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Sunday, Sunday, gotta get down on . . . wait, that doesn’t sound right.

It’s Sunday, folks, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting down today.  I might actually be down and out, based on my busy schedule yesterday.  If you’re like me, today is going to be a laid-back affair, so take a little time for yourself this morning and see what the World Wide Web has to say about hockey!

The folks over at Bleacher Report present to you what we should all take away from last night’s Stanley Cup Playoffs action.

Logan Couture was the hero in San Jose last night, as his OT goal cut the King’s lead to 2-1.  Watch the NHL on TSN

crew discuss how he went from being hobbled to hero, as well as other stories from last night’s game.

Looking ahead to the offseason?  Bleacher Report plays a little fact or fiction with some potential trade rumors/buyout possibilities that are swirling about the NHL this morning.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs have a way of making fans forget about the surprises and success stories of the regular season.  We get so obsessed with who wins the Cup, we lose sight of how a team like the Montreal Canadiens went from being picked to finish last in their division to winning it during the regular season, as Hockey Buzz reminds us.

It wasn’t bad enough that the San Jose Sharks lost Raffi Torres for the entire second round of the playoffs; now they are a little lighter in the pocketbook, too!

And I leave you today with a link every Sabres’ fan should visit: an examination of Jhonas Enroth and the success he is having in the IIHF World Championships.  Enjoy!

May 14, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks goalie Antti Niemi (31) reacts during game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Sharks 4-3 to take a 2-0 series lead. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Things were looking pretty good for the San Jose Sharks last night.

Having been shutout in game one of their NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Los Angeles Kings, the Sharks had found a way to put three pucks past All-World goalie Jonathan Quick and were up 3-2 over the Kings.  All they had to do was hold on, and they would have stolen home ice advantage away, no mean feat considering how hard it is to go into the Shark Tank and win as the road team.  San Jose was tied for the best home winning percentage this year in the NHL with Chicago and LA, at .813, and only lost 2 games in regulation on their home ice the entire regular season.

Game winding down, San Jose looking to head home tied 1-1 . . . plenty of upside for the Sharks.

Yet here we are, discussing a series that LA currently leads 2-0.  Hmmm.   How, exactly, did this happen?  What made Sharks’ Coach Todd McLellan leave his team alone in the dressing room following the defeat?

The good news: San Jose did not suffer a late-game meltdown anywhere near as historic as the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 7 of their first-round match-up with Boston.  Phew.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The bad news: with under two minutes left in the game, San Jose coughed up two goals within 22 seconds of one another, transforming their 3-2 lead into a 4-3 deficit which they failed to overcome.  How?  Two words: stupid penalties.

A tripping penalty with under three minutes to go.  A delay of game penalty 22 seconds later.  Giving the Stanley Cup-defending, home-team Los Angeles Kings a 5-on-3 advantage with just over two minutes to go in a one-goal game?

Yep; that’ll do ‘er.

For the second straight game, the San Jose Sharks have been the better 5-on-5 team, but they have nothing to show for it, which goes to show you how thin the line between a good team and a Stanley Cup Championship team can be.   Mental fortitude, the belief that the game is never over until the horn sounds, possessing the discipline required to stay out of the penalty box when it most matters – no amount of talent in the world will help a team win a championship if it doesn’t possess the sort of intangible qualities that I just listed.  Hello, last year’s Pittsburgh Penguins: I’m pointing the finger at you.  So listen up, San Jose: when you say things such as this blurb from Brad Stuart -

“I think 5-on-5, we were the better team. We keep doing those kinds of things, we’ll get our wins. That’s what we have to do”

- well, you’re actually wrong, guys.  Because, in addition to the good “kinds of things” you’re doing, you are also doing bad “kinds of things,” like, you know, COMMITTING PENALTIES LATE IN THE GAME.

Sorry to get forceful there,  but it’s true.  The better team doesn’t always win, San Jose, so you can tell yourself that things will start going your way if you just keep plugging away, but that won’t keep you warm at night when you’re sleeping in your beds two weeks from now.  Talent enough won’t win you the Cup, San Jose, and the LA Kings are currently schooling you in that regard.