0.1 Seconds From Victory

I'm the first one to admit that hockey isn't one of my sports that I have to watch every night. While I love the San Jose Sharks and know the players, I rarely watch very much hockey involving teams that are not the San Jose Sharks. That being said, last night's San Jose Sharks-Philadelphia Flyers game was one of the best hockey games I've ever seen.

The Sharks defeated the Flyers 5-4 in a shootout, but that doesn't tell the entire story. Coming into the game the Sharks hadn't lost to the Flyers since 2000. They flat out own Philly. The Sharks though didn't look like they owned anyone in the first two periods though. The Flyers jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the third period and the game looked over. The Sharks had never in their history had comeback from a 3-goal deficit in the third period to win a game. Why would they win this game? The Sharks never gave up though. “We said, ‘Why not us?’ Why don’t we come back sometimes?” Sharks goalie Antero Niittymaki said. “Three goals down in this building, that’s a pretty good comeback.” It was a great comeback.

Jason Demers and Logan Couture scored to cut the lead to 4-3 and then Joe Pavelski scored off a face-off at the 11:28 mark of the third period to tie the game and send it to overtime. And that's where things go weird.

With time running out in the overtime period, the Flyers Mike Richards sent a wrist shot tumbling towards the goal and past Nittymaki. Flyers win 5-4! Scratch that though, the Sharks remained calm on the bench as the refs reviewed the goal. The refs made their decision and Richards goal didn't go in on time and the game would go to a shootout.



Amazing to watch. If Richards had shot a tenth of a second sooner that would have been a goal. If Demers didn't get his stick on the puck that would have been a goal. A tenth of a second is why I love sports. You don't get that kind of drama in movies or television.

The Sharks would go on to defeat the Flyers in a shootout behind goals from Ryane Clowe and Logan Couture and extend their decade of dominance over the Flyers. Greatest regular season hockey game I've ever seen.