By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
The Penguins' Evgeni Malkin hangs his head after the Red Wings defeated his team in game 6 at Mellon Arena Wednesday night.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Bob Errey, as recognizable a hockey name in Pittsburgh as just about any short of Lemieux and Crosby, laid out the hard truth before the Stanley Cup final.
"Only one team can win," he said. "Two weeks from now, you'll either be the happiest guy in the world or the forgotten bridesmaid."
Kind of makes you sick this morning, doesn't it?
With the Detroit Red Wings the kings of the hockey world and the Penguins, well, you know?
But something former Penguins Hall of Famer Ron Francis said before the final hurts even more.
"You never know when or even if you're going to get back," he said. "Look at our '93 team. That was our best team and we didn't win the Cup. You just never know."
Maybe that explains why the Penguins really didn't want to leave the Mellon Arena ice late last night. It's not that they had any interest in seeing the Red Wings lift the treasured Cup after their hard-earned 3-2 win in Game 6 shut the Penguins down for the summer. Who needed to watch that? Especially on your ice? In front of your disappointed fans?
No, the Penguins didn't want to exit the NHL's grandest stage because, well ...
Who really knows when they'll get back again?
That the Penguins lost the series to a superior team didn't ease the sting. After their surreal 4-3 triple-overtime win in Detroit in Game 5 Monday night and Tuesday morning, when Marc-Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Malone, Petr Sykora, Max Talbot and so many others took their place in franchise lore with valiant performances, they truly believed they were going to beat the Red Wings last night and force a Game 7. Their playoff run was too magical -- lasting through three rounds and one-sided battles with the Ottawa Senators, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers -- for it to end on home ice.
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Marc-Andre Fleury watches the puck roll across the line from a goal by the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg in the third period.
But there was no amazing comeback this time, no late goal by Talbot to tie the score or Sykora to win it, although Sidney Crosby and Marian Hossa -- going all out until the bitter end -- darn near pulled off a miracle with last-second shots that danced in Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood's crease. The Red Wings, showing no physical or emotional hangover from that brutal Game 5 loss, jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period-and-a-half and made it stand up. A second-period power-play goal by Evgeni Malkin -- finally -- and another by Gonchar in the final two minutes weren't quite enough.
It's easy to blame this loss -- and the Penguins' 2-1 home loss in Game 4, for that matter -- on the failure of their 5-on-3 power play. It didn't deliver in 1:33 in the first period last night after coming up short for 1:26 in the third period of Game 4.
But strictly fingering the Penguins would be doing a disservice to the Red Wings. They deserve enormous credit, not just for their spectacular penalty-killing -- the Penguins converted only 5 of 32 power-play opportunities in the series -- but their overall play. They dominated the action in each game. The puck always seemed to be in the Penguins' zone. They outshot the Penguins by a staggering 212-142.
Big-time teams win championships by dominating the third period. So it was for these Red Wings. In the six games, they outscored the Penguins, 9-3, in the final period and outshot them by a sick 71-34 margin, 12-6 last night.
Theirs was a title richly deserved.
It's nice to think the young Penguins will be back to this spot, maybe as soon as next June. They say you need to experience the pressure of a Cup final before you become good enough to win one. Well, consider the Penguins schooled. Tutorials just don't come any better than this series, especially that epic Game 5.
Crosby, the Penguins' captain, who won't turn 21 until Aug. 7, will benefit enormously from the past fortnight.
So will Malkin, 21, who had a rotten series before getting his first point in Game 5 and his first goal last night. He's too good not to bounce back from the tough finish to his marvelous season.
Fleury, 23, who wasn't at his best in goal last night after playing so tremendously in Game 5, will be consistently good enough one day to win a Cup.
Freakishly young Jordan Staal, 19, will continue to get better and better ...
Absolutely, the Penguins will be a lot more prepared for the bright lights the next time they get here.
If they get here, of course.
You just never know ...
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Penguins players watch trophy presentations.
Certainly, the Penguins will have a much different look next season. Although it seems likely they'll do big new contracts for Malkin, Fleury and Staal, it seems just as likely they'll lose Hossa, Brooks Orpik and maybe Malone to free agency.
Such is life in the new salary-capped NHL.
But no one wanted to hear that last night.
The Penguins couldn't get past the pain of the moment when they finally did leave the ice after offering the traditional congratulatory handshakes to the Red Wings.
On this night and in this series, their best wasn't quite good enough.
They won't get over that pain for a long, long time.
No one -- absolutely no one -- wants to be the forgotten bridesmaid.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on June 5, 2008 at 12:00 am
No comments:
Post a Comment