The thing about writing a column from an NHL playoff game is that you always have to be aware that the game will go multiple overtimes and last far beyond even the latest newspaper deadline. So it's usually a good idea to have something in hand you can send to fill the space in the paper if that should occur.
This is the column I had ready to go Thursday, just in case the Ducks and Sharks had played a game that was still going at deadline.

ANAHEIM -- A strange thing happened as I bounced from the NBA playoffs to the NBA postseason: It became hard to tell them apart.
After dropping in on the Ducks' morning skate Thursday, I felt remarkably like I was back at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo 24 hours earlier.
No, it's not that all the games start running together. And obviously, the Ducks' locker room has no seven-footers, and the Lakers don't have Canadian accents.
But in listening to the Ducks talk about their preparations for Thursday night's playoff series with San Jose -- the series the Ducks led 2-1 going into Game 4 -- it was hard not to hear echoes of the Lakers talking about Utah.
Consider Ducks forward Corey Perry, talking about the desire to establish early control in Game 4.
"We have to have a strong start," Perry said. "We have to be physical, we have to get on the forecheck and we have to stay out of the penalty box and limit our turnovers."
Later, he added, "Just take them out of their rhythm. If we take them out of their rhythm and be physical, we'll be successful."
Compare that to what Pau Gasol had to say about the challenge the Lakers were going to face in their first road game of the Utah series.
"It's going to be hard," said Gasol, "but I think if we come out of the locker room and jump on them early and try and control the tempo of the game, and don't let them get comfortable and get going in their usual stuff, I think we can be successful there."
In the Ducks' locker room, you had Todd Marchant saying Thursday's game would come down to "execution and effort, basically. Last game, we didn't have quite the same effort and execution we had in Game 2."
In the Lakers' post-practice media session Wednesday, you had Lamar Odom saying, "We're going to come out, play a little harder than we played yesterday, focus, try to do everything right."
In Anaheim, there was Teemu Selanne talking about the fact that Thursday's game was the 10th between the Ducks and Sharks.
"Obviously, we've played them so many times," said Selanne. "So there's no secrets. ... I think it's just battle -- who wants to win more. That's how it works."
In El Segundo, before the first-game of the Lakers-Jazz series, Phil Jackson was saying something similar, since the Lakers finished the regular season against Utah, then had five days to prepare to face the Jazz again.
"I don't think we can say a whole lot more about them other than just to say, go out, you've got all the information, now put it into play," he said. "It's all about reactions now. It's all about instincts and reactions."
You play these teams again and again and again, things are going to begin to look really familiar. Which is, of course, where the coaches start putting their stamp on things. They need to make them less familiar -- and more successful.
And so, with that in mind, you hear this:
"You have to make adjustments continually, and some of them are in-game and some of them are between, day to day. We try to review some of the things we felt we didn't do very well, and we'll try to correct some of those things."
And this:
"We have to anticipate (adjustments). And that's really the key, I think, in the playoffs, anticipating what the other team is going to do."
The first of those comments was from Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. The second was from Phil Jackson. But they could just as easily have been reversed.
All of which suggests more than mere coincidence. The cynically inclined might say it means all athletes work from the same book of clichés, but it's a bit deeper than that.
What this really points to is the degree that there are certain constants in all sports -- the importance of defense, say, or consistent effort. And hockey and basketball, in particular, share more characteristics than the casual onlooker might perceive, even down to certain structural concepts of movement, given that in each, five players are always moving toward a goal. It's just that in hockey, a sixth player guards that goal.
The parallels become even greater at playoff time, when teams in both sports must adjust to playing the same opponent repeatedly is a challenge distinct from that of the regular season. (To quote Jackson: "During the regular season, you want to maintain and sustain an effort. Now you improve.")
And so, as long as the Lakers and Ducks continue in the postseason, you probably shouldn't be surprised if you continue to hear parallel comments from both teams.
Ultimately, they're both in the business of winning and losing. And there are only so many ways to do those things.
-- Contact David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com.