It's winner-take-all

Hoisting the cup matters most, but who the hero is could be surprising

Friday, June 12, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

DETROIT -- As kids playing hockey on the streets, rinks and frozen ponds of North America and Europe, these Penguins and Detroit Red Wings dreamed of the Game 7 they will play tonight for the Stanley Cup.

Invariably, each was the hero. Each scored the winning goal or made the big save on a breakaway in the final seconds.

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar (55) hope to have one more postgame celebration tonight against the Red Wings.

But as the kids became men and then NHL teammates, their perspective changed just a bit. Being the hero no longer seems quite so important, nice as that is. What matters is being able to get the hallowed Cup in their hands, to kiss and caress it, to look at it lovingly and come to the overpowering realization that each of their names will be engraved on it forever. What matters is being a part of something bigger than any individual, being just one of a band of brothers, being linked in glory for the rest of their lives as champions.

"When you win," Penguins winger Ruslan Fedotenko was saying the other day, "everybody is a hero."

The man knows -- better than just about anyone.

Fedotenko is the one player in the game tonight who has done it all, one who has been the chief difference-maker for the winning team in a Game 7 for the Cup. But when he thinks back to the spring of 2004 and his Tampa Bay Lightning's 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames, he doesn't remember his two goals so much against goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, the first coming on the power play off a rebound, the second on a sweet wrister from the slot after a pass from Vincent Lecavalier. In Fedotenko's mind, he sees NHL commissioner Gary Bettman handing the Cup to Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, who, my gosh, had waited 22 seasons to put his fingerprints on the cherished chalice. Fedotenko still gets emotional thinking about the sheer joy that coursed through him and each of his teammates.

"It's such a great accomplishment," he said, quietly. "I'll always be proud of that. I'll always be a part of it."

Fedotenko would give just about anything to share the experience again with another set of teammates, fellows with names such as Crosby, Malkin, Staal and Fleury. Much work remains to be done. After a grueling training camp, five exhibition games, a trip to Finland and Sweden, 82 regular-season games and 23 playoff matches, 60 minutes of fiercely intense road hockey -- maybe more -- against a powerful and worthy opponent still must be played.

The game is the easy part, of course. To paraphrase legendary coach Herb Brooks and almost-legendary actor Kurt Russell -- depending on your age and perspective -- the Penguins and Red Wings were born to be hockey players, and this is their night. The toughest part, by far, is the hours leading up to the game, dealing with the mind-numbing anxiety and trying to get a grip on just what is at stake. It's the same for Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who's going for his fifth Cup, as it is for relative newbies Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins.

"There's no next game, no regrouping," Fedotenko said. "One game for everything."

He laughed at the suggestion that he should take on the hero's role again tonight. "I hope so," he said. There are more unlikely candidates, that's for sure. Playing on Malkin's line and benefiting from his wizardry, Fedotenko had great scoring chances in the first six games of the series but was able to beat Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood just one time. "I've got to bury 'em," Fedotenko said, simply. "I thought I had one in the net [in Game 6], but [Osgood] threw his blocker at it and got a piece of it. The next time, I need to go higher, I guess."

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Ruslan Fedotenko, who scored the two goals against the Calgary Flames, hoists the Stanley Cup after Tampa Bay's 2-1 victory in Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final. Fedotenko hopes he can raise the coveted trophy once more tonight against Detroit.

If not Fedotenko as the co-headliner with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury -- it's a given Fleury has to be a star if the Penguins are to win -- how about Jordan Staal? He scored the Penguins' two biggest goals of the series, the short-hander in must-win Game 4 and the first in really-must-win Game 6.
Or maybe Max Talbot? He seems to have a knack for delivering the big goals in the biggest moments.

"Different people can put on the cape on any given night," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

Unfortunately, that includes Detroit's Marian Hossa ... .

Hey, I'm trying really hard not to go there, but is the man due or what after not getting a goal in the series?

It's much more appealing to think about Malkin as the hero and Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP. One point tonight will give him 36 for this playoff run, more than any player since the incomparable Wayne Gretzky rang up 40 in 1993.

But I'm still clinging to the belief that the great Crosby is going to have an extraordinary game. Facing constant, suffocating defensive pressure from the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg and/or Pavel Datsyuk, Crosby didn't get so much as a point in any of the first three games at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Not coincidentally, the Penguins lost all three.

Game 7 will be different.

Crosby was born to be a hockey player.

Tonight is his night.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on June 12, 2009 at 12:00 am