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By Josh Brewster and Charles Smith (Back to Playoff Main Page)
SCF'09: REMATCH: Some are likening the 2008-09 Penguins’ advance to a Cup Final rematch to the 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers’ rematch victory over the NY Islanders, who defeated them in the 1982-83 Cup Final. For the Penguins to repeat the Oilers’ successful bid for a first Stanley Cup, Sid Crosby and crew will have had to learn a lesson that a young Wayne Gretzky digested 26 years ago. Gretzky, in his DVD “Ultimate Gretzky,” explained to host John Davidson that after the Islanders had defeated the 82-83 Oilers, he happened to catch a glimpse of the Islanders’ locker room celebration. He found it to be far more muted than he had expected, and was struck by the level of exhaustion present in the Islanders’ room. Indeed, New York, Gretzky perceived, had left every available drop of energy on the ice. Gretzky looked at the scene and realized that his Oilers could have played another game had it been necessary. The Isles were spent, but they had the Cup. Gretzky knew that the Oilers would have to find another level of effort, a deeper level of desperation. One year later, the Oilers were victorious, ending the Islanders’ legendary run of four straight championships. The challenge before the Penguins in 2009 is as much mental and emotional as it is physical. Let the games begin. ABOUT THE TEAMS: Each team has a sweep this playoff season. The Penguins conquered the Hurricanes in the eastern conference final; the Wings opened round one of the post-season by throttling the Blue Jackets. Each club also has a game-seven series win this playoff season. The Penguins eliminated the Capitals after losing the first two games of the series. The Wings eliminated the Ducks after falling behind, 2-1.
REMATCH A TIGHTLY DRAWN AFFAIR: There is little doubt that the Penguins will offer a tougher challenge during this season’s Cup Final than was on display in last season’s match. The challenge will prove tougher from the get-go, as this year’s incarnation of the Penguins won’t let the Wings jump to a 2-0 series lead. Detroit should be prepared for a long series, because Sid the Kid is a year older, and wiser, while the Wings, with upstarts like Darren Helm and Jon Ericsson, prove that the smart get richer.
Evgeni Malkin was banged-up in last year’s Final, they say, after he put up just three points in six games, and only 16 shots. A year wiser, he sure looks ripe and ready, leading the NHL post-season scoring list at 28 points, tied with Crosby. Crosby is getting better each season, and developing into a leader on par with Steve Yzerman, according to former Wings’ coach Jacques Demers, who won the 1993 Cup with Montreal. The amazing thing about the Penguins is that they managed to overcome a number of personnel changes, then a coaching change, en route to the Cup Final. This season, the club bid farewell to Adam Hall, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, Jarkko Ruutu, Darryl Sydor and Ryan Whitney. Many critics looked at the loss of Malone and foresaw a step-back year for the Penguins. Where are the critics now, that the Pens have shifted gears, GM Ray Shero landing Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin, Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Phillipe Boucher and Matt Cooke in response to the losses? With the team struggling through the first two-thirds of the season, coach Michel Therrien was replaced by Dan Bylsma, a rookie coach who played for the Anaheim Ducks during their run to the 2002-03 Cup Final, coached by Mike Babcock. The club responded by going 18-3-4 after Bylsma’s February hiring, which saved the team’s season. Credit outgoing Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher (Harvard grad and son of Cliff) for having the guts to go with his AHL guy, Bylsma. Fletcher won’t enjoy the champagne if the Penguins win. He’s taken over as GM of the Minnesota Wild, effective May 22.
Darren Helm punctuated the Wings’ style of play and winning when he potted the series-ending OT goal against the ‘Canes this week. Great development efforts yield surprising and often unknown heroes for Detroit, and aggressive coaching leads to a challenging, up-tempo puck-possession team that drives an opponent crazy in its own zone.
The Wings’ style doesn’t call for an enforcer. It calls for top scorers like Dan Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen to invade the opposition’s slot and give holy hell to the goalie. It works, and the Wings have employed the strategy full-force since Scotty Bowman coached the club to three championships (’97, ’98, ’02). There’s no need for a fighter when legal toughness works so well, and coach Babcock agrees, carrying on Bowman’s tradition. “Other teams try to intimidate us,” said Babcock recently. “We think we’re going on the power play.” The other way the Wings beat you is with depth. Since Jimmy Devellano became the first hire by Mike and Marian Ilitch in 1982 after the Ilitch family’s purchase of the team, the Wings have been literally decades ahead of the rest of the league in scouting talent courtesy the foresight and wisdom of Devellano. Devellano famously arrived on the scene and announced that he wouldn’t deal any Wings’ draft picks, they were off the table. The policy remained in place for years, and was the cornerstone for the Wings’ vault from the cellar to the penthouse. Detroit’s been living on the league’s top floor since capturing their first modern Cup in 1997, and thanks to Devellano’s standard for excellence, the Wings remain there after nine consecutive 100+ point seasons. Devellano hired an extensive network of European scouts over the years, developed the career of Neil Smith, who went on to greatness with the Rangers. Devellano chose wisely in the GM department after he booted himself upstairs (EVP), picking Bryan Murray, then Ken Holland to carry on his legacy of high standards and surprising draft picks. Why all this talk of executives? Because the Wings have the best draft table in the modern NHL, and continue to roll the likes of Darren Helm, Jon Ericsson, Justin Abdelkader and Jiri Hudler into the lineup, surprising the league all the while. As for stability, the Wings have little use for a revolving door. This year’s Cup Finalist returns 18 of 20 players who dressed against the Penguins a year ago. Only Ty Conklin and Hossa, both arriving, ironically, from Pittsburgh as free agents, are new acquisitions. For many years, fans thought that the Wings had “purchased” their success via free agency and high-priced players. The truth is, as evidenced by the post-lockout, salary-cap era, is that it’s not riches, but smarts, that vaulted the Wings to their reigning, almost dynastic, position. IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARIAN HOSSA
As time expired in the Penguins’ June, 2008 game six Cup Final loss to the Detroit Red Wings, former Penguin Marian Hossa, now a key cog in this year’s Red Wing machine, trickled a shot behind Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood, coming just inches from tying last year’s series at three apiece, giving the Pens a shot at what would have been a game seven. It was not to be, as the puck skidded across the goal line as the final buzzer sounded. A few weeks later, Hossa, seeking, as he put it, his “best opportunity” to win a Stanley Cup, bolted Pittsburgh, the team that had rescued him from a hopeless situation in Atlanta, despite the fact that the Pens wanted to sign him to a long-term offer. So it goes in the salary cap age, and to Hossa’s credit, it wasn’t all about the money, as evidenced by his signing of a one-year deal with Detroit despite a much longer term in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh press relishes the irony present in his facing his former club, wondering whether it will be a distraction for Hossa. The Detroit media takes a more benign view, confidently asserting that Hossa was gambling on himself, also that his signing of a one-year deal proves that he’s a heart-and-soul player. It’s all delicious stuff, and here’s hoping that NBC trains its online “Iso-Cam” directly on Hossa. A rivalry and storyline like this one is exactly what the NHL needs as its TV ratings continue their upward trajectory. Hossa now faces the same Penguins club he fled, becoming just the second player in league history to switch sides in a Stanley Cup Final rematch since John McMillan, a forward who appeared in one 1963 Cup Final game with Toronto against Detroit, was claimed on waivers by the Wings and played four games against the Maple Leafs in the 1964 Cup Final. But that was during Original Six days, and it’s certainly a stunner for Hossa to end up, in a 30-team NHL, facing last year’s team. Hossa has six goals and six assists for twelve points in 16 post-season games thus far. He struggled only in the seven-game series against Anaheim, accumulating 3 points, but he was involved heavily in the play, scoring a game winner and registering 40 of his 77 team-leading shots in that round. Only former teammate Evgeni Malkin, the league’s playoff scoring leader to date, has more shots on goal this post-season. How Hossa fares in this Final (and he will surely face a chorus of ‘boos’ in Pittsburgh) will draw considerable attention. HOW THE PENGUINS WILL WIN: Evgeni Malkin and his linemates force the Red Wings, likely Zetterberg, Cleary and Franzen, to chase them, not the other way around. The Penguins put more shots on the Wings than vice versa, and stifle Franzen and Holmstrom’s attempts to disrupt goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s slot. They must frustrate the Wings’ bread-and-butter move in the slot, or this series will slip, slide away, and the big rematch will fizzle. HOW THE RED WINGS WILL WIN: The Wings will do to the Penguins exactly what they do to all of their playoff opponents. Dazzle them with a consistent flurry of shots, always outshooting the opponent in every period if possible. When the game is close, the ten or 20 extra shots will amount to one lucky bounce or one well-earned opportunity, which the Wings will convert. MATCHUP NOTES: In the eastern conference final, third-line center Jordan Staal of the Pens shut down his brother, Eric, limiting his older brother to just two points in four games, and hanging a -7 plus/minus rating on him. Jordan will be put to a different test in the Cup Final, and will likely face Pavel Datsyuk or Valteri Filppula most of the time. Staal’s Penguin linemates Maxime Talbot and Matt Cooke will have their work cut out for them against Datsyuk’s line, but remember, it was Talbot who scored the game-tying goal in game six last season, so the Pens do offer depth-player threats against which the Wings best be on the lookout. Detroit will counter Evgeni Malkin with Henrik Zetterberg, forcing Malkin’s line (likely Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin) to handle Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen. That’s the most formidable challenge Malkin’s line will face this postseason, and despite Malkin’s scoring prowess, the Pens should be ready to find scoring from other places because Cleary, Zetterberg and Franzen have 51 points between them in 16 post-season games. Defensively, the Wings, led by superstar Nick Lidstrom, are a cut above the Penguins, with Jon Ericsson stepping in nicely during times when Brian Rafalski endured post-season absences due to injury. Nik Kronwall adds depth, Brad Stuart is the unsung hero of Detroit’s current run. The Penguins offer some threats of their own, though, as Sergei Gonchar reclaimed his place among the league’s elite defensemen this post-season, and Kris Letang and Mark Eaton can jump up into the play effectively. In goal, Chris Osgood gets the edge over Marc-Andre Fleury after Osgood’s three Cup wins. SURPRISE GUYS: Mark Eaton, Pittsburgh. He likes to jump up into the play from his defensive position, and has two goals and ten points to show for his offensive efforts this post-season. Honorable mention: Kris Letang (1 game winner this post). Darren Helm, Detroit. Not much of a surprise any longer, after scoring the overtime goal that eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes, but this fourth line plugger can still creep up on depth Pens. Honorable mention: Jiri Hudler (4 goals, 1 game-winner). Fast, can play third-line and take advantage of mismatches. PREDICTION: In the post-lockout NHL, the Penguins will be hard-pressed to contain Detroit’s slot presence and must outshoot the Wings to have a chance. It’s not likely to happen, and although the Penguins are fielding a better club than last year, those extra shots that Detroit usually puts up will yield a very big goal in game seven, in an even more entertaining Stanley Cup Final than last season, which was a great one.
The much-anticipated Stanley Cup final rematch is now upon us. Last season, the Pens went down in six games. In fact, they were shut out in the first two games before they finally broke through and won game three. Their playoff run was fueled by the bold move of acquiring Marian Hossa at the trade deadline. Many speculated the Pens had Mortgaged their future (Colby Armstrong) for one, all-or-nothing shot at glory. That seemed to be the case up until this season's trade deadline when the Pens acquired Bill Guerin and hard-nosed winger Chris Kunitz. Those two now flank Sidney Crosby on the top line. MVP candidate Evgeni Malkin now centers the second line with Ruslan Fedotenko. Playmaking defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who seems to have sipped from the fountain of youth last season continues his amazing play this season. In Detroit, the song remains the same. No less than seven All-Star caliber forwards, the best defenseman since Bobby Orr in Nik Lidstrom, and possibly the most underappreciated playoff goaltender in history in the person of Chris Osgood. The rich definitely got richer after winning the Cup last year when All star forward Marian Hossa ditched the Pens after last year's final and brought his show to Detroit where he is now once again on the cusp of his first championship. The Pens have the chance to deny Hossa his ring. Hossa has a chance to prove he made the right decision when he joined the conquering army. There is still some lingering bitterness between Hossa and the Pittsburgh fans, which will definitely add some fuel to the fire when the teams go to Pittsburgh for games three and four. Both teams have already been tested by high octane offensive teams. Pittsburgh faced a lot of firepower when they faced Washington in the Conference semi final, which they came back to win in seven games after dropping the first two. The Wings faced the high powered Chicago Blackhawks in their recently completed Conference final and outscored them 19-10 in the series, putting the kids to bed in only five games. Prediction: This is a much better, deeper and well coached Pens team than the team that lost in the Stanley Cup final last year. Rookie coach Dan Bylsma has had this team playing like champs since taking over late in the season. Sid the kid and Evgeni Malkin are playing truly inspired hockey and Jordan Staal is tough as nails. That said, the Pens are again going to come up agonizingly short. Detroit is a well-oiled machine. The Pens may well be able to match the offensive intensity of the Wings, but Detroit is the league's best at controlling play in the neutral zone, thus allowing them to both create and prevent more scoring opportunities than their opponent. It's going to be the intangibles, all those little things that don't appear on the score sheet which will ultimately make the difference in this series. The health of Pavel Datsyuk and Nik Lidstrom may be an issue, but trust Ozzie to be strong between the pipes.
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