouls the winning team in order to 'put them on the line' hoping that they will miss there throws and get the ball back. This breaks up any kind of rhythm the game might have and slows it down.

In football, the closest thing is the hurry-up offense. The offense will quickly move down the field while the clock is running. The desperation can be seen in some of the reckless play of both the offense and defense. But often, the team that is leading can just run out the clock to win, leading to a kind of anti-climax.

In hockey, the desperation is palpable. The losing team begins to play a little more recklessly. They hit more. The defense pinches in more. The bench is shortened. This will lead to odd man rushes in a counter attack. Often times, the officials know this and will let play continue past minor offenses. Last night I watched 5+ minutes of continuous, desperate hockey in the third period. I don't have a dog in this fight but I couldn't help but feel the excitement.

I can't wait until the Blues get back there.

Regular Season Overtime vs. Playoff Overtime

I don't have a problem with overtime losses worth a point or the shootout. Nor do I have a problem with only four skaters per side. I think they make overtime exciting and teams are more willingly to be aggressive. I have a problem with the rules of the game changing once the playoffs start. The teams that got to the playoffs competing with one set of rules should be allowed to compete using those same sets of rules. The only series that would have been dramatically altered was the Dallas-San Jose series. I believe three of the games went to overtime and the sixth game saw a 4th overtime. Would it have made a difference? Maybe, but the point is that the rules shouldn't change.

The curious thing about the rules change: the regular season ensures a winner and a loser after 5 minutes. The playoff rules actually make it harder to determine a winner and can result in the 4 OT game that Dallas endured.