With an extra day before the pinnacle of this entire hockey season for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, there's much to talk about.
Going into this series -- and, of course, before last year's Final as well -- the Detroit Red Wings were the team with the experience. They were the team with the veterans. They were the team who had been there before.
Well, it looks like the Red Wings are finally in new territory.
While Mike Babcock has coached in a game 7 in his career -- in 2003, while an Assistant with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks -- Detroit only has one player to ever play in a game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brian Rafalski is that player. He was on the New Jersey Devils when they beat Babcock's Ducks that year.
Nobody else has that experience. Not Kris Draper. Not Nicklas Lidstrom. Nobody else.
Meanwhile, on the Penguins' end, they have several players who have experience in a game 7 of the Finals.
Let's start with the birds' head coach, Dan Bylsma, who played on Babcock's Anaheim team in 2003.
Then there is his teammate, Petr Sykora, who also played in that game.
Sykora, by the way, who was in the lineup in game 6 for the first time since game 2 of the Penguins' Eastern Conference Semifinal against the Washington Capitals, is likely to miss game 7 with a foot injury he sustained while gamely blocking a big shot in the 2nd period of Pittsburghs' 2-1 victory Tuesday night.
X-rays were negative on Sykora, but he left Mellon Arena in crutches yesterday and had his foot in some sort of cast/walking boot contraption, and when asked if he would be ready for game 7, he said, "I don't think so".
Besides Bylsma and Sykora, Craig Adams also played in game 7, in 2006 while with the Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes.
Then, of course, there's Ruslan Fedotenko, who not only played in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he scored both goals for them in a 2-1 victory.
So, as the Penguins prepare for game 7, it is they -- and not the Red Wings -- who have a little more to draw on. And they'll probably need it since, by most accounts, the odds are against the Penguins going into Detroit tomorrow night.
Of the 14 previous Stanley Cup Final series to have required a 7th game, only 2 of those series have seen the road team come out victorious. The last time it happened was in 1971 when the Montreal Canadiens did it.
That '71 Canadiens' squad -- as regular readers of this piece may recall -- were the only one of the 3 teams who have come back from losing the first 2 games of a Cup Final to win a series to have done it after losing the first 2 on the road.
In a bit of an ironic twist to all of that, the Penguins do have a few statistics going for them.
First of all, they have won each of their playoff series' this season on the road. First, it was a stirring 5-3 victory in game 6 in their opening round Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the hated Philadelphia Flyers after coming back from being down 3-0 in the game.
Then it was a 6-2 stomping of the aforementioned Capitals in game 7 of round 2 at the Verizon Center.
Next it was completion of a game 4 sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.
The Penguins have more road victories by any team this post-season -- 6. The next closest team has 4. Detroit is one of those squads.
In addition to those statistics, the Penguins are 4-0 on the road in game 7 in their history. They've won 3 series' on the road against the Washington Capitals, including this year, and also prevailed over the Buffalo Sabres in the 2nd round in 2001 on a goal against one of the game's greatest netminders, Dominik Hasek, by -- of all people -- defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.
In overtime, no less.
I remember after that game someone made the crack that Kasparaitis doesn't even score in practice.
Great quote there. Like the one after game 6 Tuesday when Pens' defenseman Rob Scuderi cracked after blocking 3 shots from Red Wings forward Johan Franzen in the crease in the closing seconds that he was more of a stand-up netminder than a butterfly goalie.
Anyway, while none of the Penguins' previous game 7 road victories occurred in the Cup Final, the Penguins at least have that undefeated string going for them.
Speaking of having something going, one of the big questions going into this game 7 will be whether Marion Hossa will finally do that in the series-deciding contest.
Hossa, a 40-goal scorer in the regular season, has been pretty much a non-factor in the Stanley Cup Final. The fact that he jumped the Penguins' ship after last season to play with the Red Wings -- a team he felt had a "better chance to win the Stanley Cup" -- puts Hossa's awful performance to-date more under the microscope than it otherwise would be.
TSN Canada hockey analyst Ray Ferraro laid it on Hossa hard yesterday, saying "I can't remember a player coming up smaller in a big series".
NBC Analyst Mike Milbury -- asked during the 2nd intermission of game 6 what message he would give to the Red Wings if he were their coach -- said he would have called out Hossa and told him to stop letting everyone else carry the mail.
Tough words there for sure.
I must say, I've taken pleasure in seeing Hossa do just about nothing in the Final so far.
But there is one game to go.
If Hossa comes up large in game 7 Friday night, that's all everyone will remember, and it would be a cruel irony for Penguin fans indeed.
Although not as cruel as if the Penguins beat the Red Wings and forced Hossa to watch them carry the Stanley Cup in his team's building for the 2nd season in a row.
If that happens, I'd pay thousands just to be next to Hossa in the handshake line.
On the Pittsburgh side, they have a few players that they'd like to get going, too.
How about their Captain for starters?
Sidney Crosby has only 1 goal and 2 assists in this entire series, and no points in his last 2 games. He's obviously dealing with a load of focus on him from some of the Red Wings best players, but after his teammates led Pittsburgh to a game 6 victory, he has another opportunity -- one final opportunity -- to deliver and lead his team to the franchise's 3rd straight Stanley Cup.
I've said it before in these playoffs -- you have to believe this is the type of situation that Crosby was made for. His will and determination are second to none. Certainly, he hasn't put up the points in this series like he did in the previous 3, but when the chips are down, I'll take my chances with him.
Game 7 is also a chance for the other guy who has been pointless in the last 2 games to step up and lead the Penguins to the promised land.
That would be Evgeni Malkin.
If Malkin comes up roses in game 7 and the Penguins win the Stanley Cup, there's a good chance he'll take home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He's already clinched the post-season scoring title.
Malkin was great in the first 4 games of this series. The Penguins need him going again.
But perhaps more than anything else, the Penguins need to again do what I said they needed to do before game 7 of their 2nd round series against the Capitals.
They can't get too high. They can't get too emotional. They can't get caught up in the gravity of the moment or the fact that their lives are about to be forever changed for playing in a game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final.
They have to play their game. Do what they do. Not try to do too much.
It's important for the Penguins to dictate play to the Red Wings in game 7. Both of these teams play the same style and the team that is most successsful dictating the majority of the play will win. It's been that way all series and isn't going to change now. And the Penguins have done well when they dictate. In fact, a fair argument could be made that, while the series is even in games, the Penguins have been the better team.
The Penguins probably outplayed Detroit a bit in both games 1 and 2, but came away with 2 losses due to some unfortunate bounces off the back boards (that went in for Detroit) and posts (that didn't go in for Pittsburgh).
In games 3 and 4, Detroit got some of its game back, but the Penguins probably still controlled more play than Detroit did, especially in game 3. Obviously, the Penguins got the better goaltending in those games and went on scoring splurges that Detroit couldn't match.
Game 5 was really the only contest that the Red Wings had a clear one-up on Pittsburgh, and that was mainly one period (the 2nd frame) when the Penguins unraveled and lost their heads, The rest of that game was pretty even.
I don't think anyone would say the Penguins weren't the better team in game 6.
So, for all of that, the Penguins could already have won their final "Race to Four" of the season.
As it is, they have to settle for game 7. And if they keep doing what they're doing -- and get strong goaltending from their netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury -- they have as good a chance to win as Detroit does, despite the fact that they are an 0-fer in this series at Joe Louis Arena so far.
Not many observers think the Penguins can go on the road in game 7 and win. They will be the clear underdog going into the contest and, as I have said in the past, that can work to their benefit. There's a lot of pressure on the home team in a game 7. Certainly, a large majority of home teams have come through in the Stanley Cup Finals in the past, as I indicated earlier, but there are loads of examples of road teams being successful in game 7 because they have an "us against the world" mentality.
You go on the road. You do the simple things. You stick to your game.
While I don't believe the Red Wings will be easily frustrated if the Penguins do that and do it well, you never know because, again, this is new territory for almost all of them.
Regardless, dreams will be made on Friday.
Legends will be born.
And pictures will be taken.
Personally, I hope the Penguins get the one with their whole team in it.
Gameday post -- complete with the Filet-O-Fish -- tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens.
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