35 Seconds Away

I was in the process of typing up the following:

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings on winning Game 5 tonight - coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the process - and taking yet another Stanley Cup in the modern era.

since, after all, there was only a little over a minute to go in the game, Detroit was up 3-2 and had completely dominated the third period (at one point, the shots were 12-0 Detroit). It seemed like a pretty safe bet to prepare a blog entry on how the Wings won the Cup.

And then the Penguins somehow managed to tie it up with 35 seconds to go, sending Game 5 into overtime! I especially liked how Talbot made the second effort to jam that puck in after Osgood stopped the first attempt. What a plugger that guy is!

As I type this now, it's between the third and fourth periods, so I don't know if Motown will still crown their champ tonight (or early tomorrow morning), or if the series will head back to Steel-town. If the NHL does shut down after this game, at least it'll have finished strongly!

[Update: Following a greatly entertaining 1st overtime period that solved nothing, I'm heading to bed. If I cared just a little more about the outcome, I'd stay up longer. But tomorrow's a work day...]

[Update # 2: Pittsburgh amazingly won the game midway through the third overtime period - I was already asleep by then - and so the series continues for at least one more game. Did I jinx the Wings by handing them the Cup before the final buzzer? Only if you believe in such things!]