Three overtimes, two shutouts, one disallowed goal that will be argued about for a decade. This seven-game epic had everything a playoff series can hold — and a finale nobody in the building will ever forget.
HARBOUR CITY — Game seven needed no hype video. The ice was still scarred from the morning skate when the puck dropped, and within four minutes the underdogs led, stunning a crowd that had waited all spring for this night. Then the favorites answered, then answered again, and the chess match was on.
The middle period belonged to the goalies. Forty-one combined saves, three breakaways denied, and a glove stop in the dying seconds that will live on every highlight reel until the next one. Playoff hockey narrows to inches, and both netminders stood very large in very small nets.
Overtime solved nothing for twenty-six minutes except fraying every nerve in the building. Coaches shortened benches to nine forwards. Defensemen played thirty-plus minutes. And then a rookie defenseman — scoreless all series — walked the blue line, found a lane through three bodies, and wrote his name into franchise history with one wrist shot.
Seven games, and it came down to a kid who was healthy-scratched in March. That is playoff hockey.
The handshake line stretched the length of the ice, as it should. One team lifts the trophy next round; the other gets the long summer of what-ifs. Both gave everything, which is the only promise a game seven ever makes — and the reason we will talk about this one for years.
