The Penguins overcame the NHL’s 38-year-old Game 7 road jinx, captain Sidney Crosby’s mid-game injury and a furious third-period surge to beat Detroit 2-1 on Friday night, win the Stanley Cup and prevent the Red Wings from winning their fifth league championship in 12 seasons.
Fittingly, Crosby passed the Cup (after a few touches) to Mario Lemieux. Super Mario is now the first Hall of Famer to win the Stanley Cup as a player and then as a primary owner.
Evgeni Malkin, who recorded 38 points this postseason, was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy for playoff MVP.
From a Red Wings perspective, they followed their poor play in Game 6 through Game 7, and they paid the ultimate price. Actually, the Penguins out-Detroit-Red-Wings'd the Detroit Red Wings. The Pens controlled puck possession, forced turnovers, limited scoring chances, and kept the Detroit blueline under forechecking pressure.
Speaking of which, Detroit's defence last night was atrocious. Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart had particularly awful games, turning over the puck multiple times, including the opening goal for Maxime Talbot. Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski were not much better.
Detroit had a chance to send Game 7 to overtime, but couldn't get the job done when Nicklas Lidstrom slapped a puck at a yawning cage with about one second to go. Marc-Andre Fleury, standing on his head this game, lunged and made a beautiful diving save to ensure that the Pens would not have the same destiny as last year.
Overcoming all stats, the Penguins can say that they earned the Stanley Cup this year. Fitting too, that the Penguins would capture Lord Stanley on the 87th game of the playoffs.Crosby's number, of course, is #87.
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