With all due respect to the hockey heroes in Pennsylvania and Detroit's set of sensational scorers, the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs was saved by the host Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks Sunday night.
Or, more specifically, saved by goaltenders Marty Turco of the Stars and Evgeni Nabokov of the Sharks.
They took turns stealing the show as Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal went on and on into the wee hours, a quadruple overtime thriller now in the books as the eighth-longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history.
It finally ended at 11:24 p.m. when Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal while Sharks defenceman Brian Campbell sat in the penalty box. The official game length was 129:09 on a night and morning (at least in Dallas) full of ridiculous numbers and statistics.
Turco made 61 saves, 31 in overtime. Nabokov stopped 53, 32 in extra time. Between them, there were a dozen out-of-this-world stops in the overtime alone.
Turco's best was a toe save off Joe Thornton only 10 seconds into the second overtime, after defenceman Stephane Robidas fell down with the puck on his stick in the slot. Nabokov's top stop, meanwhile, came when he slid across the crease, caught and pulled back a Brad Richards shot that would have ended the game only 1:31 into the first OT.
Turned out, there were still 31/2 periods left to be played after that save. Oh, what a night.
I can't remember the last time I saw a series where the goaltenders were such a big influence on the turnout of the game. Sure, without a goaltender the score would be much higher (duh!), but these guys are really stepping up their game and showing how important they can be for the team.
