The Suffolk Voice

Issue date: 6/5/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: AP Photo Detroit captain Nick Lidstrom celebrates his fifth Stanley Cup win - and Detroit's eleventh all-time

Six was the magic number.

After being unable to close out the series with a 3-0 lead, head coach Mike Babcock and the Detroit Red Wings eventually fought off the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 at the Mellon Arena on Wednesday night to win Lord Stanley's Cup. Pittsburgh had goals from both Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, but Detroit was able to eliminate the Penguins with three goals of their own, wrapping up the series with a 3-2 victory.

Henrik Zetterberg was credited for Detroit's game-winning goal after Penguins goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury made the initial stop on the shot, but allowed the rebound to trickle past him into the net.

Coming into the series, Fleury's playoff record was 12-2. Out of the twelve wins, three of them were shut-outs. During the regular season, Fleury was 4-0-0 against the Western Conference, but Osgood nearly matched his standards with a 3-1-0 record against the East. Both goaltenders seemed to have an even amount of potential heading into the Finals, but it was Fleury who surged ahead to prove the Penguins worthy of contesting for the Cup.

In Game 5, the Penguins were out-shot by the Red Wings, 58-32. After three overtime periods, it was Fleury who came through with the win against Osgood, making 55 of 58 stops to secure the victory for Pittsburgh. Petr Sykora shot the game-winning goal, 9:57 into the third overtime.

"About the shot, just between the periods, something stupid I said, just 'Guys, I'm just going to get one. So just don't worry about the game. I'm going to get a goal,'" Sykora told NHL.com editor, Phil Coffey. "And luckily, I got a great pass from 'Gino.' I missed it one time before, probably by 20 feet. And it was kind of a lucky play. It hit the ref and went behind the net and 'Gino' got it, made a beautiful pass. I tried to put it upstairs, and the puck went in."

Up until Game 5, Evgeni Malkin had no points in the series. However, Crosby had racked up 28 points, 20 goals, 13 assists after Monday night's overtime win, pushing him into the lead amongst all players thus far in the post-season.

"I thought he played well the first two games," head coach Michel Therrien told NHL.com. "Sometimes the results are not always there. You can't judge players on goals and assists. As coaches, we pay attention on different things. I thought that his work ethic was there. He stuck to the plan. That's what you're looking for from your captain, show an example. And good players, when the challenge is there, they like to play those types of games."

Crosby only had two shots on net and one assist in Game 6, however, accentuating Pittsburgh's lack of offense in the final stretch of the series. Malkin scored his first and only goal of the Stanley Cup Finals in their final loss.

"There's not much to say," Therrien said in the post-game news conference. "It hurts. You can feel the pain. I'm very proud of the group and what they accomplished this year, they grew up. The future is bright, this is a team that's fun to coach, they have a lot of passion. They just paid the price of learning to get better."

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