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Everything that's right and wrong with the NHL and modern sports journalism can be encapsulated within this clip and the furor that has followed it:
Game on his stick, Devin Setoguchi, one of the canniest goalscorers in the NHL to never become a consistent goalscorer, glides down the ice towards Carey Price and... falls on his face.
Even rougher is the Benny Hill version.
Laughs abound. Headlines: "SETOGUCHI BLOWS IT," "POINT AND LAUGH AT SETOGUCHI," "THAT GUY CAN'T EVEN SKATE LOL." Or at least the equivalent of that.
The problem is, there wouldn't have even been a shootout if not for one Devin Setoguchi.
Setoguchi's goal, with 10 seconds remaining, capped the Wild's comeback from a three-goal deficit in the third period and forced overtime, giving the Wild a valuable point as they desperately cling to their fading playoff ambitions. He also assisted on Dany Heatley's goal with 1:43 left in the period, to make having him out there at the end of the game even relevant.
HE'S A HERO.
No. He's a goat in this, our farcical, clip-oriented world.
To be fair to most bloggers who noted the spectacular shootout fail, it was a pretty darn spectacular fail and most made sure to at least mention that Setoguchi tied the game.
But the legitimate, important stuff was just a footnote, not the headline.
It wasn't: "Devin Setoguchi scored two points, including the game-tying goal with seconds remaining in the Minnesota Wild's 5-4 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately, as Minnesota's third and final shooter, he lost the puck and fell on his face in a spectacular mishap. Here's the video."
Instead, we get a whole lot of "LOOK AT THIS STUPID IDIOT FALL ON HIS FACE. He tied the game earlier, BUT HE BLEW IT DURING THE POST-GAME SKILLS COMPETITION."
All while failing to mention that two other Wild players before him also managed to miss -- they lost the shootout 1-0 -- without having the indignity of falling on their face.
So go ahead, Devin. Let the hater's hate. Just know that, in this little corner of the internet, your strong performance did not go unnoticed.