Penguins Embarrassed
Detroit, MI – The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their momentum, confidence and composure, their scoring touch and their goaltending. Their stars? They seemed lost, too.
Any one of those problems alone might have cost them Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Red Wings, who played with the desperation and purpose of a champion during their 5-0 victory in Game 5 on Saturday night.
All of them together might well have cost the Penguins a series that, only two nights before, looked to be shifting their way after they relied upon their youth and speed to badly outplay the weary-looking Red Wings while winning 4-2 for the second game in a row.
couldn’t be slowed after they looked nearly unstoppable back on home ice.
Or maybe the Penguins simply aren’t ready yet to win a championship, not when the opponent is a victory away from raising the Stanley Cup for the fifth time since 1997 and the second year in a row. Possibly in Pittsburgh’s own building in Game 6, just as the Red Wings did a year ago.
Nothing in a Stanley Cup finals is as fleeting as momentum, as the Penguins proved not only by failing to win Game 5, but by being embarrassed in it. Their special teams melted down, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury fought anything shot his way and Malkin and Crosby disappeared for long stretches, held to a combined two shots and neutralized by a Red Wings team that suddenly doesn’t look old or tired, dead-legged or the least bit intimidated.
The question is whether any chance Pittsburgh had of raising the Stanley Cup disappeared, too.
Maybe the Penguins will return home Tuesday, win Game 6 and force the first Stanley Cup finals Game 7 in the franchise’s 42-year history. The home team has won every game in this series, just as in the Anaheim-New Jersey finals of 2003 won by the Devils.
hang in a single arena.
Coach Dan Bylsma now has two days to repair the damage done by a blowout loss that seemingly came out of nowhere, and whatever psychological damage it caused – especially to Fleury, who was shaky from the start and got only worse as he got no help from his offense, defense or, especially, his penalty-killing unit.
The discouraged Penguins also have seen the difference NHL MVP finalist Pavel Datsyuk can make, and how his two-way presence elevates the Red Wings into a much better team than the one they faced in the first four games.
Crosby and Malkin are too good, too capable of taking over a game or a series seemed lost and quickly change everything, but this might be too much to ask even of them.
After a night when they made one dreadful error after another, the Penguins have absolutely no margin for error against a team that doesn’t seem the least bit willing just yet of surrendering the title of champion.
Posted: 6/7/09 8:40PM ET