PITTSBURGH, Pa – It’s official, after winning Game 6 to force a final game the Pittsburgh Penguins are indeed better this year than they were last when the Detroit Red Wings knocked them off in six games. The Penguins used a mix of depth scoring and a solid team defense to move on to Game 7.
The game was in question right until the end as the Red Wings had several excellent chances, including two power play attempts, to even up the game but they were unable to get the tying goal. Pittsburgh jumped out to a two-goal lead, but Detroit moved to within a score midway through the third period to narrow the Penguins advantage to a single tally.
In reality the score did not reflect the advantage the Penguins had over the course of the evening. Pittsburgh peppered Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood with 31 shots and held a decided advantage in play for the first half of the game.
“I thought they were better than us…at the start of the game, probably, for the first almost 32 minutes,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. “They won more races and more battles, had more play, were on top of us more, and they kept us to the outside. I thought we started to build some momentum at the end of the second period, and then obviously we had a good third period.”
Meanwhile after getting shelled in Game 5 Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was named the star of the game. In actuality Fleury might have been the third best goaltender in a game filled with sterling saves. As previously mentioned this game could have been a blowout if not for Osgood and most of Pittsburgh’s biggest stops were made by defenseman Rob Scuderi.
R. Scuderi. Photo courtesy of the NHL
With Pittsburgh desperately trying to hang on the Red Wings pressured the Penguins for the tying score. Detroit Nicklas Lidstrom had a sure marker taken away at the tail end of a power play when Scuderi cleared the puck away from a wide-open goal before Lidstrom could convert. Scuderi, a free-agent-to-be, saved the game again with just seconds remaining when he stopped three shots from going in the net with Fleury completely out of position.
By no means was Fleury chopped liver as he made a crucial save when he stopped Dan Cleary’s breakaway backhand attempt with a minute and a half left in the contest.
“I knew that could be a turning point if I could make the save,” said Fleury. “At first I was kind of thinking about forechecking, but I tried to be patient and wait for him to make the first move, and I got a piece of it.”
Pittsburgh has been leaning on stars Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby for their offense in this series, but Game 6 was the game where the depth players won the contest for the Penguins.
After a scoreless first period the Penguins went ahead on a rare error by the Red Wings defense. Detroit defender Brett Ledba tried to keep the puck in at the line but Jordan Staal poked the puck away and raced away on a two-on-one with Tyler Kennedy. Using Kennedy as a decoy, Staal fired a wrist shot high into Osgood’s chest and the goaltender could not hang on. The rebound came directly out to Staal and he brought it home for the score.
Kennedy would get a goal of this own, the eventual game-winner, registering his goal with ease. Ruslan Fedotenko tapped the puck behind the net and Kennedy walked right in front of Osgood before shooting the puck between the goaltenders arm and body and into the far side of the cage.
“It’s not going to be the same guy every night, but that’s why we’ve had success,” said Sidney Crosby. “We lean on each other, and in a big game like this, TK (Kennedy), Staalsy (Staal), they’ve come up with some big goals, and those role players so to speak, they get big plays, and we’ve depended on them all season long.”
Detroit’s Kris Draper made it interesting when he picked up a huge rebound left by Fleury after the goaltender made a save on Jonathan Ericsson and fired it into the goal. However the Red Wings were unable to tie and have left the door open for the Penguins to come back and steal the series.
The hockey world’s ultimate championship will be decided on Friday, June 12 in Detroit.
“We’re going home. Last game. You win, you win the Stanley Cup. So we’re feeling pretty good, but we know it’s not easy,” said Detroit’s Darren Helm. “You know, they won a big game against Washington in their rink, so we know they can win a Game 7 on the road. But we know we’ve done the same thing. So both teams will be ready, and we’ve got to be prepared and ready.”
Notes
The Penguins defied the odds by winning this game becoming just the tenth team in 24 tries to win a Game 6 when trailing 3 games to 2. Teams hosting Game 6 trailing the Stanley Cup Final 3-2 had posted a 9-14 record since the best-of-seven format was introduced in 1939. Of the nine clubs who forced a seventh and deciding game, two went on to capture the Stanley Cup the 1950 Detroit Red Wings and the 1971 Montreal Canadiens….Mike Babcock has won more games (58) in his first six seasons as a head coach than any other head coach in the history of the game…Fleury is now 5-0 in the next game after allowing four or more goals in the playoffs…Unless Crosby goes crazy in Game 7 and passes Malkin for the playoff scoring lead (Malkin leads Crosby 35-31 after Game 6) Malkin will become the first player to lead the league in both regular season and playoff scoring since Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux accomplished the feat during the 1991-92 season…Lidstrom is averaging 25:37 of ice time in this series to lead all skaters in the finals.
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