1 post tagged “milan michalek”
Last night, from the third period onward, I watched the Dallas Stars vs San Jose Sharks Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
The score at the end of 3 regulation periods, was 1-1. If the San Jose Sharks won, they'd force a game 7, having come back from a 3-0 game deficit. This would also return the series to San Jose for the finale.
Only two times in NHL playoff history has a team come back down 3-0 to win a game 7.
Instead, we got 4 OVERTIME periods of phenomenal saves, exciting plays, momentum turns, and superb drama. Not to mention one of the most insane (and legal) hits you'll ever see with Dallas' Brenden Morrow leveling Shark Milan Michalek.
Michalek was gone for the rest of the game with what was likely a concussion, as well as some sort of arm injury.
But even this amazing hit soon became old news watching both goaltenders Marty Turco and Evgeni Nabokov make superhuman saves to keep their team in the game.
Ultimately Dallas won the game 2-1 on a Brenden Morrow PPG, sending the Stars into the Western Conference finals against the favored Detroit Red Wings.
One of the complaints about hockey over the years is that not enough goals are scored, and the league made attempts to alter the rules of the game to allow for more offense. But the reality is that time and time again, the best hockey games don't end by a score of 8-6, but 0-0 or 1-1 ties that go into OT.
The drama that is inherent in these low-scoring games with superb goaltending, are the games that make hockey great. I don't have any issue with the rule changes that the NHL made (except the one that limits goaltenders to only playing the puck wiithin a box behind the goal) in order to hypothetically increase the number of goals scored, as long as we continue to witness games like this. Low-scoring ties that go long into the night. A battle of attrition and heart that shows who the best team is.
