Staal Tactics: Penguins Lie in Wait, Explode for 4 Goals in 3rd, Comeback to Beat Red Wings, 7-6 in OT

The ice at Joe Louis Arena has seen some legendary hockey players over the years.

Guys like Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe, and Steve Yzerman, among others, have all left indelible memories on the National Hockey League for their work in that building.

After last night, they may have to make room for Jordan Staal on that list.

The Penguins played the Red Wings script for the better part of almost 50 minutes in their Stanley Cup Final rematch last night in Detroit.

They were outshot by a large margin and just generally seemed a step behind the Red Wings, going down by a 5-2 score with just over 10 minutes to go. They had been taken behind the woodshed by the Detroit power play and Marc-Andre Fleury was struggling to see through the brick wall Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom was most of the game.

Then the Terradactyl took over.

Actually, Penguins center Evgeni Malkin started things off by burying a wicked wrister about 12 inches off the ice and off the far post behind Red Wings sieve Chris Osgood on a 5-3 power play. Malkin's goal was actually made possible by a fantastic one-touch pass from Miroslav Satan, who took a slap pass from Crosby and dished to Malkin so quickly that it caught Red Wings penalty killer Henrik Zetterberg out of position enough for Malkin to take 2 strides and rip it in.

That made it 5-3.

I thought Michel Therrein did some excellent coaching on that power play, too. He deftly used his time-out to rest his top PP unit after a stoppage halfway through the power play, knowing the game could turn on that man-advantage opportunity. Therrein has always been a coach who I feel uses his timeouts very wisely.

The second thing he did was keep center Mike Zigomanis on the ice with the rest of the #1 unit to better the Penguins' chance of maintaining possession in the Detroit zone. Sure enough, Zigomanis came through with 2 big faceoff wins on that power play. As a result, the Penguins were basically able to spend 75% of the man advantage time in the Detroit zone. That helped lead to Malkin's goal, too.

Zigomanis really is excellent on the draw. His role can't be understated, and he played an even bigger role later in the game, too.

A little over a minute later, the Penguins did a great job of pressuring the Red Wings defense in their own end into turning over the puck. Staal, Matt Cooke and, I believe, Tyler Kennedy deserve the credit here. Cooke, in particular, did a great job to steal the puck, cut through the slot, remember where Staal was, then spin around and pass the puck right to his tape to the right of Osgood. Staal took the puck on his forehand, deked to the backhand and left Osgood swimming like a Carp in the Detroit river to make it 5-4.

At this point, things were really interesting. That is, until Red Wings forward Jiri Hudler blasted a shot a few minutes later from about 45 feet along the wall that Fleury had a hard trouble handling with his blocker. It trickled behind him and across the line just before defenseman Kris Letang could get there.

Fleury has to have that one.

After Detroit had reestablished their 2-goal lead, I thought for sure the Penguins would be done. Hudler's goal would have been the perfect dagger. Like I said, it was just shaping up to be another game where we were just a step behind Detroit.

Until Staal made things interesting again with his second goal of the game with about 4 minutes left, whacking a puck by Osgood from the slot to make it 6-5.

Then, with about 30 seconds left and the Penguins down by a goal on the road to Detroit (have you heard that one before), Staal rang up the 3rd period hat trick by scoring on a similar shot to his 2nd goal, whacking the puck by Osgood from the slot.

The play was again started by another key, clean faceoff win by Zigomanis in the Detroit zone.

The hat trick, by the way, was Staal's second career hat trick.

He could have easily called it a night there.

Fortunately for the Penguins, he felt an encore was necessary.

About 3 and 1/2 minutes in overtime, the Red Wings were skating their puck out of the zone. Then, in the blink of an eye, Pavel Datsyuk, one of the best defensive forwards in the game had his pocket picked by Staal from behind at Detroit's blue line. In one motion, Staal circled into the zone and was joined by a rushing Ruslan Fedotenko on the right wing to create a 2-1 against Detroit all-world defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. Staal sized up his options and dished to Fedotenko, who buried a waterbottle shot from about 35 feet out at the top of the circle passed a stunned Osgood -- and a now silent crowd -- to complete the Penguins miraculous comeback and win 7-6.

With that, there was jubilation in Penguin nation, not much unlike their triple OT victory in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals the last time they played in Joe Louis Arena.

Sure there was more at stake last year, but there I was -- again jumping up and down last night as I was last year, just beside myself over the character the Penguins showed to come back and win against such a great team.

The Boys of Winter sure have a flair for the dramatic there, don't they?

They also extracted a share of revenge against the Red Wings and Marion Hossa who, although racking up 2 assists, finished the night a -2. Henrik Zetterberg and Lidstrom also finished on the minus side of the ledger. It was great to see them go down -- let alone in that fashion.

In the end, the game really came down to #11. The Red Wings just didn't have an answer for him. He put the Penguins on his back and carried them to victory. With 5 goals in his last 5 games, Staal is coming on after a quiet start. He's got a lot of confidence now and it shows in the way he skates and commands the ice out there. Add in the fact that he's got the hands going and he's just an imposing specimen out there.

What a game and what a win for the Penguins.

In some ways, it reminded me of the Thanksgiving day 3-goal comeback win they had last year against Ottawa. As most recall, Ottawa was the best team in the league by a large margin at that point. I believe they had only lost 3 games. That win kick-started the remainder of the Penguins' season after a near .500 start. Sure, the Penguins have started better this year, despite their injuries and new faces, but such a quality win against a quality opponent can't help but give the Penguins some momentum.

Here are some great links on last night's action:

First, the highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f87tN-z7Vs

Then, some great articles from the Detroit media, starting with a fantastic column from Mitch Albom with the Detroit Free Press:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081112/COL01/811120407/1053/SPORTS05

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081112/SPORTS0103/811120371/1128

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081112/SPORTS0103/811120418/1128

With their 4th straight win and a 9-4-2 record, the Penguins will look to capitalize on their momentum tomorrow night when they host the arch-rival Flyers.

F-Hossa.