Overtime At The Joe

The Red Wings and the Penguins skated to a 3rd overtime thriller and it looks like we have a couple more days of the season left. The Pens won to force a game 6 back in Pittsburgh. Finally, the finals are starting to live up to the hype. This was one of the those games we all had expected from game 1.

I really thought the Red Wings were going to pull it out. After going down 2-0, they fought all the way back to take the lead in the third 3-2. But the Pens tied it with less than 20 seconds left and the game dragged on for another 3 periods before Peter Sykora buried the puck on a 4 minute powerplay and Evgeni Malkin finally got on the scoresheet in the finals with an assist. But this wasn't your average dull overtime, it was pretty exciting with end to end action and both teams just missing on their chances.

I would like to see what the ratings were for this game. The talent for both teams certainly didn't disappoint.

Also in Detroit the NHL General Managers met to talk injury reporting and the no-touch icing. I really think the icing rule in the NHL is a good one, I do like the touch up because it creates offensive chances. Yes you are going to have injuries from defensemen and forwards racing back for the puck. But you could also get hurt by cruising through the neutral zone with your head down, that's hockey.

They also touched on the injury report on players, especially in the playoffs. In order to protect players, many injury reports are given by a vague upper body or lower body injury. While that mostly happens in the playoffs, GM George McPhee has to problem doing it anytime.

“Come on, we’re all big boys, we all know exactly what happens out there,” Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said. “You’re going to play, and you play to win. Not play to hurt, but play to win.”

Almost all GMs are in favor of the vague reporting and the only ones really hurt by the system in place are the media, fans and bloggers.