DETROIT, Mich – Every playoff season there is a new, unexpected player who etches his name into hockey lore. This season that player is Maxime Talbot.
Led by a pair of Talbot goals—his third and fourth goals of the Finals–and a stifling defense the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed the 2009 Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win. The win defied the odds as the Penguins had to overcome a two-game deficit and win on Detroit’s home ice in Game 7.
It would be easy to state the Penguins are the supreme team in the NHL this year because of their high-powered offense, but when their backs were to the wall their defense took over. Faced with elimination Pittsburgh limited the Red Wings to just 50 shots over the last two games and most of those shots were from the outside. Conn Smythe trophy winner Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby did combine for 67 points in the tournament, but in the end it was team defense which enabled Pittsburgh to become champions for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
When all was said and done the NHL had to be relieved Detroit registered a goal because had they not the league would have had to explain why the Stanley Cup-winning goal had been scored on a blown icing call. Pittsburgh defender Brooks Orpik was several strides behind the red line when he flicked the puck into the Red Wings zone. The play should have been blown dead when Detroit defender Nicklas Kronwall touched the puck, but play was allowed to continue. A gaffe by Detroit’s Brad Stuart followed. Stuart attempted to fire the puck up ice but instead his pass hit Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin in the skates and Malkin fed it to Talbot. Talbot wasted no time and fired the puck through goaltender Chris Osgood’s legs for the game’s first goal.
Talbot’s second goal came off a blown coverage. Pittsburgh Chris Kunitz fended off a pinching Stuart to get the puck to Talbot. With Stuart out of position it was Jiri Hudler’s job to cover for his teammate, but instead of getting back defensively Hudler turned towards Kunitz and was out of position as Talbot went on a two-on-one break with Tyler Kennedy. Talbot never tried to pass the puck and he wristed the shot over Osgood’s left shoulder after the Detroit goaltender drifted off his angle.
“Max Talbot, I don’t have a good explanation about why this guy can come up big in tough situations or big games, but he’s done it enough to know that’s what he can do,” said Pittsburgh coach Dan Byslma.
“He’s gritty, he’s determined, and he’s not scared to go after it. (It was a) good job on the forecheck, great turnover created by “Geno” (Malkin). I didn’t even see that first one go in. But, again, he got an opportunity on the two-on-one. I did see that one go in. That one felt good.”
Down by two goals going into the third period Detroit tried to force Pittsburgh into ceding the center of the ice but they never did. The Red Wings pulled to within a goal when Jonathan Ericsson one-timed a shot over Fleury’s left shoulder from the point. The Wings would come close to tying the game a few minutes later when a Niklas Kronwall rang the puck off the crossbar on an attempt Fleury never saw. Detroit would continue to apply pressure and nearly tied the game with just seconds left.
With under five seconds left in the game the puck was fired towards the goal by Henrik Zetterberg but the puck was deflected by Fleury to Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom fired the puck at a momentarily open corner of the net but Fleury dove across the goal mouth to make the save. An instant later the game was over and the torch was passed from the experienced Wings to the younger Penguins.
Notes
Seven different goal scorers registered game-winning goals during the series…The home team was 12-2 in Game 7 of the Finals until Pittsburgh’s win…Malkin became the first Russian-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy….Crosby is the youngest captain to win the Stanley Cup in NHL history…Pittsburgh is now 5-0 on the road in Game 7s…The Penguins duplicated the 1971 Montreal Canadiens in multiple categories. The two teams are the only teams to win the Stanley Cup after dropping the first two games of the Final on the road, the only club to win Game 7 of a Final on the road after the home club won the first six games, the only clubs to win the Stanley Cup with a rookie head coach hired in mid-season and the only Stanley Cup champions to win two Game 7s on the road in the same playoff year…Malkin became the first player since Mario Lemieux in 1992 to win the NHL’s regular season and playoff scoring races and win the Conn Smythe Trophy. Malkin is a finalist for the NHL regular season MVP (Hart Trophy) award…Pittsburgh won the game despite losing Crosby to injury for over half the contest. Midway through the second period the Penguins captain was checked into the boards by Johan Franzen and with the exception of a brief shift in the third period did not play the rest of the game…Talbot became just the ninth player in NHL history to score two goals in a Game 7 of the Finals.
Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.