Effort reveals Gonchar's fire

By Rob Rossi
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 4, 2008



The Penguins' Sidney Crosby hugs Sergei Gonchar after returning for the winning shift in the third overtime in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final at Joe Louis Arena, June 2, 2008.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review

He wants this.

He wants this badly.

Who knew soft-spoken defenseman Sergei Gonchar was made of this kind of stuff?

"What I didn't know about him when I first came here was how much he cares," general manager Ray Shero said Tuesday, after Gonchar, stiff from back spasms, returned from a three-period absence and helped orchestrate right wing Petr Sykora's winning power-play goal in a triple-overtime Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

"I knew how good he was. You see the goals and stats. But he's much more than that."

He is "Sarge" - a nickname that has followed Gonchar for years - and he is more in charge than anybody outside the Penguins' dressing room knows.

"Right away, I knew that," right wing Marian Hossa said. "I walked into the room on my first day after (a Feb. 26 trade) and I could see how important he was to this team, especially the young players.

"You could see that he commanded everybody's respect."

Teammates believe more accolades are due Gonchar, who was not named a finalist for the Norris Trophy - awarded annually to the NHL's top defenseman - despite ranking second among players at his position with 65 points and improving his plus/minus rating from plus-4 to plus-11.

They believed that long before Gonchar's inspired power-play shift in Game 5.

But that shift, defenseman Brooks Orpik suggested, should be remembered forever by Penguins fans.

"His back was completely packed (with ice), it was killing him," Orpik said, referring to Gonchar's spasms following a nasty, upper body-first collision into the end-zone boards during the third period. "(The coaches) asked him if he could push his way through a power play. He said he'd try it.

"He's the quarterback back there on the power play. It was a gutsy effort."

One that led to the winning goal by Sykora.

"I didn't think about the pain," Gonchar said. "I'm older, and right now all I'm thinking about is that Cup. I want this badly. Everything else -- you kind of put it out of your mind at this point."

Gonchar is expected to play tonight in Game 6 at Mellon Arena.

Gonchar gets criticized in some NHL circles apparently for what - or rather who - he is not: a bruising, shutdown defenseman such as Anaheim's Chris Pronger or a silky-smooth all-around gem such as Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom.

"He's maybe not at Lidstrom's level," said Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Murphy, who won four Cup titles with the Penguins and Red wings. "But there aren't many guys to ever play that have been.

"There aren't a lot of guys that right now that are on Gonchar's level, either."

There are very few who mean more to their team's success.

"He's our glue," defenseman Ryan Whitney said.

Few Penguins are more appreciative of Gonchar's dignified demeanor than their two young stars - captain Sidney Crosby and center Evgeni Malkin, who lives with Gonchar during the season.

Malkin said Gonchar, a fellow Russian who occasionally serves as his translator, is "like family."

Crosby has called Gonchar "probably (the Penguins') most under-appreciated player" due to his quiet nature.

"When you have a calm guy like that, as experienced as he is, it's just contagious," Crosby said. "When you have a leader such as him who is able to have that quiet sense of confidence, it just rubs off on everyone."


Rob Rossi can be reached at rrossi@tribweb.com or 412-380-5635.