TRIPLE OVERTIME, IGOR'S ELBOW WOES AND THE JOHN MUCKLER FACE

Here's a puzzler: After a triple-overtime Stanley Cup playoff game, shouldn't it stand to reason that at least one of the goalies should be included among the three stars? Just wondering.

NHL PLAYOFFS DAY 20

• OILERS 3 SHARKS 2 in 3OT (San Jose leads 2-1): Edmonton gets back in the series, keeps a flickering ray of hope alive for seeing a Canadian team in the final and avoids a serious stomach punch game. The Oilers, who were outshooting San Jose and winning the vast majority of the faceoffs but were still unable to put the Sharks away, seemed foreordained to lose on some bad bounce or flukey pinball goal; there was a genuine Good Night Irene! moment late in the first extra period when Jonathan Cheechoo had a point-blank chance on Dwayne Roloson, who made a glove save.
  Interesting factoid No. 1: Roloson made 32 saves and Vesa Toskala made 55 for the Sharks, but neither was among the three stars. What's up with that? Interesting factoid No. 2: after Shawn Horcoff (pictured up top) scored the winner, the first Oiler to congratule him was Matt Greene, the Oilers' sixth defenceman who'd barely played all night. I guess he just had fresher legs.
• SABRES 3 SENATORS 2 in OT (Buffalo leads 3-0): Add another visage to the pantheon of faces. The John Muckler face -- three-quarters flush red, lips pursed to scream a 110-decibel expletive, neck vein so taut you could play All Along The Watchtower on it, angry old-man thoughts screaming around his cerebral cortex: I'm 72 years old. I have five Stanley Cup rings. I'm friends with Wayne Gretzky, dammit. Now, will someone explain to me why I am spending my sunset years hanging around a bunch of nancyboys who gag in the playoffs every spring? Oh, well, at least the overtime didn't take too long. I won't miss my bedtime.
  
  The Sabres won tonight in OT with J.P. Dumont producing the winning goal on a Tim Wakefield special that knuckled and stopped to ask for directions twice on its way into the net. But the losing play is never that obvious. Ottawa actually lost this game in regulation, in the five-minute window after Jason Spezza tied it up for the first time (predictably, on a 5-on-3 power play). A team that's serious steps it up at that point. Instead, a couple minutes later, Ottawa took a lazy penalty (courtesy of fourth-liner Vaclav Varada). The Sens survived, barely, the Buffalo power play, but it put them back on their heels. On the shift shortly after where Buffalo scored to go ahead 2-1, Maxim Afinogenov cut in off the wing and was bracketed by two Senators, neither of whom laid their sticks, much less the body, on him. Odd story of the night: Jay McKee's mother and her friend were driving from Ottawa to Kingston after Game 2 on Monday and hit a cow on Hwy. 15. The driver and passenger were relatively unscathed, but the cow and car, not so much.
• HURRICANES 3 DEVILS 2 (Carolina leads 3-0): Those Hurricanes are so hot right now and it looks very likely you might see a Stanley Cup final showdown come down to a team from North Carolina against one from California, which you should only see at the Final Four, or the NCAA women's soccer championship. Hey, wasn't it just a while ago that Eric Staal was considered too callow and young to be ready for the pressure cooker of the Olympics? Who was the future brain surgeon that made that decision?

OTHER BUSINESS

• Well, that didn't take long: Charlie Casserly, the guy who passed up the chance to draft Reggie Bush for the Houston Texans, has handed in his resignation. Smile and pretend that Casserly is Donald Rumsfeld. Seriously, though, believe what you like, but no GM ever resigns.
• Thank god they have the roof at Rogers Centre, because it never rains but it pours when it comes to the Blue Jays and their pitching staff. There was a good reason Gustavo Chacin generally carried himself like a nerd at the Grade 9 dance (or am I projecting?) even after the Jays staked him to a six-run first-inning lead: his elbow flared up. The left elbow that we members of the Blue Jays Nation want to get to know, make friends with. Chacin was understandably pitching scared, but at least the Jays pulled out a 9-7 win over the Athletics. Chacin's health -- he'll have an MRI today -- is top priority. Still, it means the bullpen has thrown 11 innings in the past 2 nights, and it's a day game today. Eep. At least A.J. Burnett's been cleared to start throwing again.
• Can't believe I didn't feel it worthy of comment that the authors of Game of Shadows will likely spend a day in jail to protect their sources. This is huge. And no, it doesn't suggest, not for a second, that what they alleged about Barry Bonds is in any way false. Protecting your sources is vital for reporters who deal in matters that are so sensitive that they have to turn to unnamed sources; it's also an important principle that your notes not become part of a court proceeding.

That's all for now. Talk again later today.