What else can you say about how the Detroit Red Wings were denied the Stanley Cup Monday night at Joe Louis Arena?
DETROIT -- This must be what it feels like when the air tank runs dry just metres from the top of Mt. Everest.
It must be what the dirt tastes like when the Triple Crown is lost on some longshot’s improbable last leap to the wire.
This must be the way the Andretti family goes home from Indianapolis.
What else can you say about how the Detroit Red Wings were denied the Stanley Cup Monday night at Joe Louis Arena?
The proverbial tip of the hat to the Pittsburgh Penguins, their 4-3 win in triple overtime was a win for the ages and a tribute to their never-quit approach to hockey. It also extends their collective life in the Stanley Cup final, forcing a sixth game Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
And, if anyone could ask for anything more, the win also validates the predicted dream final matching two great teams in an epic battle for hockey’s ultimate prize.
Not that the Red Wings care anything about that.
They had pulled off one of the great comebacks in a playoff game ever only to see it all go away 35 seconds from the Stanley Cup.
Thirty-five seconds from the leap to glory, the memories of a lifetime, the team picture taken in front of 20,000-plus adoring fans and a handout as to when and where to motor for the Motor City parade.
Thirty-five seconds!
In less time than it took for skydiver Michel Fournier’s hot air balloon to blow away in tatters, the Red Wings have gone from sipping champagne to preparing to slip out of town for yet another trip to Pittsburgh. One can’t help but wonder if they will ever be the same.
Maxime Talbot is the man responsible for that.
Inexplicably left alone at the side of the Detroit net with the clock ticking down and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, Talbot, a grinder in the truest sense of the word, tapped in the rebound of Chris Osgood’s toe save of his previous shot to erase a 3-2 Detroit lead. The goal also snuffed out the Red Wings’ stirring comeback from an early 2-0 deficit, negated a brilliant third-period effort by Henrik Zetterberg to set up goals by Pavel Datsyuk and Brian Rafalski and denied the Red Wings their fourth Stanley Cup in 12 years.
Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said he just had a gut feeling about putting Talbot out in that situation.
"It’s a feeling," he said. "Coaches get feelings sometimes. It’s rare, it doesn’t work all the time, but I love Talbot’s game. He was on the puck. He’s got a lot of energy. And one thing you know you want to put the puck at the net and he was always around the net."
Not a bad return on an eighth-round draft pick, the 2002 Entry Draft’s 234th player taken overall.
There were times when the Red Wings were there as well, many more times than the Penguins, but not when it mattered most.
"We had our chances we just didn’t get it out," said a surprisingly steady Mike Babcock, the Red Wings coach. "I suppose we’re going to feel bad for ourselves for a bit, but (to win) is hard. It’s not supposed to be easy."
Asked what he would say to his players in the morning, Babcock had a ready reply.
"It happened," he said. "(Now) we just have to ask ourselves how bad we want to win."
Regards the Penguins, that was asked and answered.
"We were 35 seconds away from the end of our season," said Sidney Crosby. "It can’t get any more tense than that."
For certain the headlines will go to Petr Sykora who scored the game winner while on the power play while Jiri Hudler was serving a double minor for high sticking at the midpoint of the third overtime. But Sykora would have been in the Pittsburgh locker room crying in his beer were it not for Talbot.
That was just one of the many improbable and sometimes seemingly impossible things that took place in the course of a very long evening that stretched into the very early morning. It was 12:50 a.m. ET when the Penguins finally ended the marathon affair. So many minutes into the new day that many in the crowd had likely forgotten their Red Wings had dug themselves out of a 2-0 hole, but not so long that they won’t long remember a seemingly spirit-crushing, game-tying goal from the Penguins just 35 seconds from the Cup.
Talbot’s goal sent the Pittsburgh bench into a state of ecstasy and Therrien into what appeared to be a thank-you prayer to the hockey gods.
It was one of the more remarkable turnarounds for even those with long-term Stanley Cup memories.
"That was probably one of the best games for a long time," Therrien said. "And it’s fun. Besides the first two games, I think we saw some quality hockey from both teams."
In the end, some credit has to go to Fleury who by the end of the second had faced 54 shots to 28 for counterpart Chris Osgood. He faced 58 for the game, Osgood handled 32.
Detroit might think otherwise, but overall it’s pretty hard to disagree.
"We get to live for another day," said Fleury.
That more than anything is what the Red Wings will have to deal with over the next 48 hours. That and the imagined taste of champagne that never crossed their lips.