Although the St. Louis Blues say Chris Mason is the goalie of the present, it is clear, at 33 years of age, he isn’t the goalie of the future.  Blues General Manager John Davidson is looking to pry away a goalie from another team via trade.  Mason carried the Blues to their first playoff appearance in recent years and gave the city hope that maybe their team can actually be a contender in the near future.

Apparently Boston Bruins forward Phil Kessel is demanding a contact with an annual salary of 5 million dollars.  He says it’s not true but where there’s smoke there’s fire.  Teammate David Krejci just received a 3.75 million dollar a year contract but it seems that the Bruins are content not to offer Kessel even that much, they seem to not be interested in the former gopher anymore.  Kessel is one of Boston’s better players so I can’t see why they would want to move him unless the rumor is true.  Kessel is coming off surgery to repair a torn labrum and the Bruins may not be convinced that Kessel will return as the dominant player he was before the surgery.  Kessel said that his first priority is to remain with the Bruins rather than play elsewhere, although he will become a restricted free agent in a little less than two weeks (July 1) if no agreement is struck with Boston before then.

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.

Pittsburgh avoided a repeat of last season by staving off elimination with a heart stopping 2-1 win in game 6 and now find themselves in a position even they weren’t sure was possible in mid-February when they changed coaches and were struggling along in 10th place.  But they are still fighting history because home teams have won 12 of the 14 Stanley Cup Finals game 7’s since the NHL went to the best of seven format back in 1939, with the last being the Montreal Canadiens in 1971.  A team that had nine future hall of famers.

The Penguins will need to have their two superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin dialed in if they want to have any chance at pulling out a victory.  They need to create some traffic in front of the net and follow the golden rule of playing smart hockey, NO PENALTIES.  Penalties will doom whichever team has more since both teams’ powerplay units are extremely effective.

It should be a great game and I have definitely enjoyed this years playoffs, some of the most exciting overall hockey played in a long time.  I for one will be sad when the game is over because that means no more hockey until September.

The game belonged to Pittsburgh goaltender Marc Andre-Fluery.  After being shelled in game 5 and being pulled in that same game, Fluery came back in game 6 with a vengeance making big save after big save to preserve the one goal win.  He stopped 25 of 26 shots to hold off the Red Wings.  The Pens superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malikn were both held scoreless again but it was a complete team effort that won this match.  Fluery wasn’t the only one who made a big save.  With under a minute left the Wings were putting a lot of pressure on the Penguins net and while Fluery was out of position defenseman Rob Scuderi went to his knees and mad two kick saves denying the Wings the opportunity to tie things up.  It was a huge play.

One thing that happened after Pittsburgh’s victory was that history did not repeat itself, the Pens did not lose on their home ice and watch the Wings celebrate a Stanley Cup championship.  At least not yet, the Pens will have a tall order facing them as they must win at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night if they want the prized Stanley Cup Trophy.  Definitely no easy task considering in game 5 Pittsburgh was blown out.  But this game is different.  There’s only 60 minutes left in both these teams’ season unless there’s OT and anything can happen when it all comes down to those 60 minutes.  It will be an all out war.  There will be punishing hits all throughout the game and beautiful saves, as a fan I’m really looking forward to it.

Quick little facts; The home team has won all six games in the series. It’s only the fifth time in NHL history the home team has won the first six games of the Cup finals ( first since 2003 Anaheim Ducks ).  Also each of the last six Game 7s in the Stanley Cup final have been won by the home team.  The last road team to win a Game 7 in the Cup finals was the 1971 Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks.  That series saw the home team win the first six games of the series.

The Penguins impressively feed off its home crowd and is 8-2 at the Mellon Arena in the postseason.  It has the two most dangerous players in the playoffs and both will be itching to rebound from embarrassing individual performances in game 5.  The Pens have shown the ability to recover from adversity this season, coming from 10th place in the standings just after the All-Star game to make the playoffs and more recently winning a game 7 on the road in the second round.

The Red Wings will have their hands full but their players can smell blood in the water.  The Wings will throw everything at the Pens hoping to close the series out and repeat as Stanley Cup Champions.

Chris Osgood played a great game, he stopped all 22 shots that came his way and even collected an assist on Valtteri Filppula”s goal in the 2nd period.  Osgood took advantage of a sloppy Pittsburgh line change and passed the puck from his own net up the left side to a waiting Marian Hossa who then set up Filppula.  It was the first time a goalie has recorded a point in a game since 2003.  Osgood now has 15 career playoff shutouts, which is the second most among active goalies (Martin Brodeur has 23).

Pittsburgh’s beleaguered goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled in the 2nd period in favor of backup Mathieu Garon after the Wings broke it open with four goals ( three in a span of 6 minutes and 42 seconds).  It was Garon’s first playoff action since 2004.  Both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were shut down tonight, Malkin showed his frustration as he picked up three of the nine Pittsburgh penalties.  Game 6 is Tuesday night and those two are going to have to get back on track for Pittsburgh to have a chance at winning and forcing a game seven.

The Wings definitely flexed their muscles tonight and has outscored Pittsburgh 11-2 in their three games in Detroit in this series.  History suggests the Red Wings will hoist the Cup again as 14 of the 19 previous teams to win Game 5 in a series tied 2-2 have prevailed.  Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom played in his 233 NHL postseason game, tying former D Scott Stevens for fifth on the career list.

Now, though, with the series and a Stanley Cup championship on the line, the ultimate irony of the drama may be that Hossa’s lack of production could be a factor in the Penguins’ winning their first Stanley Cup since 1992.  After registering 26 points last postseason playing mostly with Sidney Crosby, Hossa has gone dry for much of this spring. He has scored in just three games the entire postseason and has 14 points overall.  To be fair, he did manage to score two goals in each of those three games and was a key factor in the Wings’ victories in Games 4 and 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Being that this Red Wings team has been without one of its top players in Pavel Datsyuk because of a foot injury ( expected back for Game 5 on Saturday ) and has squandered a two-game lead in the finals, this just might be a good time for Hossa to step up and prove that he, and the Red Wings made the right choice.  Time will tell.

The Red Wings Darren Helm and Brad Stuart scored less than 3 minutes apart to end the first and start the second.  With a 2-1 lead the Wings were feeling really confident until Pittsburgh got going.  The Penguins are showing their youth by out playing Detroit with their endless up tempo energy.  I bet the Wings were saying to themselves after the game that Pittsburgh’s youth and vitality is breaking them.  For the fourth straight game Detroit’s regular season points leader Pavel Datsyuk was scratched from the line-up.  He came out for the pre-game warm up skate but after taking a few laps around in his own end, he left the ice and returned to the dressing room.  It was then announced that he would miss the game.  One thing is for sure, the Red Wings sorely miss his presence on the ice and are hoping with some more treatment he can be ready for game 5.

With the win the Penguins tied the series at 2-2 and assured themselves a return trip home for 1 more game at the Mellon Arena.  Game 5 is Saturday night in Detroit, with Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night after the series’ first two-day break. Game 7 would be June 12 in Detroit.

One other thing I found out was that Montreal will not re-sign Saku Koivu, team captain for the last nine years.  Koivu has stated that if he didn’t sign a new deal with the Habs before july 1st then he would look to finish his NHL career elsewhere.  On the flip side it seems that while one Canadiens unrestricted free agent looks like he’s being let go, the other looks like he’s getting a raise and being offered the former player’s captaincy.  Alex Kovalev will likely sign a one-year deal worth between $6 and $7.5 million, according to Sovietsky Sport via TSN.  Kovalev was also offered Koivu’s captaincy.

Check back for more rumors and video highlights.  Below are highlights of the best plays of the week ending June 2nd.

Detroit’s firepower came from two pretty reliable sources who have really stepped up their games with their teams injuries.  Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen both scored and assisted on each others goals.  Franzen’s goal was his 12th this postseason and 25th since the 2008 postseason.  That tied him for the fifth-most in a two-postseason span. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit’s top scorer in the regular season and a candidate for league MVP has yet to step on the ice during this Stanley Cup series.  Best case scenario is that he returns from his foot injury Thursday night.  Sidney Crosby had an assist on Sergei Gonchar”s game winner in the 3rd period,  his first point of the series.  Crosby, the Penguins’ 21-year-old captain, again didn’t have a breakout game.  But at least for one night, it didn’t matter as the Penguins finally began getting production from their secondary scorers.  Zetterberg played another strong game, helping limit Crosby’s chances despite not being matched as regularly against him as Pittsburgh had the final line change due to home ice advantage.

With the win Pittsburgh now trails the Wings 2 games to 1 with game 4 to played on Thursday night.  One thing is for sure, with the victory the Penguins will see Hockeytown U.S.A. once again.  After that who knows, time will tell.