Pittsburgh 2 - Detroit 1
The air was electric, Mellon Arena was alive and both teams were desperate for a win. Detroit was hoping to repeat history and knock off the Penguins in their own rink ingame six to win the Stanley Cup, while the Penguins were determined to send this series back to Joe Louis Arena for game seven on Friday night.
The Penguins and Red Wings traded scoring chances early in the first period and in a game that was being played with precision and defensive care, there were very few glaring opportunities to score outside of Henrik Zetterberg’s point blank shot from the slot that was stopped by the blocking arm of Penguin’s goalie Marc Andre Fleury. Pittsburgh has 2 power play chances in the first, but failed to convert their chances into goals. Late in the period, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk would deke the jock strap right off of Sidney Crosby and feed Zetterberg all alone in front of the net, but Fleury would be equal to Zetterberg’s challenge yet again.
In a fast-paced first period, the Penguins would fire 12 shots at Chris Osgood opposed to Detroit’s 3 but would come away empty handed and head into the dressing room after the first period tied.
Jordan Staal Scores
For the second straight game on home ice, Jordan Staal would give the Penguins a much needed lift. Just 51 seconds into the second period, Staal broke in on a 2-on-1, was stopped on his initial shot but knocked in his own rebound as Osgood was down and out.
Matt Cooke’s seemingly late hit on Datsyuk half way through the second period appeared to awake the sleeping Red Wings as they would take control of the flow and would start to pepper the Pittsburgh net with shots. The Penguins were forced to employ a Detroit-style of collapsing five players in front of their own net and would get unlikely defensive help from Petr Sykora who sacrificed his body to block a shot from the point.
With less than two minutes to go in the second period, Zetterberg would hit the far post with a wrist shot as he created some open space and broke in on Fleury. Geno Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko would take the puck the other way for Pittsburgh but would run into Osgood who was spectacular in the second period, keeping the score close. The game would head into the third with Pittsburgh up by one and 20 minutes away from forcing a game seven.
Third Period Heroics
Tyler Kennedy padded Pittsburgh’s lead 5:35 into the third with some hard work in Detroit’s zone and veteran Chris Draper replied for Detroit 2:26 later on a rebound in front of the net to make the score 2-1 with ten minutes remaining.
Penguin’s hero Geno Malkin was inches away from being the series goat if not for the defensive poise of Rob Scuderi. Malkin took a very lazy cross checking penalty giving the Red Wings their first power play of the game and Juri Hudler had the puck lying in the crease but failed to tap it in after Scuderi swatted it out of harm's way.
Bill Guerin would take another penalty – this one for high sticking – just 1:22 after the Penguins killed off the Malkin penalty. Detroit’s power play that converted 3 of 9 changes in game 5, failed to do so when it mattered most.
Marc Andre Fleury was brilliant in the third period, coming off a very forgettable game 5, Fleury rebounded by stopping 13 Detroit shots in the 3rd period alone, including a Dan Cleary breakaway in the dying minutes... with a little help from Scuderi's left leg; who was on his knees and stopped Johan Franzen from in front of the net.
Every game in the Finals has been won by the home team, so you would have to figure automatic advantage Detroit – but don’t count these Penguins out yet. The 2009 Stanley Cup Finals have been terrific to this point and what better way to end the year with a hard fought game 7?
Goal Scorers: Pittsburgh; Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy
Detroit; Chris Draper
Shots on goal: Pittsburgh 31 – Detroit 26
Power Play: Pittsburgh 0/2 – Detroit 0/2
Faceoffs Won: Pittsburgh 24 – Detroit 24
Ice-time Leaders: Pittsburgh, Sergei Gonchar 22:04 - Detroit, Niklas Kronwall 24:42
Pittsburgh and Detroit will play game seven on Friday, June 12th at 8pm
