What do you do after playing 140 minutes of hockey and the game still not settled? You scarf down some pizza. At that point, you’ll take anything that you can get your hands on.
Sixteen years ago today at 2:35 a.m., Keith Primeau sent Penguins fans who stuck it out for five overtimes at The Igloo home unhappy (and tired, that too). The future Flyers captain, who had recently been dropped down from the first line due to poor play, made a presumably very tired Darius Kasparaitis look silly on this one:
As Darren Pang put it on the ESPN broadcast (remember when they at least kind of cared about hockey?): “We mentioned it might not be a pretty play, it might be an ugly play [that decided the game]. This was a pretty play by Primeau.”
Here are some of the quotes gathered in Les Bowen’s gamer:
"I'd been going wide a lot," Primeau said. "So I crossed [Kasparaitis] up when I pulled it back. Everybody's been on me to shoot the puck more. I guess I got a good one off."
"I knew it was short side," Ron Tugnutt (70 saves) said of the game-winner. "I was thinking hopefully that it just hit the post. When I looked back I just went numb."
After getting burnt, Kasparaitis had a funny quote in The New York Times:
''Each overtime you go on it's getting ridiculous. 'Some guys are not even hitting anybody, just falling apart. It was tough, but it was a good experience. Sometimes, it was funny. John LeClair was falling all over the place. Both benches were laughing.''
Longtime Penguins announcer Paul Steigerwald, who said that he needed a Coke after the third overtime due to lightheadedness, was surprised Primeau had enough left in the tank to make such a nice move.
"We were pretty amazed at that, because nobody should have that type of energy at that point," Steigerwald said.
Primeau’s goal helped the Flyers dig out of an 0-2 hole in that 2000 Eastern Conference Semifinals series. They played New Jersey in the next round, a series in which the Orange and Black blew a 3-1 lead with home-ice advantage. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup.
(On a related note, the Department of Player Safety would have Scott Stevens on speed dial if he played today.)
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann