The extra special time

Sporting News, The, May 5, 2003 by Kara Yorio

The first overtime went by without a goal, and nobody thought much about it. The second overtime featured two outstanding goaltenders keeping the score tied. In the third, there was a goal. Then there wasn't. It was disallowed because the net was raised slightly off its moorings. At the beginning of the fourth overtime, the Stars passed smelling salts down the bench. At the end of the fourth, with the score still tied, 3-3, Stars center Jason Arnott crossed through the bench door from the ice, paused, shook his head and laughed.

It certainly was getting laughable. The Ducks and the Stars were just trying to finish Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. The winner would get a 1-0 lead in the series. Somehow, that didn't seem worth it all. But losing such a game could leave a team unable to recover.

In the six longest games in postseason history before last Thursday's marathon, which finished well after midnight as the fourth longest in history, in only one case did the team that lost the game win the series. So, history was set up against the Stars less than a minute into the fifth overtime, when Ducks right winger Petr Sykora sent everyone home with a deflection goal.

Later, Sykora's teammate Steve Thomas said he felt like he was "on Rollerblades in a sandbox" as the overtimes passed. Down the hall, the Stars tried to come to grips with going home empty-handed after playing nearly 141 minutes of hockey.

The Ducks-Stars game was the 11th that reached OT this postseason, and it was another example of why there is nothing better in sports than overtime in the NHL playoffs. No other sport's extra sessions come close.

Basketball? Please. Each overtime lasts a specific length of time, no matter how many points each team scores. Teams get more timeouts, as if they hadn't taken enough in the final 2 minutes of regulation. And there will be more fouls, setting up more free throws. Exciting? Not exactly.

Football? Well, maybe if the game-winning field-goal attempt gets blocked, picked up by the other team, fumbled a few times and then run back 80 yards for a touchdown. Kicking a field goal--even a 60-yarder in the snow--just doesn't cut it. It's slow motion. It's a set play.

Baseball? There are no time constraints, and there is beauty in a game-winning hit in extra innings in a crucial game, but it doesn't always have that sudden-death aspect. The road team could go ahead in dramatic fashion, say on a suicide squeeze, but the home team always gets another chance, after a commercial break.

In NHL overtime, there are no commercial breaks. The only downtime is the brief pause after an official stops play with his whistle. Is there anything better for a fan?

Between periods in the locker rooms, IVs drip fluids into dehydrated athletes, who eat bananas and drink even more liquids to fight off cramping. The game may get ugly, but there is drama at every turn. Each mistake could result in a goal. There are rushes of energy from players who have no business having any energy at all. A puck hits the crossbar, a goalie stops a shot he couldn't see. It is edge-of-the-seat action.

After the Ducks-Stars game, a television reporter asks for the right adjective to describe it.

"Quintuple," comes the answer. "But just say five overtimes."

Really, no word could describe it adequately. It wasn't a showcase of highly skilled players in optimum conditions, but it was something just as good or better: superb but fatigued athletes playing at their most desperate. It'll happen again in these playoffs. And to miss it is to miss out.

Find the latest playoff game reviews and previews at www.sportingnews.com/nhl/scoreboard.> SPEED READ

* NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow should learn how to say, "No comment." Why did he choose last week--when his players were being showcased at their best--to say the union never will accept a salary cap and that a work stoppage could last for years? Let us simply enjoy the playoffs without bringing up the collective bargaining agreement.

INSIDE DISH

RW Teemu Selanne, who will be a free agent this summer, wants to go to a team with a chance to win and likely would take less than the $6.5 million Sharks option he declined. But money is tight, even for usually deep pocketed teams such as the Wings, Leafs, Flyers and Rangers, and Selanne likes West Coast life. He could end up reunited with LW Paul Kariya on the Ducks. ... RW Justin Williams is getting little attention for his part in the Flyers' first-round victory over the Leafs, but the forward, who had reconstructive knee surgery in January, deserves some credit. He and LW Simon Gagne, who returned just before the playoffs from a groin injury, brought necessary speed and depth.... G Byron Dafoe hasn't announced whether he will pick up his Thrashers option for next season. He has until June 30. Dafoe, signed by Atlanta at midseason, played poorly, then was injured. He should take the option, or he'll end up sitting and waiting for the phone to ring, as he did at the beginning of this past season.... Blues RW Dallas Drake says his team choked in the first round. But St. Louis' elimination was due more to Canucks LW Markus Naslund and Co. finally playing their best than to the Blues collapsing.... Rumor has it the Rangers want to unload C/LW Eric Lindros and the Capitals want to dump RW Jaromir Jagr. But considering those players' salaries, injury history and often subpar play, they probably can't.... Despite the SARS scare and the World Health Organization's travel advisory regarding Toronto, the league is not yet considering changing the venue of its annual awards night in June.--K.Y.