Dream Turns to Nightmare for Lilja
No one could have gone through the swing of emotions that Andreas Lilja went through in Game 5. His goal was the lone score through the first 59 minutes of play. It was his first career playoff goal and at the time it stood as the game winner and would have sent Detroit off to Anaheim with a 3 games to 2 lead. It would have been the perfect exclamation point for what has been an excellent playoffs for the defenseman who spent much of the season as the #7 defenseman but has played heavy minutes due to injuries to Mathieu Schneider, Brett Lebda and Niklas Kronwall.
But the game of his career turned into a nightmare when his clearing attempt at the 11:55 mark of overtime flubbed off his stick and floated onto the stick of Teemu Selanne. Just like that Selanne swooped in to score the game winner off a turnover from Lilja. And just like that Lilja’s afternoon took a 180 degree turn.
It obviously sucks but to his credit he handled adversity well according to Bruce MacLeod over at Red Wings Corner. MacLeod includes a quote from a Rudyard Kipling poem that I’m pretty sure University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr has quoted about meeting with triumph and disaster and treating them the same. Then he wrote about how Lilja handled the bright lights and being repeatedly questioned about the miscue:
Andreas Lilja rarely has to handle even one question after a hockey game, let alone 100. Stay-at-home defensemen aren’t that helpful to reporters who are looking for comments on a particular goal or a pass turned around an outcome. But on Sunday afternoon, Andreas Lilja was the most sought-out player in the Detroit locker room.
…
What I saw after Sunday’s game, however, impressed me just as much as the outcome of the game depressed me. Andreas Lilja sat on the small stool at his locker and answered every reporter, looked into every bright camera light without squinting, dealt with every question (although they were mostly the same question asked over and over and over). And that is not easy. Nor was it necessary.
Good on ya, Lilja. I feel awful for him but like Bruce I’m really impressed with his willingness to face the press and not just duck out of the lockerroom. I’m not a big believer in karma or in justice for that matter but it’d be great to see him get another crack at a dream NHL playoff game this season.
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