PENGUINS SHOCK WINGS IN GAME 7 TO TAKE STANLEY CUP

The Detroit Red Wings acted as if their second consecutive NHL championship was something of an afterthought, with game 7 on their home ice at the Joe Louis Arena.  Their championship aspirations appeared even more certain after Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby left in the first period after suffering a knee injury on a hard hit by the Red Wings Johan Franzen.  In the end, however, the Penguins got the last laugh as they stole game 7 2-1 and won their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1992.

Pittsburgh provided their financial backers with a nice +155 underdog payoff in game 7, with the combined three goals again going UNDER the 5’ total.  The head to head meetings between the two teams have shown a strong tendency toward the UNDER –10 of the last 16 matchups have failed to exceed the posted total.  (10 UN, 4 OV, 2 push).   The games between the Wings and Pens in Detroit have also demonstrated a strong bias to the UNDER with 10 of 16 failing to exceed the total (10 UNDER, 4 OVER 2 push) including 6 of the last 8.

After a scoreless first period, Maxime Talbot gave the Penguins the lead with his goal at 1:13 of the second assisted by Evgeni Malkin.  Talbot would strike again at 10:07 from Chris Kunitz and Rob Scuderi to make it 2-0 Pittsburgh heading into the third period.  The Wings would finally get on the board at 13:53 of the final period on Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler, but could get no closer despite holding a 7-1 shots on goal edge for the frame.  Overall, Detroit held a 24-18 shots on goal advantage.

The game ended in dramatic fashion, with Penguins goalie Marc Andre Fleury preserving the victory with a diving save across the goal crease as the final seconds ticked off the clock:

"I knew there wasn't much time left. The rebound was wide. I just decided to get my body out there and it hit me in the ribs so it was good."

At age 21, Sidney Crosby became the youngest Stanley Cup winning team captain in NHL history.  He addressed this accomplishment in his postgame comments:

"It's a dream come true. It's everything you imagined and more. I would've loved to do it in four. It would have been a lot easier on the nerves."

Detroit’s Lidstrom spoke of the disappointment of losing game 7 on home ice:

"When you're playing Game 7 for the Stanley Cup, and you're playing at home, it makes it tough to lose. It's devastating when you're that close."

The Cup clinching victory was the Penguins first win in Detroit in their past six tries.  They also became the first road team to win a championship deciding game seven in any North American sport since the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Baltimore to win the baseball World Series in 1979.