We Want The Cup.
An old chant for a new spring.
That's what Pittsburgh Penguins' fans everywhere will be saying a lot of the next several weeks after breaking out the brooms and sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes out of the Eastern Conference Final with a 4-1 game four victory last night at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.
With the win, the Penguins have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive season, and the 4th time in their franchise's history. Ironically, the last time, they did it, they also did it in back to back years, in '91 and '92 -- both of which, of course, ended up with Cup victories. The Penguins now will play for the Silver Chalice against the winner of the Western Conference Final between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks -- a series which Detroit leads 3 games to 1, with game 5 tonight in Motown.
Realistically, the NHL is set up for its dream Cup Final 2 years in a row, as it's highly unlikely the Blackhawks will come back to take 3 straight games from North America's version of the Big Red Machine. In all likelihood, it's going to be Penguins v. Red Wings, Part Deux, folks. The only question is when.
If the Wings' finish off Chicago tonight, the NHL and NBC are probably going to move up the start of the Cup Final 6 days, and kick things off with back-to-back games in Detroit this Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31.
If Detroit loses tonight and that series goes 6 games, the Final will start next Friday, June 5 in Detroit, with game 2 the next night, Saturday June 6, also at Joe Louis Arena.
The Penguins' are grooving on nearly all cylinders at this point, and while Carolina was a game opponent with their backs against the wall last night in game 4, Pittsburgh just proved to be too much for the Hurricanes.
Eric Staal got his first goal of the series to start things off for Carolina less than 2 minutes into the game, and that was the early start the 'Canes were looking for. They had their crowd into the game, and knew that they were 7-0 in the postseason when Staal scored a goal.
Unfortunately for them, it was the only puck they'd put past Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury on the night.
Ruslan Fedotenko tied the score for the Penguins later in the first period, taking a slap pass from defenseman Philippe Boucher at the point and re-directing it behind Carolina netminder Cam Ward from a bad angle.
Then, before the end of the period, Pens' RW Max Talbot entered the Carolina zone 1-on-2 and took a wrist shot from about 50 feet that deflected up in the air towards Ward.
Ward tried to grab it with his glove but it flubbed off the top of his web and fluttered behind him into the net to give Pittsburgh a big 2-1 lead going into the 2nd period.
RW Bill Guerin made it 3-1 in the 2nd period when he made a nice play at the Pens' blueline to help chip the puck past Hurricanes' defenseman Anton Babchuk -- playing for the first time in this series -- to Sidney Crosby and then putting his head down and driving like a 21 year old straight into the Carolina end and to the far post.
Crosby, with the puck on the giving end of this 2-on-1, dished a perfect pass across the crease which Guerin made no mistake on.
It was Billy G's 7th goal of the post-season.
The Hurricanes put on some pressure in the 3rd, but couldn't crack Fleury, who finished with 30 saves and played well.
4th line LW Craig Adams sealed things with an empty netter to close out the scoring and send the Penguins to the Cup Final.
Here's a nice piece on last night's victory:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4208077
The Penguins simply overmatched a determined Carolina outfit in this series. Remember, a big question going into this series was whether the Hurricanes' defense could match up and hold back the Pittsburgh offense. On that score, the result was no contest.
Game. Set. Match.
Sure, the Penguins were led by #'s 87 and 71, but they got contributions from plenty of other players over the last 4 games. They are getting supplemental scoring from Ruslan Fedotenko and Guerin. Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill are making them especially hard to crack defensively. And Fleury had a better series than he did against the Capitals. He was especially strong in game 1 and last night again. It's good to see him get on track once more. He'll need to be on top of his game for the championship round.
A bit more on why the Penguins' advanced:
http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=423919&page=NewsPage&service=page
A lot is already being made of what the Pens' Captain did with the Prince of Wales Trophy after the presentation from NHL VP Bill Daly last night.
In 2008, when the Pens' captured the Eastern Conference Crown, Crosby stuck with the general tradition of not touching the Wales crown.
This year, he touched it and invited his assistant captains, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar, over to take a picture with it. Then, they skated off the ice with it.
When asked about that after the game, Crosby said that he was trying to switch things up from last year.
The truth is that how the Penguins' fare in the Cup Finals this season will have little to do with the Prince of Wales Trophy -- except, of course, if Pittsburgh is able to maintain the outstanding play the last month that allowed them to capture that crown.
The Penguins have now won 8 of their last 9 playoff games and, while failing to outshoot their opponent last night for the first time in 12 games, regularly dictate the pace to the opposition with their skating, skill and aggressiveness.
Pittsburgh chases down the puck with abandon, creates turnovers and then, more often than not, capitalizes on them. They averaged nearly 5 goals a game in the course of regularly abusing a former Stanley Cup and playoff MVP goaltender who many commonly regarded as the finest of the 4 netminders left in the post-season.
Uh, I don't think so.
With the way the Penguins have consistently put pressure on the opposition with their puck-possession and skill, it's easy to say they remind people of .....
That's right.
The Red Wings.
And while so much attention will be paid to the Marion Hossa storyline if the Penguins end up facing the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, I think the most interesting subplot would be how the Penguins' have transformed their game so much and so well that they just about resemble Detroit.
But more on that in the coming days. For now, the Penguins can savor a very deserved Eastern Conference Crown.
In the meantime, it may be time for another chant, this one laced with revenge.
We Want Detroit.
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