MidValleySports.Com

To All a great morning!If you have never watched hockey, Monday night was the night.

With the Washington Capitals and Vancouver Canucks facing elimination, every play seemed to fill the arena with more and more tension on the rink.

Forget the fact your not a fan, the Stanley Cup playoffs will make you a fan.

How can you not be?

Unlike the NBA that had to 3-0 series leads, the NHL had to 3-2 leads with sports most hallowed trophy being chased.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were down 4-3 and looking like they were headed to D.C. for game seven.  But Sidney Crosby scored to send the game into overtime.

The Capitals didn’t want to be put in a position where they were virtually in sudden death.  The fact they lost their last seven previous overtimes didn’t give Caps fans any hope they would be seeing a game at the Verizon Center.

Washington would not be denied and went on to win the game when David Steckel tipped in a Brooks Laitch shot from the point.

Then there was the Chicago Blackhawks come from behind victory that saw six goals scored by two teams.

Needing a victory the Canucks battled back from a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period.

Then it was a literally a see-saw battle that saw the Blackhawks battle back to tie twice in the final stanza.

Chicago then pulled away with two crucial goals in 1:38 to take a 7-5 lead they would never relinquish.

What makes this game more remarkable was the fact that the Blackhawks scored seven goals against the Roberto Luongo a premier goaltender in the NHL.

It was also the coming-out party for Patrick Kane  who has been flying under the radar because of the emergence of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

During the two games, 21 goals were scored and every one was heart-stopping and intense.

On The Couch can be read Tuesday – Sunday at www.midvalleysports.com.
Andy’s Rants can be read on Monday at www.midvalleynewsonline.com