Penguins Recover, Win Game 5 in Triple OT!
June 3, 2008 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Detroit Red Wings, Fan Fare, NHL, NHL Playoffs, News, Pittsburgh Penguins
I don’t know if I will be able to talk for days because I was screaming so loud. With a minute left in the game, I had already started writing this post but it was titled “Red Wings Win 2008 Stanley Cup.” And then the unexpected happened – with a little more than 30 seconds remaining, Petr Sykora (Penguins) tied the game and forced the Detroit Red Wings into overtime. This was the beginning of the loss of my voice (lol), because I can’t remember a game that had me so amped. This is definitely one of the best games I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t just that the Pens had that miraculous goal, or that this ended up being the fifth longest playoff game in NHL history and it’s not about young vs. seasoned players. It’s that, despite the odds, despite how crappy Evgeni Malkin has been playing (what the hell is wrong with him?!?!) and regardless of how many of the players got injured, they all managed to find the strength to come off of that bench and fight. They didn’t give up and it was an astounding game.
The Pittsburgh Penguins opened scoring which I hoped was a good sign since they are 11-1 when they have scored first. In fact, they dominated the first period – Marion Hossa scored at 08:37 and Adam Hall (actually, Wings player Niklas Kronwall deflected it into his own net!) scored at 14:41.
Darren Helm (02:54 in 2nd) and Pavel Datsyuk (PPG, 06:43 in 3rd) put the Wings on the board, tying the game, and it all seemed to be all wrapped up when Brian Rafalski put the Wings in the lead (09:23 in 3rd). That’s when they showed the Stanley Cup getting shined and I thought it was over for the Pens.
I swear, I am sure my neighbors heard me screaming when Maxime Talbot tied the game at 19:25 in the third. My biggest fear, at that point, was that the Wings were going to quickly recover and win but it never happened.
In overtime, the Wings tried extremely hard (took 24 shots on goal!) but Pens goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, shut the door. He was outstanding and I cannot understand where that magic has been this whole series! Both teams applied a lot of pressure but, finally, in third OT Jiri Hudler slashed Rob Scuderi in the face, drew blood and gave the Pens a 4 minute power-play but they didn’t need that long – Ryan Malone screened Wings netminder, Chris Osgood, and Sykora got his game-winning goal.
Fleury made 55 saves, 24 of which were in overtime. A-MAZ-ING.
image provided by Newscom
