Large Beers and Lattes: Sudden death brings sudden life to playoffs

On April 10, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Detroit Red Wings played game one of their opening -round playoff series in Detroit. Customers that night were treated to a little more hockey than they paid for as Paul Kariya lit the red light at the 3:18 mark of the third overtime to lift the Ducks past the defending cup champs.

Now, nearly three weeks later, we know that this game was just a prelude to a slew of other games that have gone to the extra session. Or five.

Through 53 games in this year’s NHL playoffs, 14 have gone to overtime, with half of those reaching double overtime or longer.

As much as the NHL seems to be completely ignored during the regular season, it is revered for what is traditionally believed to be one of the best postseasons in professional sports.

Regular season NHL games are mostly carried by ESPN, garnering decidedly weak ratings. NASCAR events and weekly PGA Tour events consistently beat out the NHL in terms of TV ratings. (I’d also bet that those ‘World’s Strongest Man’ reruns that ESPN likes so much also beat out the NHL ratings. People just love it when 350-pound guys with no necks pull big rigs with their teeth. Simply riveting.)

So what is it about the NHL playoffs that all of a sudden seem to get people excited?

First of all, regular season NHL games are not for everyone. Over the past few seasons, the NHL has gone to great lengths to make games more interesting and pleasing for the fans. One of the biggest developments was switching regular-season overtime periods from the regular five-on-five to four-on-four in an attempt to open up the ice for more scoring opportunities.

Also added was the fourth column to the standings, where teams are awarded the same one point for an ‘overtime loss’ as well as a tie. Therefore, teams have no reason not to go for wins in overtime, rather than hang back and play for a tie.

While these steps have improved the regular season overtime system, it hasn’t changed the fact that five minutes usually isn’t enough time to settle anything in a hockey game, and the majority of games that go to OT still end in a deadlock. And what fan really wants to see grown men beat each other up for 65 minutes then shake hands with neither team able to claim victory?

But unlike Major League Baseball, the NFL or the NBA, the structure of NHL games actually changes in the playoffs. Gone is the insignificant five-minute OT. More importantly, gone is the mentality that 65 minutes is enough hockey for one night. In the NHL playoffs, you play till you drop or the puck finds the back of the net, whichever comes first.

And with unlimited overtime comes a heart-stopping sense of immediacy for both teams. All of the sudden, when players know the next goal will decide the game, and often times an entire series, the style of play clearly changes. Teams tighten up their defense and games can go on for what feels like 12 days straight, and the people watching are on the edges of their seats for every second.

This past Thursday was a prime example of just what the NHL has to offer after the regular season ends. After sweeping the Red Wings out of the playoffs, the Ducks moved on to the second round to face the Dallas Stars. What unfolded was the fourth-longest game in NHL history, a five-overtime, end-to-end epic battle that ended with the Ducks skating (or crawling) off the ice with a victory. Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 40 of his 60 saves in the 80-plus minutes of extra time before teammate Brenden Morrow netted the game-winner. This is playoff hockey at its finest.

Logically, with every game that goes to overtime in the NHL playoffs, there has to be a hero. The playoffs always seem to receive an added boost from players you’ve never heard of. Through the 14 OT games in this season’s ‘Quest for the Cup’ the biggest star to score a game winner in OT has been Paul Kariya. Who had ever heard of Trent Klatt, Richard Park or Todd White before their OT heroics?

I seem to recall one other relative no-name scoring a monumental series-clinching overtime goal. In the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Stephane Matteau stuffed in a wrap-around attempt 4:24 into the second overtime to send the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals with a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. While the names may change year to year, there is a Stephane Matteau for every NHL postseason.

So for the rest of these playoffs (for those of you who can actually watch them) keep an eye out for the little guy. My guess is by the end of this year’s Cup run, another role player will emerge from the doldrums of obscurity to, for one very big night, be King of the Mountain. Just be prepared to stay up all night in order to see it happen.