Afterwords: Countdown to Whiplash

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports ‘Cause you’ve been listening for answers

But the city screams and all your dreams go unheard

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Losing playoff games is the worst feeling in the hockey fan’s world. Or one of, at least. There’s nothing more bitter than imagining the possibilities of Ultimate Sports Glory, only to see the team falter as the stage gets bigger.

So, the Stars lost a one-goal game that looked very different from the one-goal game they were losing by before that. Or the one before that. Or the one before that. They did not win, is the point.

It was a seesaw affair at first, albeit a slow one. Then the seesaw’s fulcrum dropped a bunch of acid late in the third period, launched the seesaw…