The series is on its way back to the steel city once again, and thus far there has not been a single victory for an away team in any of the five games. This match-up is the first Stanley Cup Finals Rematch in 25 years. Half a century ago, Edmonton took that series without looking back, after losing the prior year. It seems unlikely that the Penguins will catch the fate of the Oilers, but several aspects of Pittsburgh's game remain largely uncharted. Even with their consecutive trips to the 'big one', the Pens are a young team, with a young netminder.
Odds may be stacked against the Igloo-dwellers, but there's still a glimmer of hope in one Marc-Andre Fleury, who was playing exceptionally well up until about the second period of game five.
As one of the league's younger talents (goalies almost never make it to the cup in their rookie years, letalone two years in a row), the Flower needs to pick up where he left off Thursday night. It's certainly not an easy task, in Joe Louis Arena, defending your zone against the infamous Red Wings starting lines. They've got a thing for mucking up the plays in their zone, and leaving the dirty work for an unheralded name who's about to sell a lot of jerseys. That's just Detroit's way, and getting frustrated about their style of hockey (a throwback to the clutch-and-grab play of the Devils, from the mid-90's) isn't going to do any good.
Now its up to Crosby and his cast of off-and-on performers to rally and bring the cup back home over the next couple of games. No matter how cool it is to see Mario's appearances at so many of the games, I'm sure Pens fans are getting tired of seeing his dissapointed reactions and knowing look that only comes when you've played the game for so long. I don't mean to say that I'm not a fan of #66, but I just don't want to see the hockey bug bite him again in Detroit, Wednesday night, as he reveals a return from his latest retirement in an effort to reinvigorate the tired team he's holding part-ownership of at this point.
Bettman & Company at the NHL have claimed that the Penguins are the most marketable team in hockey. For the sake of the sport, lets hope Detroit's boring albeit infectious brand of puck control doesn't ruin a good thing.
If the Penguins can pull it off two games in a row, Crosby, Malkin, and Fluery will have shown that the sport is relishing in its inherent youth and that its biggest stars are delivering when it counts.
So long as the Flower Marc-Andre Fleury doesn't wilter like he did on Saturday I still think they've got a pretty good shot of making their Cup dreams a reality.
Posts
