NHL proving it is game for big-time showing
AT THE STANLEY CUP
Bucky Gleason
Updated: 06/04/08 6:36 AM
PITTSBURGH — Pierre McGuire knew he was watching something special, but he didn’t comprehend the game’s impact on the outside world until he woke up Tuesday morning and checked his cell phone. The NBC hockey analyst was bombarded with voice mails, text messages and e-mails from people he hadn’t heard from in years.
McGuire had the best seat in the house for the best hockey game in recent memory. He was stationed between the two benches separating the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings for Game Five of the Stanley Cup finals, a triple-overtime thriller that started Monday evening and ended Tuesday morning with the Pens’ 4-3 win.
“Everybody is talking about the game everywhere you go,” McGuire said. “I mean, this is amazing theater. . . . The players are the story. It’s been phenomenal to watch. It was one of the better games you’ll ever see in a Stanley Cup final because it had everything.”
On Monday, it was Game Five. By Tuesday, it was The Game.
In an oft-exaggerated sports world, this one can’t be overstated. What a game it was. What a series it has been.
I’ll say it again, there’s is nothing quite like overtime in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s particularly true in the finals, when every scoring chance and every mistake are magnified, and one team is a shot away from winning it all.
It’s more nerve-racking than a no-hitter, more intense than anything in team sports. They call it “sudden-death overtime” for a reason. The team that loses feels like it died.
The common refrain in hockey towns everywhere Tuesday: Did you see The Game?
For once, if you woke up cranky Tuesday morning, it wasn’t because you stayed up too late. It was because you didn’t.
Game Five had a 4.3 rating, the best overnight NHL on NBC rating since the network partnered with the league four years ago. It was two days after Game Four won the overall ratings Saturday night for adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
American Idol? No. But it’s not bad for a league that was routinely clobbered by poker reruns and women’s college hoops.
And to think many believed Game Three last Wednesday, a 3-2 Penguins win that seemed like a month ago, was the best game played in years. If these two teams continue playing as they have in the past three games, the league should change the series from best-of-seven to best-of-17.
“We stand there quite a bit as the coaching staff saying, ‘It’s pretty fast out there,’ ” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said Tuesday. “When you go through it, it’s kind of what we expected going in. And it’s exciting to be a part of it. Enjoy the whole thing. I think that’s what you have to do.”
All this from the losing coach.
The Game was exactly what the NHL needed, a gripping matchup between two skilled teams on its biggest stage before a national television audience. You had to wonder how many people who didn’t give a hoot about hockey became fans because the game was still on the air when they flipped to the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
Then again, hearing corny political jokes from a guy with a big chin is far less entertaining than listening to an exhausted hockey player saying, in all seriousness, that he was ecstatic when he saw blood streaming down his chin.
Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi practically thanked Red Wings forward Jiri Hudler for whacking him with an inadvertent high stick during the third overtime. It resulted in a double minor because it drew blood. Petr Sykora scored on the ensuing power play, ending the fifth-longest Stanley Cup finals game in NHL history.
“I was just praying for blood,” Scuderi said. Only this game had more, much more.
The Penguins had a two-goal lead before the Red Wings came back with three more. The Red Wings could practically see their names on the Cup when Maxime Talbot jumped off the bench and scored with 34.3 seconds remaining.
Not to worry, Game Six is tonight in the Igloo. Fans should expect something special. In fact, they might just see history if Detroit wins again.
At the very least, as McGuire would attest, people are finally getting the message.
