Game 5: Instant analysis

Monday, June 2, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

• Yesterday's hero is today's goat. Jiri Hudler, who scored the Game 4 winner, was careless with his stick in the third overtime. He was rightfully handed a double minor for high-sticking Rob Scuderi. On the power play, Petr Sykora ended Game 5 with a wrister that breezed off Chris Osgood's left shoulder and into the net. With that, we'll see you for Game 6 on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

• Super job by Pens stopper Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 55 saves, including several series savers. He made more than one stretching left-pad save during the evening.

 
 

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E.J. Hradek
E.J. Hradek

E.J. Hradek is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, joining the staff prior to its launch in 1998. He began covering hockey as a writer/editor for Hockey Illustrated in 1989. The following year, he beat the Stars to Dallas (by three years), taking over as the editor of Beckett Hockey Monthly. When the Stars finally did arrive in Big D, he hosted a weekly hockey radio show and tried (unsuccessfully) to convert ESPN's Skip Bayless to the greatest game on ice.

In 1996, Hradek left Dallas, but not the Stars. Relocating back to the New York area, he became a part-time pro scout for the club, seeing more than 100 NHL/AHL games for each of the next two seasons. The scouting gig was a great learning experience, offering a different view of the game.

Hradek grew up in Tuckahoe, N.Y., about a 40-minute train ride from New York City. Despite the proximity to the Rangers, Hradek embraced the Islanders when the expansion franchise debuted in 1972. Eight years later, he was part of the sellout crowd at the Nassau Coliseum that witnessed the Islanders' first Stanley Cup championship.


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