178:05 minutes of heaven - 1 second of heart break

Mud Bruneteau, Ken Doraty, Keith Primeu, Petr Sykora, Petr Nedved ... what do these 5 people have in common with Henrik Sedin? They all broke thosands of hearts in one simple flick of the wrist - these 6 people are the game winning goal scorers for the longest 6 Stanley Cup playoff games, ever.

Last night Dallas showed just how badly they want this series, last night they fought harder then I've ever seen them fight. In a 3rd period come back with goals by Miettinen (assisted by Hagman & Jokinen) and Nagy (assisted by Miettinnen and Zubov) the Stars just would not give up; the problem was neither would the Canucks.

The anti-Turco crowd will complain that the Stars outplayed, outshot and outlasted the Canucks, that Turco screwed the pooch on this one. They will say if he had done his job we'd have won, and you know they have something of a point, but don't get me wrong, I don't blame him for this loss - the team didn't do what was needed, as a whole. Shots on goal don't mean anything when they're at the chest of the goalie, offensive time on ice don't mean anything when you miss opportunities, and blocked shots don't mean anything when rebounds aren't properly taken care of.

If I did have to blame this on any single thing (besides the ever-so-easy-to-blame Sedin twins, of course) I'd say it was our power play. Twice we had 5 on 3 opportunities, 5 additional times we had 5 on 4 opportunities great than a full minute (only 1 of which w scored on). The Stars have got to figure out how to score more on these opportunities.

But in all seriousness, I've talked to people whose hearts were broken last night, and I agree to a point, it was heartbreaking watching the Stars play almost 140 minutes of hockey to lose, however that wasn't the real overall effect on me. After last nights game I'd do anything to watch Friday's game now - anything for it to be Sunday night to see game 3, Tuesday night for game 4 ... I'm more excited after last nights loss then I think I would have been after a 3 period win. The stars fought hard last night, and showed me that they are serious about this post-season.

I say GO STARS - I say rest up tonight because Friday night is going to be a long ride - If you're in town make sure you come out to Frankie's to watch the game with all the other local fans - and I say BRING IT ON CANUCKS! Worry not Stars Fans, our boys will do it!!!

A Dunk in the Shark Tank

After a rough 45 minutes Dallas finally joined the game with an offensive flurry in the 3rd period of tonights game. While I had a hard time keeping focus when the game started the 3rd I found myself sitting on the edge of my couch, if sitting at all!

Mike Ribeiro worked hard to show Scott and I that we chose the right guy as our Player of the Week with his assist and goal and Boucher made me proud to own his jersey with an AMAZING 3rd period last second (quite literally) goal that looked more like he was trying to hit a fly with a fly swatter then the puck with a stick.

It was great to see Mikey Mo back on in uniform tonight, but I think Tippet made the right move by not putting him on as one of the opening three shooters in the shootout. Scott and I had a few words about that, but Mo's hands were shakey tonight. I think it'll take him a few games to get back to anything close to his former self, but I also think just having him on the ice has got to feel good for our boys.

With that said, the first 2 periods were rough. It seemed like the boys decided "Mike's back, he'll play offense" ... and boy were they wrong. He had to get back, he had to get ice time, to remember the feeling of another player throwing him against the boards. I'm not trying to say bad things about our boy. I'm crazy excited to have him back out there and I think next week he'll be much more agile and his hands will remember the subtle nuances in the wrist flicks etc ... but I'm honest about his performance tonight.

Congratulations Stars, you earned tonights points in that 3rd period and even more, you handed the last team in the league without one, an overtime and shootout loss.

GO STARS GO!

Stars @ Canucks

It was truely a great game. I know, "but Jay, it was another 1 goal game!" It was one of the most exciting 1 goal games I've ever seen. First of all, that was a beautiful goal. Stefan's pass up to the break-away Eriksson ... it just couldn't have looked any prettier. That, followed by the shootout? That heart wrenching shootout? Yes, we lost in the end, sure there are shoulda woulda coulda's ... If nothing else, look at the Three Stars of the Game, or at least the first two. Roberto Luongo and Marty Turco. How often do you see the losing goaltender in that list?

I hope you had a chance to watch that game. If not, I hope you have it recorded somewhere or can find it on YouTube or Google (I looked already today, couldn't find it).

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to tonights game vs Edmonton. Mark over at Andrew's Dallas Stars Page has pulled out and put back and pulled out again the big red panic button and if we don't win tonight I think I'll let him hit it. Good news for us? We're a strong team, even with our 4 forwards out, our backups are showing their worth. Also, we haven't lost a game in Edmonton since 2004, so we've got a great streak up there. However, Vancouver just came off their 1000th franchise win and snapped a 4 game losing streak by throwing Florida to the ice 4-1 Tuesday. I guess we'll see.