Unbelievable

With the seconds ticking off in the last minute of Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, I stood only a few feet away from my television, quietly staring as the Detroit Red Wings were mere moments away from being inscribed as the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions.

The Pittsburgh Penguins 1st period 2-0 lead, along with their hopes of extending the series, had slowly deteriorated. Darren Helm first put the Wings on the board just shy of 3 minutes into the 2nd period when he took a feed from Maltby and threw a shot on net that deflected and beat Fleury short-side.

At the 13:17 mark of the 3rd the Red Wings took advantage of a Tyler Kennedy Hooking minor, tying the game with Datsyuk's five-hole deflection. Less than 3 minutes later Detroit took the lead when Brian Rafalski took a pass in the high slot and threw one passed Fleury.

And now with time dwindling away on their season, the Penguins pull goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been stellar throughout the game, for an extra attacker. I stood motionless. I'm not even sure if I'm breathing at this point. Chant's of "We Want the Cup" are echoing through the Joe Louis Arena.

The puck kicks to Crosby in the corner. Malkin is being tied up in the slot. Extra attacker Maxime Talbot gets himself to the side of the net. With under 40 seconds left in the game Crosby finds Talbot by the post. Wings tender Chris Osgood makes a pad save, but Talbot gets right back on the rebound. He makes another attempt at shuffling it by Osgood. I'm peering closely at the net. The revolution of the planet slows. Time is crawling. I've never wanted to see a red light so badly. Evgeni Malkin raises his arms towards the sky. Behind the net Talbot is celebrating. 3-3. Tie game. ESPN News would later report this as the latest game tying goal in a Stanley Cup elimination game, and I'm prone to believe them.

Throughout the game I had been posting to a Live Game Blog with a panel of other bloggers over at Greg Wysynski's Puck Daddy [which if you haven't noticed is becoming the best hockey blog on Al Gore's internet]. With the breath of life back in the lungs of the Penguins, the decidedly pro-Pittsburgh panel was reinvigorated. I didn't think Sean Leahy of Going Five Hole was going to make it through the night. At the beginning of the game I was hoping to offer impartial insightful commentary, by overtime I was posting a link to Kasparaitis's Game 7 OT goal against the Sabres in 2001.

Heading into overtime I knew the first few minutes would be dangerous. But after you get past a certain settling in period, both teams start playing for the long haul. In retrospect some of the people I've talked with have told me the Red Wings controlled play in the 1st OT. Others said the Penguins controlled the 2nd. I don't know, to me momentum seemed to be shifting ever possession, but everything has begun to blur together. This is probably because I was a ball of anxiety and not enough oxygen was getting to my brain [I held my breath every time the Red Wings possessed the puck in the Penguins zone].

One thing that is for sure, is that as one overtime became two, became three, it was clear that Marc-Andre Fleury was keeping the Penguins in the game. The young goaltender turned in a performance that will go down as one of the all-time greats in the Stanley Cup Finals, and made some saves that will live on forever or poor quality YouTube videos.

Towards the last few minutes of the 2nd OT period, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Petr Sykora caught the attention of Pierre McGuire, the NBC Commentator seated between the team benches. "I'm going to score." he said.

The Penguins caught a break in the 3rd OT when Jiri Hudler's stick caught Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi in the face. Scuderi never wanted to bleed so badly. They called the double minor and the Penguins had 4 minutes of power-play on the board.

Only a handful of seconds into the power-play Malkin settled down a errant shot behind the net. As he swung around the back of the net to Osgood's left the Red Wing's penalty killers collapsed ] in front of the net. Sneaking into the play, Petr Sykora set up in the left circle. Malkin's pass hit Sykora in stride, with plenty of room, and Sykora let a wrist shot go in the face of a Wing's player, sliding out to block the shot.

Once again time slowed. I'm searching for the puck with my eyes. I don't think it hit Osgood. I didn't hear it ring off the post. It wasn't wide. An eternity passes. Staring at the net, I see the puck falling to the ice. Game over. Jubilation ensues. Penguins win and stay alive to host Game 6 in Pittsburgh.

The game will go down as the 5th longest game in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals. Regardless of the outcome of the series, it will go down as one of the greatest games ever. Fleury's fifty-five saves. Talbot tying the game when the Wings could almost feel the Cup in their hands. Petr Sykora's called shot. Unbelievable.

You may have seen this picture on The Pens Blog. I'm also running it, with the permission of the creator, my clever and aptly skilled photoshop jobber brother John.

Game 20: 11/17/07: Penguins 3 - Rangers 4 OT

The Penguins squandered a 2-goal lead on home ice last night, eventually losing in overtime to the New York Rangers 3-4 in overtime.

Early in the first, with the Ranger's on the power play, Maxime Talbot blocked a shot from the blue line. The rebound bounced to Sidney Crosby, who lead the short-handed rush down the ice. Talbot recovered, joined the rush, and Crosby found him with a cross-crease pass that Tablot shuffled behind Ranger's goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Only recently has Crosby begun playing the penalty kill again, and the assist was Crosby's first shorthanded point since his rookie season.

Just minutes later, with a Ranger's penalty pending, the 6 Penguins skaters controlled the play, cycling the puck around the offensive zone. The puck bounced to Crosby who beat Lundqvist with a bad angle shot, bouncing the puck of the inside of Lundqvist's leg pad and into the net.

But after a decidedly Penguins 1st period, it was the New York Rangers who stormed out in the 2nd. Former Penguin Michal Rozsival scored 2 goals, one of which short-handed, in just over 3 minutes to knot the game all up at 2-2.

The Ranger's took the lead on Daniel Girardi's power play goal as the clock winded down in the 2nd. Ryan Whitney was unable to clear the rebound off a Fedor Tyutin shot, and Girardi picked it up and scored to give the Ranger's the lead.

In the 3rd, with the one goal lead, the Ranger's sat back defensively with aims on shutting down the Penguins attack. And they were successful until, with just over 5 minutes remaining in the game, Erik Christensen lead the rush, carrying the puck into the offensive zone. He beat the trap, throwing the puck behind the net just after crossing the blue line. After a fortunate bounce of the glass, Evgeni Malkin, with his stick tied up by the Ranger's defense, kicked the puck over to teammate Petr Sykora, who's back hand goal tied the game late in the 3rd.

In overtime the Ranger's Paul Mara found teammate Jason Strudwick for the game winner on a across the crease pass from an odd man rush.

Marc-Andre Fleury made some mistakes in this game, but none of them lead to goals. Rozsival's short handed tally and Strudwick's overtime winner both came off an odd man rush following a Penguins defenseman being caught too deep in the offensive zone. Whitney was guilty in the 2nd, Gonchar in OT.

The Penguins have yet to have the scoring breakout that they need to kick this November slump, though they did have a number of scoring opportunities which were thwarted by the stellar play of Lundqvist. Pittsburgh has scored more than 3 goals only once out of the 9 games this month. Of the 8 games in which they've scored 3 or less goals they have lost 7.

Again last night there were complaints about the poor ice surface at the Mellon Arena. It's to be expected from the oldest ice surface in the league, but it's just another reason why the Penguins will be looking ahead to that new arena that's on the way. For such a dynamic finesse squad, their game is hindered by the slow choppy home ice.

But they'll be back in the Mellon Arena on Wednesday night to finish off an incredibly difficult 8 straight Atlantic Division games, the Penguins (8-10-2) will face the New Jersey Devils.

10/06/07: Game 2: Penguins 5 - Ducks 4

I'm a little late getting this out, but I was slightly under the weather over the weekend (I don't think I'm getting enough Vitamin-C) and duties were neglected.

ANYWAYS, the Penguins bounced back against the defending champs, the Anaheim Ducks, on Saturday. They had left something to be desired after Friday's season opener, but they seemed to be feeding off the intensity of the home opener at Mellon Arena on Saturday.

Petr Sykora picked up a couple goals and an assist, taking huge strides after missing part of the preseason with a broken nose. And Crosby had his first point of the season with an assist on what would turn out to be the game winner from Malone.

During the pregame introductions, I paid close attention to the reaction each player received. And I've got to say, while Crosby definitely brought down the house, Evgeni Malkin and Colby Armstrong received monstrous applauses themselves. Yes, Colby Armstrong. Pittsburgh loves the guy. And he rewarded the crowd with a pretty dynamic one-on-one goal later in the game.

It was a great game for the Penguins offensively, but they still need to limit the amount of opportunities they allow. Fleury has started a little shaky, so the Penguins defense really needs to step up and shut down opposing teams in the defensive zone.

The Penguins play again on Wednesday, when they'll take on the Montreal Canadiens at home.