Pucks On Pucks

Who needs cocaine when you can watch this epic Red Wings and Hurricanes 3-on-3 OT?

It's an absolute crime what's happened to the 3-on-3 overtime in the NHL. Gone are the days of the back-and-forth, chicken-with-your-head-cut-off style of play that made 3-on-3 so electric in its infancy. It's now become a puck possession battle, with each team trying their hardest to not give up a backbreaking 2-on-0 the other way. It's hard to blame them, but it's made for boring product that leads to the mind-numbingly awful shootout.

Fortunately, there are still rare occasions when 3-on-3 looks like it once did, and Tuesday night in Detroit was one such occasion. The Metropolitan division-leading Carolina Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead with less than four minutes to play on a Jordan Staal goal, but Red Wings center Dylan Larkin tied the game 3-3 38 seconds later. And on to OT we went. 

While the below clip didn't capture the full craziness of the overtime period (I know because I watched because I had money on it because I'm a degenerate), it still features a handful of the most insane highlights the extra five minutes provided. We've never done cocaine, but we'd imagine it would produce a similar feeling to watching this high-octane affair, which ended with a game-winner by 19-year-old Red Wings rookie Lucas Raymond:

Bananas. And again, this highlight package is missing some wild moments. Carolina goalie Antti Raanta made two or three other stand-on-your-head type saves that kept the Canes alive almost to the bitter end of OT, but Raymond was able to cash in late for his second career OT winner. Not bad for a dude who is still a year and 26 days away from being able to legally drink. 

Don't look now, but the Wings and their young core have a little something something going here. No, they aren't going to make the playoffs (currently 11 points out), but right now they are in that excellent position of letting the kids play in meaningful games, invaluable experience for the future. NHL fans should welcome Detroit's resurgence with open arms. The league is a better place when as many original six teams as possible are contenders.