Penguins are ready to wing it again

Crosby's crew has already defied the odds

Saturday, May 30, 2009
By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Moments after the last puck slid through the crease and the Detroit Red Wings claimed the Stanley Cup last year, the Penguins began a march that has a snowball's chance in June of being completed. According to history, that is.

Since expansion in 1967, the year the Penguins were born, only one team has lost in the Stanley Cup final one year and returned to win it the following year -- the Edmonton Oilers of 1983 and 1984. Frankly, teams who have lost out in the quest for the grail have had a tough time just making it back to the playoffs the following year.

John Heller/Post-Gazette

With cup in hand, fans rally in the first period in front of the Jumbotron outside Mellon Arena as the Pens and Red Wings battle inside in game six of the Stanley Cup Final last year.

But in defiance of past events, here they are, back in the final against the defending champions, four wins away from going into the record book.

"If you look at history, we might as well not even play," Brooks Orpik said, with a chuckle. "In August, chances were we weren't going to get back. But we have a pretty focused group. I think we block all that stuff out. It's a testament to the character in our locker room that we have this opportunity."

The chance to become a team of destiny, like Marian Hossa's decision that his best chance to win the Cup was to sign with Detroit, is a subplot in the proceedings that begin tonight at the Joe Louis Arena. Capturing the Cup -- the hardest prize in sports to win -- is enough of a story line.

"You don't need any extra motivation this time of year," said winger Craig Adams, a recent addition to the roster.

Still, the Penguins are four wins away from a remarkable feat that has some remarkable parallels. A quarter century ago, a year after the Edmonton Oilers lost to the four-time champion New York Islanders and three weeks before Mario Lemieux was drafted, Edmonton earned a rematch and won, beginning a run of five titles in a seven-year span.

Can a similar passing of the torch from a veteran team to the new kids on the block be at hand? The ingredients are there, given that the Penguins have their rematch with the Red Wings, who have won four Cups in the past 11 years. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury have been mentioned more than once as incarnations of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Grant Fuhr.

It's nice to think that the Penguins are ready to take the next step after getting a lesson in playoff hockey from Ottawa two years ago and a big lesson from the Red Wings in the championship round a year ago.

But there are no automatics in sports. Sweat and sacrifice are required to hoist the 35-pound chalice of silver and nickel alloy, first awarded in 1894 at the behest of the Right Honourable Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath and the original Stan The Man.

"Honestly? We're a seven-game series now, and we have to play the games. It doesn't matter what happened in 1984 or 1998. It only matters what happens this year," said winger Billy Guerin, a late-season pickup. "All that other stuff, that's for you guys. It sells papers. It's not something we think about."

The Red Wings, hockey's gold standard, are looking to write their own history. They could complete a repeat for the first time since the 1997-1998 Red Wings.

Players say there could be lots reasons why runners-up tend to fade the next time around.

"It's mentally tough because you went as far as the champs did, but you come up empty. There's such a quick turnaround to get ready for the next season," said defenseman Mark Eaton.

Since 1996, four of the 11 teams that came up short in the Cup final did not qualify for the playoffs, and those that did usually lost in the first round.

In fact, the Penguins were following form through the middle of February, hovering just over the .500 mark and two places out of a playoff spot. Then came a coaching change and an infusion of new and healthy players.

"We were able to right the ship before it was too late and get things going in the right direction," Mr. Eaton said.

Although the core players remain from both finalists, the Penguins have undergone such a transformation that it is not exactly the same group.

"It's great that the same organizations are there, but I think the teams are different," said Chris Kunitz, one of the Penguins' newcomers. "With us, it's a new team and new coaching staff."

He sees evidence that the Penguins have a lot of gas in the tank for the final push, as evidenced by the team T-shirt that asks rhetorically: "Ya hungry?"

"All these guys with young legs, they're ready to go. They compete every night," Mr. Kunitz said. "I think the experience is going to be a big thing that factors to how well we're going to do."

Last year, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury got so amped up that he fell flat on his face when he bolted onto the ice in the opening game of the final. The Penguins, as a group, fell symbolically, being shut out the first two games. But Mr. Fleury and the Penguins rebounded to make it a series, and here they are again.

No one finds satisfaction in defying history just by making it back.

"It's cool to know," Mr. Fleury said, with his trademark grin. "What we've done is pretty good so far, but we all know it's not done yet. We have four more wins to get.

"Last year was a good experience for us in how to deal with the stress, the media, the emotions, the loud buildings. I think everybody will be better prepared this year."


Robert Dvorchak can be reached at bdvorchak@post-gazette.com
First published on May 30, 2009 at 12:00 am