PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
DETROIT - JUNE 02: Evgeni Malkin #71 and Maxime Talbot #25 celebrate after Maxime Talbot #25 scored a goal to tie the Detroit Red Wings 3-3 late in the third period of 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 Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Going into Game 5, Sidney Crosby said the Penguins needed to "empty the tank."
One look around the locker room after the game was enough to see this much: The cliche had come true, in ways no one could have imagined.
It was 1:15 Tuesday morning, about a half-hour after the fifth-longest Stanley Cup final game ever played, when somebody wondered why Crosby looked as if he hadn't broken a sweat.
"It's all gone," Crosby said. "No more sweat left."
If you've seen one postgame locker room in professional sports, you've pretty much seen them all. But this one was different.
This one looked like a hospital ward.
Forget about Game 6 for a minute. That'll be here soon enough. The surreal scene in the aftermath of the Penguins' 4-3, triple-overtime victory on Monday - er, Tuesday - deserves a bit more attention.
No matter what happens the rest of the series, which the Penguins still trail, 3-2, this team long will be remembered for its incredibly courageous effort.
Surely, this was a top-five win in franchise history.
The first player I encountered afterward was battered winger Ryan Malone, blood still dripping from his nose. He'd been cracked "right in the beak" by teammate Hal Gill's second-period slap shot.
Malone sustained a chipped tooth, another broken nose (his second of the series) and a nasty gash. The medical staff stitched him up and stuffed some cotton in his beak. He barely missed a shift.
"Could you even breathe?" a reporter wondered.
"Out of my mouth," Malone said. "That's good enough."
Defenseman Brooks Orpik and winger Adam Hall still had gauze wrapped around their right elbows, thanks to a round of intravenous fluids. By one observer's count, seven players needed IVs at some point in the evening.
DETROIT - JUNE 02: The Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate around goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury #29 after defeating the Detroit Red Wings in overtime of 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 Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Can you imagine what that locker room must have looked like between the second and third overtimes?
"We had fruit, we had pizza, we had guys on IVs, guys pounding fluid," said winger Pascal Dupuis.
The fare included grilled chicken, pasta, pizza, apples, oranges and protein shakes, but to hear the players tell it, they didn't exactly pig out. They picked at the food, eating just enough to stay energized.
They also were reminded not to eat too much of the cheese and pepperoni on the pizza - that would slow them down - but rather the crust. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury advised team physician Charles Burke that he wasn't hungry, to which Burke basically said, "Eat anyway."
Equipment manager Dana Heinze said he and his assistants, Paul DeFazio and Danny Kroll, were running around like crazy, sharpening skates (Crosby likes his done after every period) and making sure the players' equipment was in working order. Most players went through three sets of undergarments.
"They just wanted dry laundry," Heinze said.
Amid the mayhem, winger Petr Sykora announced to his teammates that he would score the winning goal.
"We were being positive, pumping each other up and getting each other going, and 'Sicks' kind of stands up and says, 'I think I got one, boys,' " Hall said. "Everybody starts hootin' and hollerin'. We loved it."
They loved it even more when Sykora rifled a shot past Chris Osgood at 9:57 of the third overtime -- when everybody on both teams was running on empty.
The players had no choice but to move on quickly and start thinking about Game 6 tonight at Mellon Arena, where a positively batty crowd will greet them.
More history could be written before the series is finished, but make no mistake: Game 5 will live forever.
Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com.
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