That was a continuation of the most dismal display of adaptive hockey I have ever seen. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twenty-five times, shame on me. I’m not the sort that really starts to rail on a team when they suffer a tough loss or put in a poor effort, but tonight was a Titanic display of apathy.

Game Five. Canucks-Stars: what jokes are made of. Screaming for much of the game for someone, anyone, to go to the front of the net, it was much to my dismay that Brendan Morrow was the player who decided to listen to me. I won’t make the same mistake again, but personally, I blame Dave Pratt. It was he who went on the radio just hours before puckdrop to proclaim “We are now just hours away from a Ducks-Canucks second round matchup...”

What a great night of hockey. I was fortunate enough to watch 5 hours straight, much to the expense of my exams and work productivity.

The Playoffs are all about sacrifice, about fighting through pain and adversity, no matter what the cost. So kudos to Marty Turco for sucking it up and taking only a few moments and some eye drops to get past the hurdle that was a shower of snow in his grill last night. We can’t all be like Roberto and laugh that kind of thing off, or treat it as something of an afterthought.

There’s a breaking news story coming out of every US news network right now about what could end up being the worst school shooting in US history. 29 people are reported dead so far, with that number expected to rise. It was a lone gunman who was killed either by himself or by authorities, it’s not clear yet. I mention it here because it’s more than likely all that we will hear about for the next few days, weeks, months, it’s even plastered all over ESPN.com

What I found most interesting about Game 3 was that aside from the goaltenders, the heroes of the game were all the lesser known players. Forget about Modano, Naslund, Sedin, Sedin, Zubov, and Morrow - the heroes of Game 3 for both teams were the other guys.

Everything below is wildly incoherent. I was so short on time and had so many things to say that fancy smoke and mirror tricks like "editing" and "paragraphs" had to be sacrificed for the sake of efficiency. Read at your own peril.

After a disappointing effort in Game 2, the Canucks packed up and hit the road earlier today, with Game 3 set to go in Dallas tomorrow night at 6:30 PST. Matt Cooke did not make the trip, forced to stay home until his tweaked groin is good to go. He won't return until Game 5 at the earliest, but there is some good news: Alex Burrows should draw back into the line-up tomorrow, and finally -- finally -- Josh Green has been cleared to play.

Alexander Radulov, the hot rookie that had three goals and an assist in the series against San Jose, has been suspended by the NHL for one game following a review of his blatant boarding of Steve Bernier of the San Jose Sharks.

If you were thinking that my title referred to the current epic Canucks vs. Star defensive struggle, then you need to get a second TV to watch the amazing playoff series that is Nashville/San Jose.