Your Hockey Update

GREAT hockey on my teevee last evening! The night started off with Philly at Washington and ended with Colorado losing to Minnesota in overtime… the second time the Avs and Wild have gone into OT in as many games. The Avs and the Wild played a corker last night, complete with third period heroics and a tying goal by the Avs with just 43.8 seconds left in the game. All that work and heroics on the part of the Avs were for naught, however. Minnesota’s Keith Carney put the game away with a fluky sort of slap-shot (off a skate and into the goal) a minute and 14 seconds into the overtime. And the crowd went bonkers. Minnesota has got some fans…and they are loud!

So. The series is tied 1-1 and moves to Denver for Game Three on Monday. This looks to be a good one.

So much for the nitecap, which was VERY good, but the evening’s first game was the better of the two. The Flyers and Caps began rather slowly (one goal apiece in the first) and it looked like it was pretty much over after the Flyers scored three unanswered goals in a little over three and a half minutes mid-way in the second… but it wasn’t. Not even. The best was yet to come. From ESPN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alex Ovechkin was bumped around, boxed in and, well, pretty much Broad Street Bullied for most of his NHL playoff debut.

And then, with the outcome hanging in the balance, Alex the Great emerged.

Held without a single shot until late, the league's leading scorer stole the puck and netted the tiebreaking goal with 4 ½ minutes remaining, giving the Washington Capitals a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Friday night.

…

That's pretty much all Ovechkin got against the Flyers, who led 4-2 heading into the final period, thanks to two goals apiece by Danny Briere and Vaclav Prospal. But Ovechkin got going by helping set up the first of two goals by defenseman Mike Green that lifted Washington into a tie.

Ovechkin’s winner was one of the prettiest goals I’ve seen lately… and was the result of some inspired play and other-worldly skill. I just have to share it:

Oh, and did I mention it was unassisted? But you can see that… if you look closely. AO’s winner last evening added a lot to an already good case for the Hart trophy. And this series looks to be one of the best of the first round…but, as the saying goes: there’s a lot of hockey left to be played.

So. While I was watching the Caps – Flyers last evening I got to thinking… When was the last time I watched the Flyers? I think the last time might have been Game Four of the 1997 Cup Finals, which, as games go, ranks right up there in the Top Five of “The Best Games I’ve Ever Seen.” Here’s a highlight from that game:

Ron Hextall was in goal for the Flyers and McCarty made him look like a doofus, not to mention the hapless defenseman McCarty skated around oh-so-effortlessly. That goal, in addition to being one of the prettiest goals of the modern era, sealed a sweep for the Wings. In Philly. I was watching from a bar in Ra-cha-cha that evening in the company of two good friends, both of whom were also Deetroit expats. The bartender bought us a round when the horn went off at the end of third… the Wings had won the Cup, ending a 42-year drought. My friends and I were absolutely ecstatic, and that might be understating the case by more than just a little bit. That hockey game was very, very close to a religious experience.

So. The long drought was over. And there certainly wasn’t a drought in Rochester that night. It got really, reeeelly drunk out, to say the least. The very least.

Strangely enough, there are few links between this year’s playoffs and the 1997 season. Sergei Fedorov, who was on the Wings’ Cup-winning team in ’97, plays for the Caps this year. And Darren McCarty is back with the Wings for the play-offs this year. McCarty has had a rough couple of years of late, but it looks like he’s turned his life around. Good for him. And the fact he’s back in Hockeytown is good for the Wings, too. I think it’s an omen…a good omen.

And now…Game Two of the Wings – Preds series begins in less than 45 minutes. I love this time of year.