Thursday, June 13, 2013

Day 74: Triple OT Loss = A Late Night and Major Grumpiness

I'm so delirious right now, I'm not sure I can really form a coherent thought... but I'll give it a try. What can I say about last night's game except, "holy crap!' What a way to kick off the Stanley Cup finals. This game, the fifth longest in Stanley Cup history, was exhausting and I was just laying on my couch. I can't even imagine what the guys who were actually out on the ice were feeling.

A game that started with the Bruins going up 2-0 on two wicked goals by Milan Lucic, quickly turned into one for the ages. The Blackhawks got one back a few minutes later to close the gap. When Patrice Bergeron clanked a slap shot off the back of the cage for the Bruins' third goal, I found myself wondering... hoping that strong defense would take over and shut the Hawks down.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Less than two minutes later, Chicago scored and here we were, a one goal game yet again. But the real gut punch game at 12:14 of the third period when Johnny Oduya (wanna dance) notched the tying goal on a deflection off Andrew Ference's skate. Nothing Tuukka Rask can do about that.

And once again... overtime. *sigh*

I can barely even talk about the overtimes. First overtime period—no score and a crippling injury to Nathan Horton (who is currently listed as day-to-day with a shoulder injury.) Second overtime period—no score. My bedtime has long since passed and at this point, I'm in it for the long hall. WHO CAN GO TO BED DURING SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME?

The chances for both teams were plenty throughout the extra play—the Bruins especially. Their best chance was in 10 minutes into the third overtime when Kaspers Daugavins just needed to flick a forehand shot past Hawks goalie, Corey Crawford, but instead, tried to get cute with a backhand and ended up losing the puck. At one point, the camera caught him sitting on the bench, his head hanging low, disappointed at the missed chance to give his team the win.

One split decision gone wrong and the scoring chance was lost. And just two minutes later, the Blackhawks scored on a twice-deflected shot from just inside the blue line. Another one Rask had no chance at stopping. Other than those two fluke goals, Rask shined, making 59 saves in the 112 minute contest.

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty pissed off when that puck went in the net and I just realized it was 1:00am and I was still awake and the Bruins lost. Total bummer. But the B's have been here before. They were down two games to none in the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, and we all remember what happened that year.

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