PLAYOFF BEARD: DAY 7 ... JOE THORNTON, THE THIRD MANNING BROTHER

by Neate Sager, Out Of Left Field

Joe Thornton scored a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Seriously.

It's probably a good idea to a run a photo just so people in Boston and much of Canada who had to turn in before midnight last night believe it actually happened. The San Jose Sharks captain, a regular playoff no-show, scoring the winner in the closing seconds of a Stanley Cup playoff game, on a smaller NHL scale, ranks with anything from Eli Manning's playoff run for the sheer what-the-hell-just-happened of it all.

It's about friggin' time he did something. There's always a natural urge to root for Thornton since (a) it riles up Boston fans, who never forgave him for not becoming another Phil Esposito; (b) he always gives off the impression that he likes to sleep in till noon, so he's easy to relate to. He's also from the same town as Rachel McAdams (St. Thomas, Ontario), so one always has to wonder ... there's a chance, eh?

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Sharks 3 Flames 2 (series tied 2-2): The way San Jose won, struggling for much of the night and then nabbing victory on two late goals, has that quality of a championship team spinning some irrefutable late-game magic. Between Jonathan Cheechoo scoring the game-tying goal from almost no angle and Thornton tipping in the game-winner with 9.4 seconds left, this was stunning. The Saddledome looked like it emptied out in about 30 seconds.

Thornton actually got the game turned around with about 10 minutes left. Miikka Kiprusoff, the Flames goalie, appeared to have the puck covered for a stoppage in play. Thornton swatted his glove, the puck came free and play continued, leading to a Calgary penalty. Cheechoo tied it a couple minutes later and the Flames crumpled.

Ducks 4 Stars 2 (Dallas leads 2-1): Anaheim finally showed up, two games late, but really, you should be rooting for Dallas to win this as quick as possible. First of all, Anaheim needs to go out before Scott Niedermayer has a chance to grow out his scary beard. Secondly, the sooner the Ducks are done, the sooner the media and Toronto and Vancouver can get into jousting over which woebegone Canadian NHL franchise is going to install Brian Burke as its general manager and grand benign dictator.

Avalanche 5 Wild 1 (series tied 2-2): This was just in there to cleanse the palate. They'll play another overtime game soon enough, you betcha.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Canadiens 1 Bruins 0 (Montreal leads 3-1): The good news for Bruins diehards is that all the Habs fans from Quebec and the Maritimes who turned the arena into Bell Centre South for Games 3 and 4 won't do that again this spring. The bad news is they won't have a chance.

This should end in Game 5 tomorrow in Montreal.

Flyers 6 Capitals 3 (Philadelphia leads 2-1): The Flyers are terrible people, but I also picked them to take this series.

Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.