Have the sales of razor blades increased, even since 2:10 a.m. this morning? How about nooses? Better check your neighbor's garage, and listen if there's a car engine running inside.
The Red Wings lost a playoff game last night, probably one they should have won, 4-3 in double overtime to the Edmonton Oilers, and thus now trail their best-of-seven series, 2-1. A seemingly game-winning goal by Jason Williams was scored in the first OT, but was correctly waved off when it was evident on videotape that the puck had slipped into the goal beneath the slightly raised net.
I'm not among those searching for cyanide this morning because this game, more than the first two of the series, showed me that the Red Wings should still be alright in this series. They staged an impressive two goals-in-18 seconds comeback to tie the game 3-3 in the third period, and had the majority of scoring chances in overtime. Their power play also looked good, keeping puck possession and creating goals.
Manny Legace, however, is another story. Surprise, surprise, huh?
In Game 2, Legace let a 50-foot wrist shot beat him, which proved to be the game-winning goal by some guy named Winchester, who's starting to get on my nerves, because he's one of these guys who does nothing in the regular season and then suddenly has his name spoken by Ken Daniels incessantly in the playoffs. You know -- one of those Cinderella story guys. Ugh. And what's with the name? Winchester? That sounds like a soccer team in the UK, not a hockey player.
Regardless, Legace failed his team in the first period last night, too, when he was slow to pick up on Ryan Smyth behind the goal, who used Manny's fog to sneak around and wrap the puck into the net before Legace could cover the post. That goal, along with Winchester's wrist shot in Game 2, have killed the Red Wings in this series.
Now I will also say this: Legace has played well at times, too. His brilliant save with about 15 minutes remaining in the third period of Game 1 kept the Red Wings within a goal of the Oilers, enabling them to tie the game about eight minutes later. They later won in overtime, of course. So chalk that up on Manny's "good" ledger.
But it's always about, inevitably, the ones that get past you, in the playoffs. And while it might not be fair and while the margin for error is paper thin, you simply cannot allow the kinds of goals scored by Winchester in Game 2 and Smyth in Game 3 and win a series.
So, are the Red Wings in trouble?
In a hole? Yes. In trouble? I'm not so sure.
I think, frankly, that the Red Wings may have gained some confidence last night, not lost any. They proved that Oilers netminder Duane Roloson, while having played spectacularly, is not an impenetrable wall, like some goalies who've bedeviled the Wings in playoffs gone past. They played their best game of the series in Game 3, and though they lost it, I think they'll keep coming and swipe Game 4, bringing it back to Detroit 2-2, and who would have turned that down after the team lost Game 2 at JLA?
It's not time for jumping off ledges quite yet. Besides, this series is simply proving what we knew all too well all along: That the Red Wings' 58 wins and 124 points in the regular season mean about as much in the playoffs as a politician's promise.
Like coach Mike Babcock said between Games 2 and 3: "Look, we know this isn't going to be easy."
Nothing ever is in the NHL playoffs, where magic dust is sprinkled over lower seeds and players named Winchester as soon as the postseason curtain rises.
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