Late night hockey and caring

THE LAST TWO nights of the NHL playoffs have been nuts. On Monday, Dallas and Nashville played an incredible game, up and down and chance after chance. Much of the time in the playoffs teams play cautiously and try to lock up, but not those two teams. It was thoroughly entertaining.

Blues fans, beware. Dallas is really, really good.

Last night I worked at The Whig and got home late. I flipped on the third period of the Sharks-Knights game, and Las Vegas was ahead 3-0. I was about to turn the TV off and go to bed when Joe Pavelski got hurt and the game suddenly shifted.

In all my years of watching sports I've never seen anything like it. San Jose scored four goals during a five-minute power play. They were dead in the water. Now they were leading. Las Vegas tied it up in the last minute, and the game went into overtime.

I was asleep by the time San Jose won it. Sure, it was amazing, but sleep is sleep and it was after midnight when I dozed off.

I was trying to explain this to Sheryl this morning. It's not that she doesn't understand sports, it's that she really doesn't care. Is the world going to turn any differently because San Jose made a miraculous Game 7 comeback after a disputed penalty?

Nope. But it was a thrill just the same.

This is just the first round, too. The games will get even more intense. The only team I really care about is St. Louis and I hope they do well the rest of the way, but it's OK to sit back and watch two teams you don't care about bash each other around for a trophy.

Also I hate the Boston Bruins and I hope they get blown out in four straight.

Not that I care, really.