Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Staal, left, celebrates his goal as New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur and Mike Mottau, right, react during the third period of an NHL first-round hockey playoff game Tuesday, April 28, 2009, in Newark, N.J. The goal turned out to be the game winner as the Hurricanes beat the Devils 4-3 to advance to the next round. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)Tonight was a great night for hockey, as noted below. We had two Game Sevens and while one ended predictably (but NOT as I predicted… it was a very near-run thing), the other was a real shocker. The Carolina Hurricanes came back with not one but TWO goals late in the third period to beat the New Jersey Devils… at home. Eric Staal got the game winner with a mere 31.7 seconds left on the clock. This was the second time in this series that
So…
It will be interesting.
―:☺:―
Ah… it’s NOT just me (all the way at the bottom of the post). A tweet from Greg Wyshynski earlier this evening:
wyshynski: The Devils game is so exciting on NHL.com with all the buffering.
NHL.com is really blowing a good thing by not providing adequate bandwidth for these netcasts… while overcharging for the dubious “privilege” of watching games that end up giving you a headache from eye strain. That’s too bad, coz the league was sitting on a potential gold mine. Hockey fans are among the most dedicated fans in all of sports… and we’ll go to great lengths to follow our team. But I’m betting most won’t pay inflated prices for what is ultimately a piss-poor experience. Not twice, anyway.
Got home from watching (live, in-person) the Celtics winning game five of their series, the third of the five to go into OT - great series - and turned on SportsCenter to see Marty Brodeur giving up both a tying and winning goal in the final 1:20. Amazing ending.
ReplyDeleteB's get Carolina now, Pens get Washington. Fun ahead, in both cases.
I sure wish I could have seen the end of the Devils' game live. That was just stunning, in EVERY sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteThe Hurricanes are the only pro team in my neighborhood. I've never gone to see them, but watched a few minutes of the third period (not the important ones) before my dad called me for some computer tech-support. Back to the TV ten minutes later and, whaa...? Canes won?!
ReplyDeleteFreakish. But not freakish-sad, like when Boston University beat Miami University in the last few moments of this year's NCAA championship.
I continue to be surprised that my part of North Carolina can support an NHL team. When the 'Canes showed up, I wondered, "where are we going to find enough people to to buy all those expensive tickets for all those games?" (Our population was just over a million at the time.)
Two weeks ago I ate dinner one floor below the 'Canes, in a big fancy restaurant. I hope their food was less salty than mine. Unless salty food fuels victories, in which case, bring it on, Morton's.
Phil: If Arizona can support a hockey team (well, sorta) and Florida has TWO... why not Carolina? Granted, there are a LOT of transplanted Yankees down in FLA, but still. I imagine North Carolina has its share of transplants, too. The weird thing about hockey, tho, is fans tend to not switch allegiances. I've been a Wings fan since 1985, and I left Dee-troit 13 years ago. Go figure.
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