By Kostya Kennedy, SI.com
Just getting to the Stanley Cup Final might have been enough for the aspiring young Penguins. They'd bull-rushed through the Eastern Conference after all, and if they were cowed by mighty Detroit, well, they'd just take the final step next year.
Winning Game 3 was even more validation: not only were they here, they belonged! Go out in five games, the sages agreed, and the Pens would still get a hero's welcome in Pittsburgh, and still be the trendy choice to corral the Cup in 2009.
Of course, the Penguins never quite saw it that way. They only saw a shimmering, outsized silver Cup still within their reach. After Game 3, defenseman Brooks Orpik, he of the quadruple-hit shift that had the Igloo crowd pounding their seats in appreciation, talked about how over the course of a long series a lot of body-bumping by the Penguins might wear out the Red Wings. He was thinking ahead.
So was Sidney Crosby, in a way, when he said, "We only have to win one" before Game 5 on Monday night -- as entertaining a game an NHL finals has produced since, well, Game 3. (Before that one you've got to go back a long way.) Crosby meant that Pittsburgh, down three games to one, only had to win one at a time to get to where he and the Penguins wanted to go.
Now we're at Game 6 and by all rights the Penguins should be finished. They could have folded many times in this series, certainly when down 3-2 in the final minute of regulation on Monday night. No one would have blamed them. The confident Red Wings, after all, were on their way to out-shooting them 58 to 32.
But the Penguins pulled their goalie and got a goal -- Maxime Talbot on the stuff with only 35 seconds left -- and suddenly it was anyone's game. No one was folding anything.
Triple-overtime games tend to have a little bit of magic in them -- how else to explain the game-winner being scored by a guy, right wing Petr Sykora, who just a period earlier had told broadcaster Pierre McGuire that he was going to be the one to score it. Calling his shot, as it were. Move over Babe, here comes Petey.
The Penguins may have been the second-best team for much of Monday night's 110 minutes of hockey, but they had the best goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury was stopping pucks with his extremities. "A toe save and a beauty!" That was inspiring, as was the sight of power forward Ryan Malone, bloodied by a shot in the second period, back for the third, his face all stopped up with cotton. And there was Sergei Gonchar, the Penguins' minutes leader throughout the playoffs, leaving the game as well after going headlong into the endboards. That was in period two. By the time Sykora went all Ruthian on us, Gonchar was back.
Now the never-say-die Penguins will try for a little more magic in Game 6 - at home, where they're wont to get it. Home is where Crosby scored twice in Game 3 last week, and where Adam Hall banked the winner in off Chris Osgood's back. Home is where, in the sea of white shirts, Penguins fans hold up signs that say "We Believe."
Lose in six and the Penguins have still had themselves one hell of a year. No doubt about it. Just not yet, not with Stanley still within reach one game at a time.
Jessica Gomes
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Nice write up. Pens fans (of which I'm one) have been treated to a magical year and an exciting series. Wings fans have seemingly only been subjected to a series filled with phantom calls and whining and diving on the part of the opposition. It's a shame that there's been so much talk about officiating and not the great two-way action that's been seen so much over the last week.
The Red Wings have an unbelievable team and are a real treat to watch. They way they move the puck and find each other on the ice is exciting.
Also exciting is the "never say die" attitude that got the Pens the Game 3 win and the Game 5 goals with 35 seconds left in regulation and in 3OT. Fleury has channeled his inner "Frank Pietrangelo" with incredible save after incredible save after a shaky start in the Finals.
Let's hope Malkin builds on a couple glimpses of his old self in Game 5 (nice pass to Sykora on the GW) and can get it going with the rest of the boys tonight.
The Igloo should be rocking tonight, and hopefully the Pens can build on the tremendous momentum they built up. No matter what happens, it has been a great series, a great season, and one that Pens fans won't soon forget.
kdevlin
Chicago , IL
Total Comments (1)
det fans who thought they had the cup going into monday nights game gotta be feeling a little differnt tonight.
beware the wounded penquin!
BARRA
Pittburgh, PA
Total Comments (3)
I love this this! i cannot wait until tonight.. all of game five my heart was pounding.. i've never seen a game that intense.. i was on the edge of my seat every time Detroit had the puck.. Pittsburgh and Detroit have certainly brought the attention back to the NHL it deserves.. i am proud to say i'm a Penguin's fan win or lose tonight. They've shown pride and passion after they could have just folded but no.. the series lives on. LETS GO PENS!!
MillerTime89
Huntingdon , PA
Total Comments (21)
Well written. Pittsburgh's biggest assets are its never-say-die attitude and the fact that it has nothing to lose. They are in a perfect spot here. In my mind, the Wings need this game even more than the Pens need it.
Orange and (very)…
Total Comments (295)
The Wings need this game more than the Pens? Really? Are you allowed to post something so ludicrous?
NCAA19
Total Comments (2)
Damn nice article........
T Rocks
Mysterious, PA
Total Comments (2574)
Very nice article. The Pens are David against Goliath. Maybe, as the underdog, we can get a win tonight at home. That would be so exciting! Wouldn't it be exciting to play Game 7 - overtime - no less!
Go Pens! If we win the Stanley Cup, I am not sure whose jersey I will purchase since everyone seems to have been a hero at one point in the playoffs and the Stanley Cup final.
5SuperBowls
Pittsburgh , PA
Total Comments (9)
Dont quit see the Wings skating around with the Cup in the Gloo. Game 7 anyone?
Cassidy's House:…
Whatsittoya, NO
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*quite
Cassidy's House:…
Whatsittoya, NO
Total Comments (16281)
I can't see the Wings hoisting the Cup tonight..., not in Pittsburgh. Sid the Kid and Co. will be feeding off that hard fought and awesome Game 5 in Detroit and, the fans are going to be insane!
Kev316
Peterborough, ON
Total Comments (655)
I'm also a Pens fan and I think this has been a FANTASTIC series. Detroit fans now are a lot like Pittsburgh Steeler fans of the 70's, we had a sense of entitlement, we were the best and we always were in the hunt for the Superbowl trophy. Detroit might be the better team, we will know soon, because whoever wins the 4th game in my opinion is the better team. I enjoy watching both, their styles seem so different to me and both teams are filled with great players. Root for the home team, but enjoy both teams, because they are equally great at what they do. Detroit is my 2nd favorite team and I was willing to watch them collect their cup in game 5 with 35 seconds remaining I almost shut off the TV, but I wanted to see the end, and WOW what an ending it was. Cheers to both! GO PENS
PenguinFan
Pittsburgh , PA
Total Comments (5)
Agreed, nice commentary. Go pens but they might not make it to Game 7 unless they score 1st and often.
JMPolly
Gardendale , AL
Total Comments (14)
Go Detroit! Its time to bring the Cup back to HOCKEYTOWN!! It's called that for a reason people!!!
detroitrockcitytednu…
Dewitt , MI
Total Comments (1)
Great article and a great attitude to boot! This team was being labeled as talented and inexperienced, which positioned them as "underdogs". Never underestimate the power of success in the absence of experience. They have been learning how to apply pressure when it's needed, how to play from behind, how to play with a lead and, (most importantly) it is NEVER over.
Exciting, fulfilling, inspiring and truly worthy of gaining the ever necessary experience to make this team a force to be reckoned with for as long as they can afford the key role players.
Great job Coach T! It's effort like this that make the powers that be mention your name for COTY. As a long time fan, I remember when this team was as hapless as the teams of the 60's and 70's.
burgher22
High Point , NC
Total Comments (32)
No matter who wins the cup, it will have been earned.
thecaptn23
thecaptn23
Covington , KY
Total Comments (2)
No matter who wins the cup, it will have been truly earned
thecaptn23
Covington , KY
Total Comments (2)
Crosby this crosby that---the pens have been outplayed in just about every period of this series--- a bounce here a refs call there and low and behold there will be a game 6. And thats fine because these are the 2 best teams in hockey and this is the Stanley Cup finals. But seriously you really think you can beat Detroit--cup gets raised tonight on the enemies turf just the way the last several series have ended---on enemy ice with a RED WING VICTORY!!
Roy55
Wayne , PA
Total Comments (2)
Anything can happen. This could go down as one of the greatest Stanley Cup Finals ever (if it goes to seven). Both teams are playing hard, playing the game the way it ought to be played!
I will say that the Pens cannot ask Fleury to stop another 55 shots and expect to win. They need to keep the Wings under 30 tonight.
davidej
Pittsburgh , PA
Total Comments (98)
I'm an Avs fan but called the Pens and Wings as the finalist. Why because theodore plays for us. Oh wait, this isn't about the Avs. I have been rooting for the Penguins through the playoffs. They are a great organization, great fans, and a great team. Crosby, Hossa (great pick-up), Malkin, Sylora, Fleury,...seriously! I see the Detroit machine, but I have to believe the passion that burns inside the Pens will bring them a Game 7. I feel it! I was exhausted after the Trip-OT, but am ready for more!
RPIERCEDENVER
Denver , CO
Total Comments (17)
Really good article. Written extremely well. I'm an Islanders fan, but I gotta tell you; game 5 was amazing. I flipped it on during the 2nd period, and watched Detroit come back. After big 'G' hit the boards, I said 'uh oh'. Then the puck to the face, and, wow. Third period and it was like Detroit was un-freaking stoppable. But somehow that goal with 34 seconds left; and again, wow. I stood in front of my TV, all through the OT, and just couldn't believe how good of a hockey game this was. You could see the exhaustion, the fustration, the pain, but nobody, on either team; was willing to quit. I really hope game 6 and game 7 are duplicates.
NOW FOR THE GRIPE: WHY IS IT GAME 5 WAS RELEGATED TO A FOOTNOTE ON EVERY SINGLE SPORTS PAGE AND NEWS COVERAGE? That was probably the best competition out there in a long time. Even Sports Illustrated how menial, basic, sad storylines for it. And why is the NHL link after college sports, golf, etc.... Sports Illustrated, get with it, please. HOCKEY is the best game out there, bar none. It should be first on the ticker, especially when your talking about Lord Stanley's Cup.
robert cook
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