Mistakes kill ... especially in sudden-death overtime. And those mistakes can be obvious or subtle. On Monday night, a glaring overtime miscue proved season-ending for the Caps, while a more hidden OT error grounded the Wings until next fall.

In Pittsburgh, there might as well have been a spotlight on usually sure-handed Washington defenseman Sergei Gonchar as he tried to move the puck through the middle over his own blueline.

As Gonchar started to exit the zone, he was challenged by Penguin sharpshooter Martin Straka. At that point -- as the last man back -- Gonchar should have moved the puck forward to a teammate, preferably to the side boards. The play can be found in Chapter 1 of the defenseman's handbook. Instead, Gonchar went against the book, opting to make a move to skip past the dangerous Straka. As he did so, he lost control of the puck. The two men collided, with the puck and Straka bouncing off toward Caps goalie Olaf Kolzig. In alone, with nobody but the goaltender to cover for Gonchar, Straka fired a wrister into the top of the net.

In that second, the Caps' season was over.

Because Gonchar's mistake was so obvious, he'll likely be hearing about it for years to come. That probably won't be the case for Detroit's Sergei Fedorov, who had played a very subtle -- but equally important -- role in his team's OT demise.

L.A.'s series clinching goal started with a clean breakout executed by defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Aaron Miller, who moved the puck quickly to Ziggy Palffy in the neutral zone. Palffy advanced the biscuit to Jozef Stumpel on the right side. Stumpel moved over the blueline and fired a shot at Detroit goalie Chris Osgood, who left a rebound in the slot.

That's where Fedorov made his mistake. He didn't backcheck. At least, he didn't backcheck nearly as aggressively as he should have -- with the season on the line. Because of that, he failed to pick up Wing-killer Adam Deadmarsh, who deposited the puck past the sprawling Osgood as Fedorov skated into the play too late.

Just like that, the Wings were clipped.

Of the two mistakes (and remember, everybody makes 'em), Fedorov's seems more disturbing. While Gonchar made his goof while trying to make an agressive play, Fedorov's blunder was a passive one. Clearly, no player can afford to be passive in the very passionate Stanley Cup playoffs. And a player of Fedorov's skating skill shouldn't be beaten back into his end, especially in sudden-death overtime.

Either way, Gonchar and Fedorov will wear the goat horns in their respective towns. And, they'll have a lot of time to think about what they might have done differently.

E.J. Hradek covers hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.