Finally Pittsburgh Breaks Through, Wins Stanley Cup In Detroit.

Last night I got to witness history in the making.  The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to lay claim as the 2009 NHL’s Stanley Cup champions.  It was the first time since the 1971 Montreal Canadiens, that an opposing team won a Stanley Cup game 7 on the road.  Another similarity to the 71′ Canadiens was that Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma became the second rookie head coach hired midseason to win the Stanley Cup, ( Al MacNeil also accomplished this feat ).  This was a game that saw Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin play a great team game.  They played within the flow of the game by taking away passing lanes, backchecking and relieving pressure on their teammates.  Malkin did set up teammate Maxime Talbot’s first goal.  Talbot stepped up his game by scoring both of the Penguins goals.  The two teams came out with a lot of energy but ended up in the first intermission tied at no score.

Both teams came out ready to do battle again for another 20 minutes.  Pittsburgh struck first just 1:13 into the 2nd period.  Talbot took a pass from Malkin from the side of the net, cut inside and beat Red Wing goaltender Chris Osgood right between the five hole.  Talbot scored his second of the period at the 10:07 mark.  He streaked up the left side on a two on one, held onto the puck and then beat Osgood with a wrister over his left shoulder.  Osgood allowed two goals in the second period after allowing just two goals total in the first three home games of this series.  Crosby however played just one shift after leaving the ice during the second period after taking a hard hit along the boards from Johan Franzen that left him unable to walk due to a knee injury.  Because he’s a hockey player and tough as nails Crosby made it back to the ice midway through the third period for the one shift.  He then just sat on the bench and watched his teammates hang on.  I’m sure it was tough for him not to play but like I said earlier, others stepped up in his absence.

Penguins goalie Marc Andre-Fleury really made a name for himself by playing a very solid game.  Coming back to the same arena where just days earlier he had been pulled in favor of their backup because he gave up 4 goals in that game, Fleury faced his opponents again but this time he won the battle and in the process the war.  He gave up only 1 goal to help pace the Pens.  Fleury was solid in the 1st and 2nd periods but he saved his magic for the 3rd period.  Yes he gave up a goal to Jonathan Ericsson with just over 6 minutes remaining in the game to cut the Pens lead in half but he stopped Detroit from scoring in the closing seconds of the game to seal the Stanley Cup clincher.

This is Sidney Crosby’s first Stanley Cup win.  He became the youngest team captain at 21years old in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup over his shoulders, only four years after he was drafted 1st overall.  Owner Mario Lemieux once again tasted the sweet victory of a cup win for the 3rd time, his first as an owner.  He won the Stanley Cup as a player twice when Pittsburgh repeated as Champions in 1991 and 1992.

This game will go down for sure as one of the top ten games in NHL history.  The Penguins are the first to win the title the year after losing in the finals since Edmonton 25 years ago against the New York Islanders.

Evgeni Malkin, who led all scorers in the playoffs with 36 points, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP.  This is on the heels of him winning the Art Ross Trophy as the player with the most points in the regular season.