Good Things Come to Road Teams Who Wait

Earlier tonight, the New York Rangers won Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Capitals in triple overtime.  The game lasted nearly 115 minutes, making it the 20th longest game in NHL history (at least according to the Wikipedia).  Home ice for Game 3 was in Washington's favor, but when games go beyond double overtime in the NHL, home ice seems to hurt more than it helps.

Of the 40 longest NHL games, ranging from 103 to 187 minutes, the road team has not only come away with more victories, but their winning percentage is remarkable.  The road team has won 29 of those 40 games providing them with a .725 winning percentage.  That is an oddly high winning percentage for teams that generally is are considered the underdog while on the road.  The only explanation for it I can really see is that the road team hangs in the game so long that they not only take the energy out of the home team's crowd, but that they thrive on doing just that.  Almost as if keeping the game tied is a slow way of building momentum.  If anyone has other thoughts as to why, I'm all for hearing them.

Sadly, there are not many other lists of long games by duration for other sports.  I really would like to find a comprehensive NBA list, but had no such luck.  The NFL does not really apply here given that games don't go beyond a single overtime (not to mention the poor overtime system).  This trend does carry to the Swedish National Hockey League where of the ten longest games in their league's history, eight of them were won by road teams.

I did find a list of the 42 Major League Baseball games that have gone 20 innings or more.  Subtracting the four games that were called for ties, the away team won 24 of the remaining 38 longest games.  The winning percentage of .632 does not quite compete with the NHL road team record, but it does lead to the question, in games that carry on extra long, does the away team have a distinct advantage to the home team?