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Penguins take game seven, Stanley Cup
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Penguins Center Sidney Crosby (AP Photo)
If you told anyone on February 15, when the Penguins where in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and Dan Bylsma became the Penguins interim head coach, that Pittsburgh would be hoisting the Stanley Cup on June 12, not many would believe it.
But the reality of it all is, “The Pittsburgh Penguins have won the 2009 Stanley Cup!”
The Penguins went into Joe Louis Arena, one of the toughest places to win a hockey game, and stunned the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.
“It’s unbelievable,” said captain Sidney Crosby. “This is something that you dream about as a kid and it’s reality now. We worked so hard and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. Couldn’t feel any better.”
Coming into game seven, Marc-Andre Fleury had to play a solid game and just keep the Penguins in the game. He did more than that. Arguably, besides Max Talbot who scored the only two goals for the Penguins, Fleury carried the team and won game seven for Pittsburgh.
“They are a good team [Detroit] and they worked hard till the end. But the guys stayed composed and stuck to our game plan and it worked out well,” said Fleury.
In addition to Fleury’s solid play, the Penguins were able to dictate the tempo for most of the first two periods of the game.
But the third period belonged to the Red Wings, who outshot the Penguins 7-1 in that final period. The Penguins played more of a defensive-style game and just wanted to get the puck out of their end and prevent the Red Wings from applying excessive pressure down deep in the Pittsburgh zone.
And finally, with only a little over one second remaining in the game, Fleury made the save of the game, the series, the season and his life.
Nicklas Lidstrom collected a Fleury rebound to the left of the Penguins net and attempted to wrist a shot into the net. But Fleury threw his body in front of the puck to save the Staney Cup for the Penguins.
“I knew that there wasn’t much time left,” said Fleury. “The rebound was wide and I saw him coming in. I just tried to get my body out there and it hit me in the ribs, so it was good.”
Notes: The Penguins arrived back at Pittsburgh International Airport at around 3:30 a.m. this morning… What happened to the Stanley Cup? Well, after landing at the airport, Sidney Crosby put the Cup in the front seat of his SUV and was the first player to take it home.
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