By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DETROIT - JUNE 02: Petr Sykora #17 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores the game winning goal past goaltender Chris Osgood #30 of the Detroit Red Wings during game five of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on June 2, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. The Penguins defeated the Red Wings 4-3 in triple overtime to set the series at 3-2 Red Wings. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
DETROIT -- Penguins coach Michel Therrien showed up for Game 5 of these Stanley Cup Finals in the full funereal black suit and gray tie, looking very much the respectfully reluctant undertaker, but his hockey team wouldn't let anyone take the body.
Not last night.
Not after everything they'd done and everything they'd been through on this dreamscape of a season.
With Motown virtually bursting with championship anticipation, the Penguins offered only an ocean of sweat and a bucket of blood. The oldest trophy in professional sports was all but delivered to the Detroit dressing room and signed for when Penguins forward Max Talbot jammed the puck past Chris Osgood with only 34.3 seconds remaining in regulation to erect a 3-3 tie and force the first overtime of the series.
Marc-Andre Fleury's magnificent vision and reflexes necessitated a second overtime. Through four periods, Fleury had faced 47 shots to Osgood's 20. Through five, it was 54-28.
But at 9:57 of the third overtime, Penguins forward Petr Sykora rifled a shot from the right faceoff circle into the Detroit net for a 4-3 victory.
The finals live on to reappear on the Penguins pond tomorrow night.
DETROIT - JUNE 02: Petr Sykora #17 and Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate after Petr Sykora scored the game winning goal against the Detroit Red Wings during game five of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on June 2, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. The Penguins defeated the Red Wings 4-3 in triple overtime to set the series at 3-2 Red Wings. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Apparently you don't skate off quietly to end a season that included Pittsburgh's first conference title in 10 years, its first Stanley Cup Finals in 16. Apparently you don't back off when you're down three games to one, even to a iconic hockey franchise still thick with veteran stars whose jewelry boxes are choked with 24 Cup rings.
Just as it appeared the Penguins had postponed history with their own little monument to courage, the brilliant Detroit Red Wings put together a sizzling third period that overturned what remained of a two-goal lead.
Sergei Gonchar left the ice in a daze after sliding into the end boards trying to break up a 2-on-1. Ryan Malone, trying to create chaos in front of the Red Wings net, took a slap shot from teammate Hal Gill right in the mug and left for the dressing room in an awful bloody hurry just a moment later. The violent attrition started late in the second period, after Darren Helm's wrist shot from the left wing boards hit the sprawling defenseman Rob Scuderi and leaked softly between Marc-Andre Fleury's pads to bring Detroit within a goal.
Third-period goals by Pavel Datsyuk and the Brian Rafalski pushed the Penguins to the blade's edge, but they were hours from finished.
At the approach of midnight, with the second overtime wearing toward its midpoint, it was clear to every witness and all concerned that regardless of which team finally forced the puck across the goal line, we were watching as great a hockey game as could be seen in this or any Stanley Cup Finals.
Both teams killed penalties in the second overtime, with the Penguins forced to overcome a cheap hooking call against Petr Sykora at 17:44 of the fifth period.
As the sixth period began -- the third overtime -- the Penguins were playing the 101st minute of their 101st game.
It was a season in which not only was much accomplished, but much was overcome. The club's two brightest stars, Sidney Crosby and Fleury, missed a combined 64 games with high ankle sprains that threatened their playoff plans. Evgeni Malkin, who finally got his first point in the finals very late last night, carried the club in Crosby's absence, but the drama it would ultimate generate could hardly be foreseen. It burned through the first three rounds of playoffs like a fireball, becoming only the fourth team in post-season history to win 11 of its first 12 games.
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Marc-Andre Fleury makes a save against Red Wings Dan Cleary in the third period.
For the second straight time last night, the Penguins got the first goal, this a nifty flip by Marian Hossa after Pascal Dupuis dug a loose puck out of the right wing corner and got it to Crosby, who found Hossa 12 feet from the net. But it was when double agent Niklas Kronvall, standing over an Adam Hall pass from behind the Detroit net, knocked the puck past his own goaltender that the notion first arose that this might not be the Red Wings date with destiny.
That was at 14:41 of the first period, and it gave the Penguins a two-goal lead for the first time since the first period of Game 3. Osgood was dutifully shocked, as was Hall, as were most of the occupants of Joe Louis Arena. Osgood's preparation has never been an issue, but it's unlikely he's ever gone over which people in an identical red sweater are most likely to beat him inadvertently.
It was just another in a nearly endless sea of fateful wrinkles that made this Game 5 nothing short of epic.
Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283.
First published on June 3, 2008 at 1:39 am
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