NHL Playoff Roundup

Ducks 4 Stars 3, 5OT: There was a time when I used to make fun of Soccer and the way they used a shootout to decide tie games. If they were real men, they'd spend all the time they needed playing the game the way it was meant to be played -- even if that meant running up and down the pitch till they dropped, and just about all the fans had gone home consumed with exhaustion.

The shootout was the easy way out, and the use of it marked the game of Soccer as inferior.

After last night's 5 OT game in Dallas, I'm not so sure.

Now, the game didn't need to go 5 OT periods in the first place. Thanks to a ridiculous call by the referees, a Ducks goal in the third OT was disallowed. Working in consultation with the league office in Toronto, the refs ruled that the net had come off its moorings before a Steve Rucchin shot caromed off of Steve Thomas and past Stars goalie Marty Turco. The ruling seemed odd, as it appeared to me that the net only became dislodged because Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas had pinned Thomas in the crease, and pushed him into the crossbar.

Two OT periods later, an Adam Oates pass found Petr Sykora for the game winner. The goal came at 1:32 a.m. EDT.

Most of the Eastern Seaboard, where a good chunk of the NHL's fans live, was securely in bed by then. And I was one of them, having given up on the game after the third OT.

Now, if you watch any of the coverage on ESPN, you see John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, et al, waxing poetic over the fourth longest game in the history of the league. But every October, when World Series games don't start until 9:00 p.m. EST, and don't finish up until the wee hours of the morning, Baseball is taken to task for scheduling games when young fans don't have a realistic hope of watching from start to finish.

Forget the young fans; when committed adult fans like me are giving up and going to bed, something is terribly wrong. As I've said before on these pages, the NHL ought to put a cap on the number of OT periods in the playoffs. If I had my way, I'd put that number at two, ten-minute OT periods. If we're still tied, then go to the shootout.

Don't like the shootout? Then find a way to score the winning goal in regulation.

Endless OT periods like the ones we saw last night serve no one outside of hockey's hard core fan base. It does nothing to increase ad revenue; nothing to increase gate revenue; and nothing to grow the game.

The time for the shootout is now.

Ducks lead series, 1-0.

Devils 3 Lightning 0: Yesterday in my playoff preview, I talked about how John Madden, Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur would be the keys to victory for the Devils. Last night, Madden's checking line shut down the Lightning, helping to hold them to just 15 shots.

Later, Devils coach Pat Burns shifted Jamie Langenbrunner to Madden's checking line -- and the line was responsible for the Devils first two goals in the third period as they potted one a piece. Stevens grabbed an assist on both those goals, and Brodeur got a tidy shutout. Game Two is Saturday, and I don't expect the result to be any different.

Devils lead series, 1-0.

POSTSCRIPT: The Timberwolves beat the Lakers in L.A. last night, not that you would have known with an 11:00 p.m. EDT start time.

Eric 11:03 AM

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