Reasons why Game 5 still hurts....

[Hockey9019 0]

Nice little article I found

Hey, Game 6 is tonight, so it's time to move on. ... But seriously, if you're a Wings fan, how miserable was that? I mean, I won't dwell on it, tonight's game is what matters. ... But honestly, was that like the worst thing ever to happen to anybody or what?

OK, OK. Of course it could have been worse. It could have been Game 7. It could have put the Wings down 3-2 in the series, instead of leaving them with a 3-2 lead. And, yeah, one could argue that there are more important things than a hockey game featuring a bunch of players you have probably never met.

But if you're a sports fan, the Wings' 4-3 triple-overtime loss in Game 5 was excruciating on several levels. And sometimes, it's good to re-live the pain. After all, anybody can enjoy a win. Only a true fan suffers in defeat.

How bad was it? Let us count the ways ...

There is a word for how the Red Wings lost Game 5, and that word is "&^@%&*%#*&!!!"

1. The obvious: The Wings were less than a minute away from hoisting the Stanley Cup.

When was the last time a Detroit team had a championship ripped away like this?

The Pistons took a similar punch in 2005, when Rasheed Wallace left Robert Horry open for the game-winning shot in Game 5. But that series was tied 2-2. The Pistons did not have a chance to win the title that night.

Late in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, the NBA wheeled its championship trophy into the Pistons' locker room in Los Angeles. The Pistons led by three points with a minute left before losing to the Lakers (partly, Pistons fans claim, on a phantom foul call on Bill Laimbeer).

But this was worse. A three-point lead with a minute less in a basketball lead is not as secure as a one-goal lead with a minute left in a hockey game.

2. They had to play three overtimes.

Sometimes, you just invest more in a game. That was the case for the fans Monday night, and it was surely the case for the Wings.

When you play two games' worth of hockey and lose, it feels like two losses.

3. The Wings are the older team.

I don't buy that this loss will wipe out the Wings tonight. But the fact is that older bodies don't recover as quickly as younger bodies, especially after a triple-overtime loss.

4. Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall scored one of the Penguins' goals.

Hey, it's hockey. Pucks go off skates and into the net all the time. But rarely do you see a defenseman shoot the puck into his own net.

This wasn't a bonehead play. It was just bad luck. Still, it adds to the misery.

5. They outplayed the Penguins.

The Wings were the better team for most of Game 5, and they were really the better team in the third period and first overtime. It seemed like the NHL had instituted a new rule prohibiting Pittsburgh from having the puck.

Maybe that should make the Wings feel better. But in a way, it makes them feel worse. When you play that well and still lose, it can be tough to muster the mental energy to play that well again.

You know how Charlie Brown kept trying to kick that football? Well, here's a news flash: Charlie Brown was a comic strip character. Real people have a tougher time bouncing back.

6. You had to write two different columns and send them both to your editor before the game ended.

Oh, right. That last one only applies to me.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...2/1053/SPORTS05