The St. Louis Blues had just taken a 1-0 lead in Game 2 of their playoffs matchup with the San Jose Sharks when the unthinkable happened—well, maybe not the unthinkable so much as the why-would-you-thinkable. Their bench broke, causing a delay while the old one was carried away and the new one installed. Bernie Miklasz: Incredulous.

The Blues' bench is broken. That's the reason for the delay. Seriously.

— Bernie Miklasz (@miklasz) April 14, 2012

Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy: Successfully deploying a joke:

I always thought the Blues' bench might be one of their weaknesses.

— Mark Purdy (@MercPurdy) April 14, 2012

And that's really all there is to say about this bizarre footnote: It happened, and it's bizarre, and there are some good jokes on Twitter, if you're willing to leave "Blues bench" open on Twitter until it forms an ersatz Jay Leno monologue.

Now, presumably, with the furniture question settled, we can get back to the hockey-based portion of our evening's entertainment. Follow along here on our St. Louis Blues playoffs storystream with editor Laura Astorian and head on over to St. Louis Game Time for live talk with your fellow Blues fans.