I saw this story earlier in the week and forgot to mention it because I was more concerned with the liberty and freedom of Vancouver’s Green Men, but someone recently purchased a Wayne Gretzky rookie card for $94,163 from an online sports memorabilia auction. It is apparently an incredibly rare, flawless O-Pee-Chee card from 1979, and SCP Auction basically called it the most valuable modern trading card on the planet.
*stares at pile of Jose Canseco Rated Rookies, sighs*
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Washington Capitals 3 (Series: 3-0 TB)
The Washington Capitals scored three goals in the second period (big deal, football players do that just by kicking the ball) to grab a 3-2 lead over the Lightning heading into the third period. It really looked like Alex Ovechkin and Co. were going to splash some water on the red hot Lightning and climb back into this series. Instead, Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth allowed two goals in the third, which I have been told is not a good strategy.
Tampa’s Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone scored the tying and game-winning goals, respectively, within 30 seconds of each other and the Lightning have now won 6 straight games as the 5-seed.
Fun Fact: The Lightning are the second most popular sports team in Tampa behind the Buccaneers. The Rays rank 714th.
Vancouver Canucks 3, Nashville Predators 2 (Series 2-1 VAN)
Yet another overtime game. These playoffs are really taking the fun out of suspenseful finishes. But the Canucks told the Predators to stuff their whiny fan complaint where the sunshine ain’t, as Ryan Kesler tipped in the game-winner after 10 minutes of boring scoreless overtime. Just once can one of these teams win 20-1? That would be fun, too.
The Canucks were poised to take the game outright with a 2-1 lead late in the third period, but Nashville’s Joel Ward scored his fourth goal of the playoffs to tie the game at 2. When asked how he scored the goal, I imagine Ward said something like, “I don’t know, I’m just a jerk who wants to make games longer.”
Tonight’s Predictions: Get your brooms out, Tampa; Detroit over San Jose; Philadelphia over Boston
