Desperation and desire had a name in Guerin

His exhausting example led the Penguins through 60 minutes of survival

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

There was no room for interpretation on the exact nature of the effort required if the Penguins were somehow to arrange a seventh game of this Stanley Cup final.

The sweat itself, wrung from their black sweaters, would create a fourth river.

But desperation and desire had a name at Mellon Arena last night, and its name was Bill Guerin.

PITTSBURGH - JUNE 09: Chris Osgood(notes) #30 Brad Stuart(notes) #23 of the Detroit Red Wings makes a save against Bill Guerin(notes) #13 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during Game Six of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals at the Mellon Arena on June 9, 2009 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Outshooting Detroit by himself in the first period, getting twice the number of shots in as anyone on the ice after the second period, working a psychological torture chamber of a third period like a 38-year-old with a strong suspicion he'll never see a night like this again, Guerin's exhausting example led the Penguins through 60 minutes of survival.

Had Detroit tied Game 6 monument with Guerin in the penalty box late in the third period, injustice wouldn't have begun to describe it.

But Rob Scuderi saved him, sweeping a loose puck from behind Marc-Andre Fleury. And Sergei Gonchar saved him. So did Hal Gill. Because he had showed them all how to save themselves.

It will be remembered for Fleury's pad save on breakaway threat Dan Cleary with 1:40 remaining. It'll go down as Penguins 2, Red Wings 1.

Game 7 is Friday night.

Jordan Staal, thought to have scored THE GOAL THAT CHANGED THE ENTIRE FACE OF THE STANLEY CUP FINAL only to have it somewhat overshadowed by a 5-0 skunking by Detroit in Game 5, thought he would give it another try just as the second period started.

This time he caught Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart pinching along the left-wing boards, swiped the puck, tapped it off the boards around Vallteri Filppula, and embarked on a two-on-one with Matt Cooke toward goaltender Chris Osgood.

That ended when Staal fired and buried the rebound to put the Penguins ahead, 1-0.

If nothing else, Staal's fourth goal of the playoffs prevented Detroit from scoring first. The Red Wings were 10-1 when scoring first in these playoffs. But, as the second period aged toward the desperate third, Staal's goal stood through all kinds of chaos in front of both goals, particularly in the final minutes of the period.

Henrik Zetterberg, still the most dangerous offensive player on the ice despite the 60-plus points put up in this postseason by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (the first teammates to get at least 30 apiece since Brian Leetch and Mark Messier did it in 1994) skated in against Brooks Orpik with two minutes left. Zetterberg slid the puck from his backhand to his forehand under Orpik's stick, the flicked it past Fleury only to hear it ring off the far post, bounce between Fleury's legs and settle there as the Penguins' goalie fell to the seat of his pants.

Almost immediately, Osgood made two saves at the other end that were merely spectacular.

He stoned Ruslan Fedotenko when he tried to whack in a perfect pass from Malkin, then stopped Malkin swooping across the crease. Either one of those getting fished out of the Red Wings net might have sent this series back to Motown.

Still, even Staal's lone goal held some significance. Neither team had lost a game in the postseason when leading after two. The Penguins were 9-0, Detroit 12-0.

It wasn't necessarily clear at the time, but the Penguins seemed to be spending the entire first period piling up regrets, just in case there was plenty to be regretful about at the end of the game.

The Penguins wasted two power plays and a 12-3 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period alone with the method they had come to perfect lately -- namely the strict avoidance of putting anything behind Osgood.

Long before the Penguins were shut out in Detroit Saturday night, long before another scoreless first 20 minutes last night, longtime front-office icon Eddie Johnston had identified what was ailing Dan Bylsma's team against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

"We gotta put the [expletive] puck in the [expletive] net," E.J. said after Game 2 in Detroit.

Though not advised directly of Johnston's analysis, no one could say early in Game 6 that Guerin had not taken it to heart. Guerin and Cooke sent shots at Osgood in the first minute, and Guerin flew through the offensive zone for much of the period.

At the first intermission, the Red Wings had three shots.

Guerin had five.

Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom short-circuited the Penguins' first power play, deftly intercepting a Malkin pass, and Osgood ended the second by stopping the only shot the Penguins authored, a hot one by Crosby after Zetterberg had broken his stick.

When you dominate a period like the Penguins did and have no scoreboard evidence that you have done anything, regrets are sometimes inevitable.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on June 10, 2009 at 12:00 am