After Petr Sykora scored his goal in the third overtime of Game 5, we could be excused for thinking that the Penguins had a chance. After all, our goalie was playing better and the Red Wings would be tired heading into Game 6. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way as Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t play his best game in net, giving up two ridiculously easy goals, one to Valtteri Filppula and the other to Henrik Zetterberg. Both times, the issue was that Fleury just didn’t stop the puck between his legs, instead letting it trickle through and, eventually, over the goal line.

To blame Fleury for this loss, however, would be ridiculous. The Penguins did miss several golden scoring opportunities and clearly looked like a team that was ready for its season to end, which is to be expected in NHL games in the beginning of the June. Sergei Gonchar (who scored a goal) played well despite a bad back, Evgeni Malkin finally played something approaching his game and Petr Sykora didn’t look too bad.

This series, though, was about the Red Wings just flat-out being a better team despite the special makeup of the Penguins. Yes, the Penguins had a ton of star power and all of the little pieces, but Detroit had the lock down defense as well as the potentially high-powered offense and the forechecking game to negate whatever advances the Penguins made. These were evident all throughout the series and again in Game 6.

The Penguins put up the best fight that they could, which actually proved to be somewhat better than that which they had been expected to put up, but all of their toughness was just outmatched by Detroit’s skill. This was even evident in the final seconds of the series as the Penguins mounted one final charge that had all of their fans thinking “What if?” only to see it fail on the left pad of Chris Osgood.

Seeing the Penguins sit on and around the ice, completely spent, just holding their sticks in their hands looking exhausted, was an awe-inspiring site. Pittsburgh knew that its team had given its all to win the series and that, despite coming short, our team still deserved to be honored. There was no feeling of being short-changed or anything like that, even if the first time the Stanley Cup was won in Pittsburgh was by a visiting team.

The hometown kids deserve a pat on the back. The business of keeping the success going can begin in a few weeks, but for now the players and coaches can sleep tight, knowing that even if they didn’t come out victorious, they have represented their city and themselves better than much of the world expected.

Crosby had seemed primed for a huge game, quite often being the only Penguin who was making plays during the first two games of the series. Tonight, his hard work finally paid off. Crosby took advantage of a couple of lucky caroms and some bad Detroit passing to make the game 1-0 at the end of the first period, showing that if the Penguins are expecting to win they are going to need to take advantage of Detroit’s not very often made mistakes.

The game became 2-0 during a skirmish around the net at the beginning of the second period. The skirmish was one of several times in which a Penguin goal seemed inevitable, but was also the only one of those times where they managed to cash in, showing just how good Chris Osgood has been this series.

The final goal came from role player Adam Hall who has been quietly very good throughout the playoffs. Hall banked a shot off of Osgood’s skate and watched it bounce into the net for the then 3-1 lead, one that would drop to 3-2 after ex-Penguin and current Penguin torment Mikael Samuelsson scored midway through the third period.

Of course, the Penguins still seem to believe that the Red Wings are playing dirty and are beginning to respond in such, as Hal Gill routinely beat up Tomas Holmstrom in front of the net and Ryan Malone managed to dictate physicality without taking stupid penalties. Both players, as well as their teammates, seemed envigorated by the sellout crowd.

The Penguins are undoubtedly a better team at Mellon Arena than they are on the road, perhaps because of the supposedly soft ice here, but more likely because of the rabid crowd. Like any Pittsburgh audience, Penguin fans love a winner and, as such, kept the arena noisy enough last night that Osgood couldn’t communicate effectively with Nicklas Lidstrom or his other defensemen, leading almost directly to a couple of scoring opportunities and a huge advantage for Pittsburgh. (Last night’s game was the first that Osgood has ever lost in the finals.)

Penguins’ goalie Marc-Andre Fleury seemed energized, not flustered, by the noise, as he finally returned to form. Fleury was near-excellent last night, stopping 32 of 34 shots and keeping the Penguins in the game. Having the lead clearly instilled some confidence in him, as he finally looked comfortable in the net.

Just as vital to the Penguins’ success as Fleury, though, was getting a flow going, something that they had struggled with during the first two games in Detroit. The Pens’ offense had been choppy and unfocused, not able to maintain any type of momentum over the course of a game. Tonight, they managed to pull that off and it was obvious as they were actually able to carry the puck into the neutral zone and the defense helped keep Detroit from just waltzing in and setting the tempo.

Perhaps the ability to have the last change helped that, as it has been suggested that Crosby’s escaping Henrik Zetterberg’s line may have had something to do with his success. That would only be admitting defeat for the Penguins, though, as Detroit coach Mike Babcock now knows precisely what line to put up against Crosby in the next game in Detroit which, fortunately, is now guaranteed.

The Penguins should probably be relatively confident heading into Saturday’s Game Four, as they do seem to have the advantage at Mellon Arena. The issue for the long-term outlook of the series, though, is that this seems like a series that will be dominated by the home team, which will inevitably be more comfortable in its own building. And Detroit has four of those, while the Penguins only have three.

Not that I’m looking ahead or anything.

Marc-Andre Fleury has begun to look like the shaky version of himself again instead of the dominant one who was present throughout these playoffs.  He is again giving up long rebounds and is, therefore, again surrendering easy scoring opportunities.  The rep on Fleury before last year’s playoffs were that he wasn’t a big game type of player.  The good Fleury stuck around for a while, basically since he returned from his injury, but now the bad Fleury is back.  The second goal tonight was just terrible, as the puck slipped between Fleury’s legs and to a spot where Tomas Holmstrom just had to push it over the line.

Of course, Fleury is not all to blame for the Penguins’ failure.  Probably most at fault was the defense, which continuously let the Red Wings have the neutral zone and build speed on their way into the Penguins’ zone.  By doing this, the Penguins’ basically surrendered a third of the ice to the Red Wings’ skaters and also allowed the Wings to dictate the tempo of play, something that can not be allowed to happen, especially on the road.

The offense was also downright abysmal for the second straight game, failing to register a shot for a significant portion of the first period and missing several wide open scoring opportunities.  Also, the stupid penalties really need to stop.  We get it, Ryan Malone, you’re a power forward.  Now score one or two goals.

Michel Therrien also needs to manage to not panic.  Yes, hindsight is 20/20, but in messing with the forward lines that worked for the last two months based on the result of one game, Therrien accomplished absolutely nothing.  The Penguins’ have world-class players who are comfortable with each other and who are capable of playing through whatever problems they are having, but if you throw in the additional challenge of trying to find chemistry with another new set of linemates the final task just becomes that much harder.  It really isn’t necessary and is not conducive to success.

In an attempt to make some light of things, Sidney Crosby played a solid game despite not scoring.  He was one of the few Penguins who appeared to have some jump all night tonight along with, probably, Gary Roberts.

The Penguins aren’t as bad as they’ve looked over the past two games and the Red Wings probably aren’t as good.  Hopefully, though, both teams will return to their average playing abilities, because the Penguins would then have a chance to win the series.  If that doesn’t happen, then sorry Pittsburgh, but this series is probably about over.

The first period was scoreless, but Detroit came one instant replay away from taking the early lead, as Nicklas Lidstrom fired a puck into the back of the net, but Tomas Holmstrom was found to have interfered with Marc-Andre Fleury on the play, as the blade of Holmstrom’s stick was between Fleury’s leg, preventing him from making a play on the puck. The non-goal clearly gave the Red Wings momentum, but it is worth noting that the refs are paying careful attention to Holmstrom around the net. Last night may not have been the last time we see a goalie’s interference call on him this series.

The more surprising Red Wing forward, though, was almost certainly Samuellson, who scored the first two goals of the game, one in the second period and one in the third. Samuellson’s first goal came on a wraparound after he picked off a Jarko Ruutu pass in the neutral zone. The second came after Fleury tried to clear the puck, resulting in a bouncy pass that Evgeni Malkin watched bounce right to Samuellson who promptly threw it by Fleury. Samuellson has always been a streaky player, some would remember him as being one of the leading scorers for about a month when the NHL reemerged from the lockout, and he may be hitting one of his hot streaks at just the right time.

The short-handed goal of Dan Cleary and the power play goal of Henrik Zetterberg in the third period were just further icing on the cake for the Red Wings, who iced the game to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The most important failure by the Penguins, maybe even more so than Fleury’s subpar play, was that of the power play. By going 0-for-4 in the first period, the Penguins lost their opportunity to build momentum by scoring the first goal, but instead shifted the momentum to the Red Wings who were able to kill all four penalties, proving that the power play is a time where one team has a chance to gain momentum, but the team killing the penalty has the same opportunity. The Penguins can’t afford to go 0-for-4 in one period ever, but to do so in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is just choking. (Of course, the Red Wings’ stifling defense and the excellent play by Osgood deserve credit as well, but the Finals are about being a greater team than the other one.)

The Penguins, however, have had a habit of choking at times during the season and they always seem to bounce back in a big way.  They did it against New York in the conference semi-finals and they did it against Ottawa after surrendering the season finale to Philadelphia.  Hopefully they can do it again.

Also, the Penguins can’t have expected to go into Joe Louis Arena and take two, just because the Red Wings are just a great hockey team and you aren’t going to beat them there two in a row.

All questions, of course, will be answered tomorrow night.

1. An easy one to start, but one that someone who has just been following the team for the last two months may not know. Who is the Penguins’ backup goalie?

2. The last time there was a huge bandwagon following for the Penguins was when Jaromir Jagr was still a ‘Guin. Who was Jagr traded to and who were the three players received in return? (Hint: One recently became a Penguin again.)

3. Who is Billy Tibbetts and what is he famous for?

4. What was the only skill that Konstantin Kolstov had?

5. What team was Lasse Pirjeta acquired from?

6. Who was the only active player in the trade that move the Penguins up from the third overall to first overall in the 2003 draft, allowing them to pick Marc-Andre Fleury?

7. How many times has a current or former member of the Penguins’ organization won the QMJHL’s MVP award, the Michael Briere trophy?

8. What former Penguin goalie’s nickname involved a lizard?

9. Who was the Penguins’ enforcer in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons?

10. What team did Alexsey Morozov leave the Penguins for?

A1. Ty Conklin, who filled in for Marc-Andre Fleury for 33 games this season, winning 18 of them.

A2. Kris Beech is the player who became a Penguin again. Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk. The two latter players were miserable failures, as Lupaschuk now plays in Finland and Sivek now plays in the Czech Republic. Beech is an NHL journeyman. Amazingly enough, all three were highly rated prospects at the time of the trade.

A3. Billy Tibbetts is a former Penguin farmhand during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons who is best known for having served three years, from 1996 to 1999 in jail for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.  Think a smaller, crazier George Laraque with a criminal conviction.

A4. Speed.

A5. The Columbus Blue Jackets.

A6. Mikael Samuelsson, who has somehow become a productive player for the Detroit Red Wings despite being an abysmal player during his time in Pittsburgh.

A7. 6 (Andre Savard in 1972-3, Mario Lemieux in 1983-4, Jocelyn Thibault in 1992-3, Ramzi Abid in 1997-8, and Sidney Crosby in 2003-4 and 2004-5)

A8. Andy Chiodo, or the Chiodo Dragon.

A9. Krysztof Oliwa, who managed to compile 281 penalty minutes between the two seasons.

A10. Ak-Bars Kazan of the Russian Premier League.

If you got all 10 of these right, you deserve an eye-level seat in Mellon Arena on Saturday and Monday nights.

If you got 8 or 9 right, you shouldn’t feel ashamed for taking those seats.

If you got 6 or 7, you should surrender them to that weird guy who’s still muttering the name “RicoFata” over and over and over again to himself.

If you got 4 or 5 right, you should just watch the game at your local bar.

If you got 2 or 3 right, you deserve a Jarko Ruutu slash for pretending to know about hockey.

If you got 1 right, Georges Laraque wants his jersey back.  And he’s bringing Gary Roberts with him to retrieve it.

Marc-Andre Fleury continued his excellent play in net, getting his third shutout in these playoffs. As long as Fleury is good, the Penguins will have a chance against any team. And if Fleury is very good, the Penguins can beat any team. The emergence of “The Flower” has been one of the more interesting processes to watch over the course of his young career, as Fleury went from being someone who folded in the big games (the 2004 World Junior Championships) to someone who saves his best hockey for the playoffs.

The most impressive aspect about this team, though, is their depth, as Ryan Malone scored twice on the powerplay and had an assist, Sidney Crosby had two assists, Pascal Dupuis had a goal, Jordan Staal netted one, Evgeni Malkin got a goal and Marian Hossa had one goal and three assists. As long as there are that many threats on the ice, there is no defense in the league that can expect to match up against the Penguins over the length of a series and shut them down, even one led by Nicklas Lidstrom.

The Penguins were flat-out dominant again, just outgunning, outplaying and out-thinking the Flyers in every facet of the game. This performance was suitable revenge for all of the pain that the Flyers have inflicted on the Penguins throughout the years, proving that one series is actually retribution enough for years of pain. (And I always thought Red Sox fans were lying . . . weird.) The return of Kimmo Timmonen made absolutely no difference, showing that the Flyers would have lost whether they had had him for the full series or not and hopefully preventing any whining out of Philly about injuries.

Today is one of joy all throughout Pittsburgh and rightly so, but, as many Penguins were quick to point out, it is all for naught if they don’t win in the next round. If the Penguins can’t beat the Red Wings or the Stars, the trade for Hossa looks stupid and people will suddenly be wondering what Angelo Esposito would have looked like on Crosby’s wing in three years just like they’ll be wondering what the Penguins could have done with the first round pick that they traded away.

There will be fond memories and a Prince of Wales trophy, sure, but if the Stanley Cup, which is labeled the best trophy in all of sports for a reason, is not won, there will be no one drinking from the Prince of Wales trophy. In four to seven games, this ridiculously entertaining run will be complete and, good or bad, this team will have given all of Pittsburgh memories to savor and maybe, just maybe, have shown this city why the sport of hockey deserves to be saved.

The Flyers’ offense, which has been anemic for most of the series,  finally came awake as big names Joffrey Lupul, Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter scored.  The goal was Briere’s first of the series, which is particularly odd considering that he is normally the Flyers’ go-to player in big-game situations.

The Penguins were fortunate to take one of two in Philadelphia, a city in which they had not won all year, and some fans may even view the team’s winning the series in Pittsburgh as a positive.  Going to five games isn’t as much of an issue now as it would have been if Detroit had beaten Dallas in four games, instead of dropping Game 4 to the Stars.

On a positive side for the Penguins, Jordan Staal finally showed why some think he could be as good as his brother, Eric, scoring two goals including one on a slapshot and dominating the game each time he stepped on the ice.  Staal is a player who dominated his rookie season and then somewhat underperformed in this, his sophomore year.  To see him take his game to the next level is very impressive and shows that he does, in fact, have that ability to dominate that is so necessary to be a star in the NHL.

Two of the Flyers’ goals came on the powerplay, showing that the Penguins made stupid mistakes tonight that they wouldn’t have been able to afford had the series been tighter.  As things stand, this loss doesn’t make or break their Stanley Cup run.  If they are made in the next game or against Detroit, however, they could break the whole thing up.  Stupid penalties and lots of penalties just can’t happen in order for the team to be successful.

Of course, the last time the Penguins lost to Philadelphia in Philly they promptly rattled off a 7-game winning streak which would, conveniently enough, place them two games into next season with a Stanley Cup firmly in hand.

Hossa’s first goal, which  was the second of the game, was very pretty as he faked out one defenseman, then shot the puck through another defender’s legs where it then went over Marty Biron’s left pad and into the net.  That Hossa had the bravery to take the shot shows just how confident he is about his game right now and that confidence is clearly translating into his play all over the ice as he is hitting harder, skating faster and scoring better than almost anyone could have expected considering his playoff history.

The other impressive goal was Ryan Malone’s, which came about halfway through the third period, effectively putting the game away.  Malone has been a revelation this season, playing nearly at the level of an elite power forward and his goal proved that as he got the puck in front of Biron, played with it a little bit, and then simply put it into the net to put the Penguins ahead 3-1.

The first goal of the game was Ryan Whitney’s, which took a lucky bounce off of a defender before going into the back of the net.  The fourth goal was  a Hossa snipe on an empty net that shut up the Philly fans for good.

The only Flyers goal of the night came on a complete breakdown as four Penguins converged on the puck as it crossed into the zone, then they all backed off, leaving an open path to the goal and allowing R.J. Umberger to score.  Those type of breakdowns just can’t happen if the Penguins expect to shut down Detroit and their deep corp of forwards.  (Marc-Andre Fleury was very solid, as per usual.)

The Flyers seemed to be taking liberties for most of tonight’s game as Petr Sykora was the victim of an especially nasty hit in the third period when he was blindsided just as Malone was scoring.  The Penguins may need to become even more physical than they have been in order to impose another type of authority on the thus far outshot, outskated and flatout outplayed Flyers.

This series should end on Thursday and the Detroit Red Wings should be awaiting the Pens in the Stanley Cup Finals.

There is no doubt that this series is beginning to get more violent as Jarko Ruutu, in particular, seems to be unsurprisingly in the middle of incidents again as, at one point, Martin Biron became so upset with his presence that he hit Ruutu in the back with his stick, sending the winger sprawling to the ice.  Biron then stood over Ruutu menacingly, looking more like Jason Vorhees than like an NHL goalie.  Ruutu did receive a diving penalty on the play, but apparently he’s a professional diver since I was sure that he had been pushed over.

Tyler Kennedy also proved his worth as an energy player, getting in a fight with Scott Upshall in the first five minutes of action.  The impressive part about this fight was that Kennedy was pulled down, but he just yanked himself back to his feet.  When a player like that just keeps getting up and continues to win the fight, it is an energy boost to the whole entire team.

Crosby’s first goal came on a deflection off of a random defenseman (some European guy with a name that I can’t remember and don’t want to spell out right now) who was only in the game because Braydon Coburn took a puck to the face in the early goings.  The Coburn injury gives the Flyers another opportunity to whine about how hurt they lose in four or five games, but they would be ignoring the fact that injuries are part of the game.

There should have been a second Crosby goal as well as he hammered at a puck on Biron’s pads that appeared to trickle over the line before being enveloped in the goalie’s glove.  The league office disagreed, however, supporting the no-goal call on the ice and preventing Crosby from having a multi-goal playoff game and a goal that he definitely deserved.

The Penguins then let the Flyers tie the game up only to have Marian Hossa fire a shot into the back of the net to put the Pens up 2-1.  Hossa does not figure to be back next season, particularly now that the Bruins, Canadians and Rangers all figure to chase them, but thus far he has been a treat to watch in this playoffs and continues to consistently thrill fans with his play.  If he doesn’t end up staying after this run, the trade for him will still have been a success just based on how well he has played in the last two series.

Marc-Andre Fleury then allowed Mike Richards to tie the game up on a short-handed breakaway that is exactly the kind of play that shouldn’t happen during a Penguin powerplay.  Fleury really didn’t have that much of a chance on the play, as Richards completely faked him out.  The other major issue for Fleury, though, is that he continues to jump in the air for pucks.  French-Canadians can’t jump, everybody knows that.  Why doesn’t Marc-Andre or, for that matter, Michel Therrien?

The most unlikely goal scorer of the playoffs for the Penguins thus far, though, came early in the third as Max Talbot took a pass from Gary Roberts in front of the net and put it behind Biron to put the Penguins ahead for good.  As has been noted in the AP report, Talbot was playing his first game back from a foot injury and was only a game time decision.

For him to score took a huge effort as well as heart on his part and only affirmed the belief that seems to be running rampant in Pittsburgh that this is, in fact, a Pittsburgh kind of team, one that plays with all of the toughness, heart and grit that are so emblematic of Pittsburgh sports through the years.

Next up is a trip to Philadelphia where, hopefully, the Penguins and their fans will ensure that the Rocky statue is wearing a Crosby jersey by the time they leave.