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Well, the first night of the 2008 playoffs is in the books. And already, there was a riveting game which required sudden death. That and a lot more in my total randomness postseason edition:

-The game of the night was played between the Avs and Wild at Xcel Energy Center with Colorado taking the home ice away from Minnesota thanks to always reliable captain Joe Sakic, who potted the OT winner at 11:11 to lift his team over the Wild 3-2.

But this game was so much more than that with all sorts of unpredictable entertainment which is what makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs so compelling. The Avs had led by two goals off the sticks of Kurt Sauer and Ryan Smyth after 40 minutes. However, the Wild stormed back getting two in a row 3:11 apart from Mikko Koivu and unlikely source Todd Fedoruk, who left alone in front had a nifty backhand finish to beat Jose Theodore to knot it.

That’s when the game got a little crazy. The Avs took over generating quality chance after chance but couldn’t find the go-ahead tally due to superb netminding from Niklas Backstrom and his best friend- the goalposts which denied Milan Hejduk and a couple of other Colorado players. Even goal reviews went against the Avs including an odd situation where they ruled no goal on a Minny player who put his glove over the puck and basically put it over the line (inconclusive). Smyth still had a penalty shot to try to put them ahead but an unreal sliding Backstrom pad stop kept it tied forcing sudden death.

In it, both goalies made big stops including a huge denial by Theodore on a wonderful toe drag and cut by Wild defender Brent Burns just getting a piece to force it wide. Finally, all-time playoff OT specialist Sakic got to a loose Ruslan Salei rebound chance and buried a backhand past Backstrom to give the Avs Game One. It was his eighth career playoff OT tally. Two better than Maurice “Rocket” Richard and three more than Glenn Anderson.

-That sub-Av announcer is an embarrassment. I’d heard about his penchant for screaming, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” after a big goal but yikes. That was just scary. No wonder they replaced him. Too bad the real play-by-play man is sick or something. I don’t know the exact details. Sorry in advance.

-If John Madden really made that remark about his former teammate who helped him win two Stanley Cups, then he’s either a dummy or suffering from Bobby Holik diarrhea of the mouth disease. After tonight, I’m opting for the latter.

-Speaking of Scott Gomez, he was turnover-prone in that first but once he created Brendan Shanahan’s opening tally early in the second, he was the best forward out there earning every big buck. It was also refreshing to see a pulse from Sean Avery, who had been MIA over the past month.

-If Gomez was the best forward, then Henrik Lundqvist was the best player on the ice making big save after big save in helping his less than impressive Ranger team steal Game One in the Battle of the Hudson. That stop on Patrik Elias who was on the doorstep was enormous in a tie game. His goaltending at the beginning of the third saved his flat team.

-The Devils really didn’t play all that poorly establishing their physical forecheck, forcing turnovers and creating chances. They even threw a new wrinkle into their power play which paid dividends on the Paul Martin tying tally.

-Who knew that Marty Brodeur’s strength would turn into a weakness at such an important juncture of a tie game? Though I must say the hustle by rookie Ryan Callahan along with some doggedness from “third line center” Gomez is what resulted in the deciding shorthanded goal.

-If there was a shaky area for the Blueshirts despite gaining the home ice, it had to be their defensive coverage which had all sorts of trouble with the Devil forecheck. In particular, key tandem Fedor Tyutin and Dan Girardi had some brutal turnovers. Tom Renney shouldn’t be pleased with that aspect. The positives were rookie Marc Staal, Christian Backman and Michal Rozsival, who all turned in solid performances. Paul Mara wasn’t bad either in place of Marek Malik. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Malik returns for Game Two.

-Nice performance by Hart candidate Evgeni Malkin, notching a goal and two helpers in a 4-0 home shutout over the Sens.

-The second seeded Pens also got back gritty vet Gary Roberts, who made his presence felt by starting the scoring 68 seconds in and concluding things by netting his second of the night and then taking a cheap run at a Sen who faced the boards with 12 seconds left. Just assinine. There were a couple of scraps late including out of all things a Ryan Whitney beatdown of Ottawa Tinman Wade Redden. If Game Two’s anything like this sign me up!

-Stopping all 26 Ottawa shots, Marc-Andre Fleury earned his first career NHL playoff shutout. 

-Our shot of the night has to be this classic one from outside Mellon Arena where Pens fans who couldn’t make it inside camped outside and enjoyed the action. That’s just freaking aweeesssooome!!!!!

-In the fourth game of the night, the Flames took home ice away from the Sharks by hanging on for a 3-2 win. They can thank No.1 Star Miikka Kiprusoff, who was brilliant in shutting the door on his former team finishing with 37 saves. Despite the Sharks outshooting Calgary 28-14 the final 40 minutes, Kipper’s clutch performance allowed the Flames to prevail at the Shark Tank.

-The Flames used a strong start getting the first couple of goals 2:30 apart on a Stephane Yelle deflection past Evgeni Nabokov and a Dion Phaneuf lay-up from 15 feet uncovered during a power play. San Jose’s inexplicable beginning put them in a hole the rest of the night even though Ryan Clowe netted the first of two only 49 seconds later to slice the deficit in half.

-The biggest goal came thanks to a yeoman-like effort from Calgary Mr. Everything Jarome Iginla. With his team on the defensive, the 50-goal scorer forced Brian Campbell at the point and then made a power move on a two-on-one forcing Nabokov to kick out the puck. While Iginla plowed into the net and knocked it off, a hustling Yelle wristed the rebound past the San Jose netminder. It would go to video review, which confirmed that the puck had already crossed the line before Iginla knocked the net off allowing it to stand up.

-The goal would prove large when Clowe parked himself in front and got two whacks at a nifty Joe Thornton centering feed, rebounding the second pointblank chance past Kiprusoff, who had robbed him initially. His second gave San Jose a chance to pull Nabokov for an extra attacker with 57 ticks remaining. It setup a frantic finish in which the Sharks kept the puck in at least three different times but couldn’t put the puck past Kiprusoff or the Calgary D which held on for dear life narrowly escaping with Mike Keenan’s first playoff win in 12 years since he coached St. Louis.

-Is that the longest stretch between playoff appearances for a coach? Probably not but I can’t help but wonder.

-Stay tuned for more exciting playoff coverage as Boston and Montreal get underway along with Detroit and Nashville plus Game One between the defending champion Ducks and Stars. Also, the pressure will be on the Sharks to bounceback a night later in Game Two versus Calgary.