As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to face-off tonight against the Montreal Canadiens in game 7 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series at what could be the last game ever in the venerable Mellon Arena (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS, FSN PITTSBURGH), I have a little bit of everything for my readers today.
Fantasy and Reality.
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.
A hockey season in the balance.
Tonight will be the 12th game 7 in Pittsbugh Penguins' history. The good news?
The Penguins are 7-4 in those games, including 7-2 in the last 9.
The bad news?
All 4 of those losses came at home, and the two most recent game 7 forays in The Igloo both were big upsets -- as tonight's would be if Montreal manages to win -- first in 1993 when arguably the greatest team in Penguins' history looking for a 3-peat fell in overtime to the New York Islanders and David Volek, and then in 1996 when a third period blueline slapshot from current Penguins' Asssistant to the GM Tom Fitzgerald and the Florida Panthers did in the Penguins.
Undoubtedly, for the Penguins to win tonight, their stars have to be stars.
That starts with the Pens' netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury has yet to string together two strong performances in these playoffs and, after a sub-par game 6, he'll be looking to do what he does best tonight: bounce back after a loss.
This year, Fleury is 4-0 with a 1.14 GAA, a SV % of 95.5, and 1 shutout after a defeat the prior game.
He also tends to be good in elimination games in his career, going 4-2, with a 1.91 GAA and a SV % of 93.
When those games are a game 7, his numbers are 2-0, with a 1.50 GAA, and SV % of 93.3.
Oh yeah. He also has that Stanley Cup thing to his name in game 7 elimination contests.
Beyond Fleury, the Penguins need production from Evgeni Malkin tonight, particularly at even-strength, where the Penguins haven't scored at Montreal's pace in this series.
Malkin has been playing better lately, showing puck control and dominance in the offensive zone, but Pittsburgh needs him to put points on the board. He simply has to bear down and find a way to get the puck in the net, or get it to someone who does.
Finally, how the defending Stanley Cup Champions do tonight may ultimately come down to the performance of their Captain, Sidney Crosby.
I don't have to detail here Crosby's historical performance when everything is on the line. He raises his game, like the best players in the world do when the chips are down. He had fire in his eyes at the close of game 6 while chirping with several Canadiens' players and, even though he's been quiet in this series and probably will have to contend with Habs' blueliner Hal Gill back in the lineup again tonight, it wouldn't shock me or anyone if Crosby dominates game 7.
Remember, Crosby sat out a large part of his last game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals last year against Detroit, so it's probably fair to say he's quite anxious to make an impact for his team in this one.
Just thinking about his will and heart gets my blood going.
While Gill will probably return for the Canadiens this evening, it's unlikely that fellow rearguard Andre Markov, who tore his ACL in game one, will play. And that's true despite the fact that he's started to skate a little bit with a brace. Markov would still probably be more of a liability for Montreal at this juncture.
Expect no other lineup changes for the Habs.
The Penguins will probably go with the same lineup tonight too, and that includes keeping defensemen Alex Goligoski and Jordan Leopold -- who both had a difficult game 6 -- in the lineup, and blueliner Jay McKee in the press box.
And so, after 6 hard games where every inch of ice has been contested ... where there have been superlative individual performances .. where we've seen miraculous comebacks from injury .. where the teams have found exhilarating momentum shifts ... where each club has failed to gain any real series advantage over the other ... one thing shines through with crystal clarity.
None of it matters.
Not the Penguins' success on the power play.
Not the Canadiens' containing Crosby.
Not Marc-Andre Fleury's up-and-down performance.
Not Mike Cammalleri's record goal-scoring pace.
Nothing.
All of that might as well be fantasy at this point.
The reality is that game 7 is a fresh slate, and that anything and everything can happen in a single, series-deciding contest. And often it's the unsung heros who make the difference.
Ask Pens' forward Max Talbot about that.
Or ask former Pittsburgh defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, who may have scored the most unlikely game winning game 7 tally in team history when he beat legend and Hall of Fame netminder Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres for an overtime winner in this very same 2nd round in 2001.
Said then-teammate and current Pens' professional scout Kevin Stevens of Kasparaitis' unlikely goal, in one of the greatest quotes of all time after the game:
"I haven't seen him score a goal in practice since I've been here."
No matter how it goes down, the Penguins have to leave everything on the ice, and I think they will. They are great at turning the page and bouncing back from defeats, and despite facing a lot of pressure as the clear favorite in this series, they have the experience and big-game focus to handle the challenge in game 7 tonight. If they can go into Detroit and become the first team in professional sports to win a game 7 on the road for a championship in nearly 4 decades, they are well-equipped to embrace --rather than be intimidated by -- the stakes tonight.
Which leaves only one thing.
B - E - L - I - E - V - E !
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
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