Oilers Stun Hurricanes in Game 5 - KSL TV To Show Real Game Instead of Game 6

The Edmonton Oilers pulled of a Herculean feat last night. They were down 3-1 in the best of 7 series for the league championship, and all hope was apparently lost for the lowly 8-seed team who lost their number one goalie to injury early in the series. They weren't supposed to be here anyway - they were supposed to be golfing by now.

But wait a minute - the Oilers took the Hurricanes to overtime in game five last night. That's SUDDEN-DEATH overtime. First one to score wins. If the Hurricanes score, they win the coveted prize, Lord Stanley's Cup. The Oilers wanted to leave it all on the ice, having no regrets, and that they did.

The Oilers scored on a turn-over, short-handed, on visitor ice, in the first overtime period to send the series to game six back on home ice in Edmonton. What an astonshingly gritty performance for a club that sports more historical significance than current relevancy. Up til now. Up til now, all momentum was with the Hurricanes. But now that's a different story. The Oilers can send it to a game seven with a win at home on Saturday night.

From the Edmonton Journal this morning:

And it would have ended were it not for the Edmonton Oilers' dogged determination, for the outstanding play of goaltender Jussi Markkanen, the dazzle of Ales Hemsky and, most of all, for the hands and head of Fernando Pisani.

Seconds after Steve Staios was ushered to the penalty box in overtime for tripping up Mark Recchi, Pisani broke in on Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward and fired in the goal at 3:31 that gave the Oilers a 4-3 win and kept their Stanley Cup dream alive.

It was the first short-handed overtime goal scored in a Stanley Cup final, and the first to stave off elimination for a team in any playoff round.

A quote from MSN this morning:

Now the momentum all shifts Edmonton's way. Weight hurt his right shoulder or arm in Game 5, who knows how bad. Defenseman Aaron Ward left for a period — there's something up with his shoulder too.

Edmonton put four past the steady Hurricanes goalie — one more than they had in the previous three games. And they're going home for Hockey Night in Canada — a Saturday night tilt that they just can't wait for up north.

Can the storylines get any better than this?

You like hockey? Then you're loving this Stanley Cup finals.

Well, in Salt Lake, if you like hockey, you're going to get to watch Real Salt Lake get their arses handed to them again on TV, rather than game six of the hockey series.

It seems that KSL, whose parent affiliate NBC is contracted with the NHL to show the games, will be showing the Real game on tape delay during that time period instead.

So, for the second day in a row, I pull out the "Golden WTF? Holy Grail Award", and shove it down KSL's throat.