Red Wings take Stanley Cup Back to Hockeytown

By IRA PODELL
AP Hockey Writer
Published: June 4, 2008

    PITTSBURGH (AP) - Hockeytown is home to the Stanley Cup - again.
    Using a little Motown magic on the road, the Detroit Red Wings
won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in 11 seasons Wednesday
night with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of
the finals.
    The celebration came two nights later than expected. The
Penguins forced the series back to Pennsylvania by tying Game 5
with 34.3 seconds left in regulation and winning it shortly before
1 a.m. in Detroit on Petr Sykora’s power-play goal in triple
overtime.
    Undeterred, the Red Wings wrapped up their fourth straight
series on the road in these playoffs. Detroit is third in NHL
history with 11 Stanley Cup titles, trailing fellow Original Six
clubs Montreal and Toronto.
    Just like in Game 5, things got a little dicey for the Red
Wings, who allowed Marian Hossa’s power-play goal with 1:27
remaining that got the Penguins to 3-2. Pittsburgh had already
pulled Game 5 hero Marc-Andre Fleury to create a 6-on-4 skating
edge.
    With the final seconds ticking down, Penguins captain Sidney
Crosby put a backhander on goal that Hossa just missed with a tip
at the right post.
    It set off a pile-on celebration behind the Detroit net for the
Red Wings, as the disappointed fans in Mellon Arena saluted their
club once more with a chant of “Let’s Go Pens!“
    In the best night for Swedish hockey since the national squad
won the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, defenseman Nicklas
Lidstrom became the first European captain of a Stanley Cup
champion, and Henrik Zetterberg, who had a goal and assist in the
Cup clincher, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
    The Red Wings were knocked out of the Western Conference finals
a year ago by eventual champion Anaheim.
    “It’s nice to get that out of the way,“ Zetterberg said of the
European stigma. “It’s been a lot of talk, especially after last
year. So it was nice to see that we could make it all the way. It’s
been a battle for sure, but it’s a great feeling right now.
    “I’m at a loss for words. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.“
    His goal 7:36 into the third period, that was pushed in by the
backside of Fleury, extended the Red Wings’ lead to 3-1. He tied
teammate and countryman Johan Franzen for the playoff lead with 13
goals, and matched Crosby for the postseason scoring crown with 27
points.
    Lidstrom is one of five players to be with the Red Wings for
their four most recent titles (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008). He handed
off the Cup to forward Dallas Drake, a champion for the first time
in 14 seasons.
    Crosby came close in his third NHL season to adding a Stanley
Cup to his resume that already includes a scoring crown and a
league MVP award.
    Only one team that trailed 3-1 in the finals came all the way
back to win the Cup, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs against Detroit.
Pittsburgh was trying to become the seventh to force a Game 7
    Brian Rafalski gave Detroit a 1-0 lead in the first period and
Valtteri Filppula doubled it in the second for the Red Wings, who
had 30 shots. Chris Osgood made 20 saves and improved to 14-4 in
the playoffs after taking over for No. 1 goalie Dominik Hasek in
the first round of the playoffs. Osgood allowed only 30 goals in 19
games.
    Detroit earned its final two victories of the championship
series in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins won their first nine
postseason games. Until the Red Wings came to town, the Penguins
hadn’t lost at home since February.
    Fleury, brilliant in making 55 saves Monday night in
Pittsburgh’s thrilling 4-3 win in triple overtime, couldn’t repeat
that performance. Filppula’s rebound goal 8:07 into the second
period was certainly one he’d like to have back along with the
winner by Zetterberg.
    Fleury, one of two goalies drafted No. 1 overall, blocked the
snap shot from the right circle, but the puck trickled between his
pads and came to a stop in the blue-painted crease. The 23-year-old
netminder dropped to his backside and knocked the puck in before it
could be swept away by his defenseman.
    “Marc-Andre got us to where we were,“ defenseman Darryl Sydor
said. “He’s played outstanding. Those are just bounces that happen
in a game. Everybody thought he had it. What do you do? There’s not
much that can be said. You’ve got to be proud of him.“
    Earlier, Mikael Samuelsson faked a shot as he crept toward the
right circle and then let go a drive that Fleury blocked with the
stick. The rebound came right back out in front to Filppula, who
didn’t get much on his shot but managed to squeeze the puck between
Fleury’s pads to make it 2-0.
    The “white-out” clad crowd tried to muster up a “Let’s Go
Pens!“ chant, but the stifling Red Wings defense took every bit as
much out of the fans as it did the Penguins’ usually potent
offense.
    Pittsburgh shots were blocked, passing lanes were closed off,
and the puck seemed to be constantly on the sticks of the Red
Wings. That is until an interference call was made against Pavel
Datsyuk, who protested the penalty all the way to the box and then
while inside.
    That set up the goal the Penguins have been waiting for all
season, the one from NHL MVP finalist Evgeni Malkin, who hadn’t
scored since the clinching game of the Eastern Conference finals.
    Malkin, coming off a season in which he had 47 goals and 106
points, had been completely pointless until Petr Sykora’s scored
the overtime goal off his pass to win Game 5. This time, Crosby
found him in the left circle with a cross-ice feed, and Malkin
ripped a shot between Osgood’s pass to cut the deficit in half at
15:26.
    Rafalski struck first just 5:03 into the game, giving the Red
Wings the critical 1-0 lead - an advantage that proved to be the
precursor of the winning team in all but one game of the series.
    The Dearborn, Mich., native in his first season with the
hometown Red Wings was in line to have the Cup-winning goal when he
gave Detroit a 3-2 lead in the third period of Monday night’s
marathon.
    Sykora wrecked those plans, but nothing could deny Rafalski
after two failed clearing attempts by Penguins defenseman Rob
Scuderi. Datsyuk passed the puck into the right circle to
Zetterberg, who while falling down moved it to Rafalski in the left
circle. Rafalski snapped a shot that sailed through a screen by big
Tomas Holmstrom right in front of Fleury and in to make it 1-0.
    It was the fourth goal of the playoffs for Rafalski, a two-time
Cup winner with New Jersey.
    Although Malkin got Pittsburgh back in it with a power-play
goal, it was a blown 5-on-3 advantage in the first period that
really set the tone for the Penguins’ ouster.
    With Dallas Drake already off for charging, Kris Draper joined
him in the box 27 seconds later for roughing. That set up a two-man
power play for the second time in the series. Both came with the
Penguins down by a goal, and both ended with Detroit’s lead still
intact.
    Pittsburgh did record two shots on goal during this advantage
unlike the third-period power play in its 2-1 home loss in Game 4
when the Penguins had none.
Notes: Detroit had at least 30 shots in every game of the finals.
... The Penguins failed to reach double digits in shots in the
final 13 periods of the finals. They had only six in the third
period Wednesday.