http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Saturday, June 13, 2009
DETROIT — It's safe to call Pittsburgh the City of Champions again.
It's also safe to call the Penguins' 2-1, Game 7 victory Friday night at Joe Louis Arena one of the great wins in Pittsburgh sports history, alongside a handful of others, including The Impossible Pirates beating the mighty New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.
DETROIT - JUNE 12: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman presents Sidney Crosby(notes) #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins with the Stanley Cup after his team defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1 to win Game Seven and the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on June 12, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)On the other side, has there been a recent sports choke as prominent as that of Marian Hossa, the guy who told the Penguins they weren't good enough after last season and bolted for Detroit?
The joke going around last night was that you can't spell Hossa without an 'o' — as in, zero goals in the Final.
Broadcasters of this Final must have grown tired of constantly saying, "Hossa goes wide."
Wow, what a story.
Last night's hero, Max Mazeroski, er, Talbot, is the one who said he couldn't wait to shake Hossa's hand after the Final and tell him he made the wrong choice. Talbot's two second-period goals gave him the chance to do just that.
But not without some seriously tense moments in the third period, as the Penguins protected a 2-1 lead.
Has the clock actually hit 0:00 yet?
Few gave The Impossible Penguins much of a chance in Game 7 because they had to beat two opponents: the Red Wings, who never lose at home, and the crushing weight of history.
The past 18 major North American professional sports teams who had attempted to win a title by winning Game 7 on the road had failed — a streak dating to the 1979 Pirates
Only one other team in NHL history (the 1971 Montreal Canadiens) had lost the first two games of the Final on the road and come back to the win the series.
Oh, and nobody told the Penguins they would have to win without their captain, Sidney Crosby, for more than half the game. He left a little more than five minutes into the second period after a knee-on-knee hit from Johan Franzen, then returned for the third to support his teammates on the bench, then dramatically took one final shift at 9:35.
Wow, what a story
The heroes are too many to count.
Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular — and might have supplanted Frank Pietrangelo's famous save by lunging to stop Nicklas Lidstrom just before time expired.
DETROIT - JUNE 12: Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1 to win Game Seven and the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on June 12, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)Conn Smythe winner Evgeni Malkin continued his historic playoff run by assisting on Talbot's first goal when he forced Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart into a turnover.
Every single player on the ice, from Pascal Dupuis to Mark Eaton to Matt Cooke to Talbot, did something to help the team win.
In the end, the Penguins finally beat the arrogance out of the Red Wings — arrogance being a complimentary term.
Every great team has an arrogance about it; it just plays out in different ways.
Detroit's manifested itself in its complete disregard of the Penguins. The Red Wings barely acknowledged them.
If a quote could describe the Red Wings' attitude, it was one from goalie Chris Osgood after Game 2. Somebody asked Osgood what he thought of some aspect of the Penguins' game.
"I don't think about the Penguins," Osgood said.
He will now.
They all will.
Detroit was supposed to celebrate its fifth championship since 1997, on home ice, and solidify its status as a bona fide dynasty.
Instead, it was The Impossible Penguins who shocked the hockey world.
Wow, what a story.
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