It goes on and on and on and on...
Playoff hockey. There isn't anything like it in pro sports. Hockey is great but playoff hockey is hockey on speed. Am I allowed to say that? Ok how about hockey on propecia? Ok I'll go with hockey on caffeine.
Every hit is harder. Every shot is contested. You see not one but two players diving to block shots, guys doing everything possible to clear the puck. Every save is magnified and every goal is glorified.
Now playoff hockey overtime - take the greatest dramatic movie you've ever seen and it still won't compare. One shot and the game is over. One shot could turnaround a series or even the fate of a franchise. But when will that shot come? It could come quickly or you could be in it for the long haul (like tonight).
Tonight we had the pleasure of opening the playoffs with two extremely exciting OT battles. I was going to write a full summary of the four games following the conclusion on Vancouver-Dallas but sometimes even the best laid plans don't work out and yes I do have to be at work soon. The game just ended at 3:37 EST with 1:54 to go in the 4th overtime period (78:06 of OT).
** Stat of the day: looking at the top ten longest games before tonight, the team that has won the game has gone on to advance 8 out of 10 times **
Here some very quick highlights from tonight:
* Sens come out flying against the shellshocked Pens
* Crosby got his first taste of playoff hockey
* Fleury gets the hook after two
* Cheechoo goes knee-on-knee with Hartnell and goes down with a potentially serious knee injury
* The Wild hung in with the Ducks but lost on a late goal when Johnsson accidently knocked over Backstrom with the puck lying in the crease.
* Nashville stormed back from a 4-2 deficit late in the third but couldn't pull out a win in OT
* Peter Forsberg looked like the Peter the Great
* Radulov had a pair including a stunning individual effort in the third
* Rismiller couldn't get the puck out late in the third leading to the tying goal but he redeemed himself (and then some) with the OT winner.
* Luongo got his introduction to the playoffs by breaking the team record for saves in a playoff game.
* Turco was very very good but he dropped to 1-7 career in OT.
* Daniel scored 4:02 into the game and Henrik scored almost seven periods later to end it.
* Zubov and Bieksa led all skaters with about 55 minutes of ice time.
We came close tonight but just couldnt crack the top five longest games:
#1 Mar. 24/36 Mtl. SF Det. 1 Mtl. M. 0 Mud Bruneteau 116:30 Det (Detroit wins series)
#2 Apr. 3/33 Tor. SF Tor. 1 Bos. 0 Ken Doraty 104:46 Tor. (Toronto wins series)
#3 May 4/00 Pit. CSF Phi. 2 Pit. 1 Keith Primeau 92:01 Phi. (Philadelphia wins series)
#4 Apr. 24/03 Dal. CSF Ana. 4 Dal. 3 Petr Sykora 80:48 Ana. (Anaheim wins series)
#5 Apr. 24/96 Wsh. CQF Pit. 3 Wsh. 2 Petr Nedved 79:15 Pit. (Pittsburgh wins series)
I could go on and on but I should probably get a little sleep. Plus "The National" is starting and that's what I really stayed up for.
What an unbelievable start to the playoffs. Simply amazing.
Back with more on Thursday,
Danny -
[email protected] 
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