The third period that changed the season
Down three goals with eighteen minutes left, and then the building simply lost its mind.
Half the arena had started for the exits. The ones who stayed will be telling this story for twenty years.
Three goals in six minutes, the last of them with the goaltender pulled and the crowd on its feet since the second one.
The line change that did it
The coach shortened the bench to three forwards and rolled them until the ice tilted. It is the sort of decision that looks like genius or panic depending entirely on the scoreboard.
The room afterwards was oddly quiet, the way rooms are when a team realises what it might actually be.
Playoff positioning now swings on two games in nine days, and every ticket for both is gone.
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