Much like Game 6 itself, the game-winning goal was no thing of beauty, but none of that matters now to playoff MVP Henrik Zetterberg and his Detroit Red Wings teammates.
Remember that old hockey cliché "it’s not how, it’s how many"?
Forget about it.
Scoring a goal that will forever be remembered more for how it went in than perhaps his many other noteworthy accomplishments, Henrik Zetterberg, who also happened to be the best goal scorer and point producer in the playoffs, could only stand and watch as his shot floated through the pads and behind the backside of Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury only to be pushed over the goal line by that very same backside.
No ifs ands or especially buts about it. It was hardly a Bobby Orr-like moment, but it pushed the score to 3-1, and proved to be the goal that sealed the win and allowed the Detroit Red Wings to skate out of Pittsburgh with a 3-2 win and hockey’s most coveted prize, the Stanley Cup.
It also secured the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs for Zetterberg who finished with 27 points in the postseason, the same total as Sidney Crosby, but with a much better defensive game thrown in.
The Red Wings also got goals from Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula as opposed to tallies by Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa.
In a way, it was less a dramatic game than the memorable Game 5 in Detroit that went to three overtimes and was remarkable both for its intensity and high skill level, but it also left no doubt that the Red Wings, in the end, were the better team.
This was a grind-it-out kind of win in a game in which both teams appeared utterly exhausted. Still, the Red Wings found just enough of that extra effort to pretty much will their way to the championship much the same way an exhausted heavyweight fighter relies on guts and grit and a lifetime of experience to outlast a young up-and-comer who has everything but the wisdom that comes from having been there before.
"If you look at our record over the last three years we have something like 58, 50 and 54 (regular season) wins, but it took awhile for us to get it done," said a triumphant Mike Babcock, the Red Wings ultra intense coach. "It’s difficult to go through what we did (in the playoffs). It’s been a process and it didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been an elite team for each of the last three years and we were finally able to get it done."
That’s a tribute to the Penguins as much as it is to his own team, the meaning being that the Red Wings needed the experience of getting close and losing before being able to find it within themselves to finally get it done.
It likely wouldn’t have been done without Zetterberg.
The smart and talented centre set up the first goal, a power play by Brian Rafalski and scored what proved to be the game winner. His somewhat unusual goal offset a play by Marian Hossa, who scored on the power play with Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on the bench, to bring the Pens to within one goal with just over a minute remaining.
The Hossa goal, a deflection of a shot from the point by defenceman Sergei Gonchar, had the sellout crowd in the Mellon Arena thinking déjà vu all over again given that an empty net goal with 35 seconds left tied the game and set up the dramatic Game 5 win. That was even more noticeable when the Pens were on the door step and had a puck rolling toward the Red Wings’ goal when Hossa again got in tight and one-handed it over Osgood and through the goal crease as time expired.
Hossa’s effort just missed Detroit goalie Chris Osgood’s glove and had it hit it, it likely would have gone in, setting off a debate as to whether or not there was any time left on the clock.
It was that close.
"It got a little crazy there at the end," noted Osgood. "We were hanging on there a bit at the end, but we got it done. I’m very proud of that."
As finishes go, it was more dramatic than most of the game that featured a gritty effort from both sides, but one that was clearly marked by fatigue on both sides, something that took away from the overall contest.
Zetterberg played a near perfect game having setup Rafalski’s goal and scoring the game winner himself. He also was arguably the best defensive player on the ice, breaking up several scoring opportunities the Pens tried to create in the Detroit end of the ice.
It was the kind of effort that Cup watchers have come to expect from Zetterberg who led the Red Wings in scoring this season and is one of three finalists for the Selke Trophy.
Rafalski gave the Wings the coveted first goal with a play very much like the one he made for what would have been the game and Cup-winning goal Monday night had the Wings held together for an extra 35 seconds.
The only difference was that this time he crept in from the left point instead of the right and took a slick backhand pass from Henrik Zetterberg (after a setup from linemate Pavel Datsyuk) before flicking a wrist shot off the back of Pittsburgh defenceman Hal Gill’s leg and into the net.
The slight deflection seemed to catch Fleury off guard, much the way Rafalski crossed up the Pittsburgh defence by slightly changing his shooting angle after Pittsburgh defenceman Rob Scuderi went down to try and block his shot.
Zetterberg’s pass was an exercise in precision in that it was difficult to see Rafalski and that he had four Penguins on his side of the ice. Though he didn’t get an assist on the play, Thomas Holmstrom provided the necessary screen (without goalie interference we might add) to make it difficult for Fleury to see Rafalski’s shot.
The game went into a hitting mode after that with both sides exchanging big hits until the Red Wings found some open ice early in the second period. Mikael Samuelsson got some room in the neutral zone via a long, lead pass from Niklas Kronwall and carried the puck in. Whether or not he timed his shot for the onrushing Valtteri Filppula is something they will likely determine at a later date but it certainly played that way.
Samuelsson took a routine blast from the sideboards which Fleury stopped easily but it also produced a big rebound. It went right to Filppula who almost overskated it, he managed to get the heel of his stick on it and redirect it through Fleury’s pads.
It was hardly a playmaker’s goal and it seemed to disturb Fleury who reacted with disgust.
Shortly after Filppula scored Crosby ripped a shot that Osgood got a piece of. In the ensuing scramble , Gary Roberts had a close-in chance but the puck sailed through the crease and out of danger.
The Pens got life when Pavel Datsyuk went off for slamming Jordan Stall’s head into the glass. That produced a power-play goal as Malkin ripped a shot low and through the pads of Osgood on assists from Crosby and Hossa.
Like the goal Fleury gave up to Filppula, this was a shot that should have been stopped.
That set the stage for the dramatic finish and, ultimately, Detroit’s fourth Cup in 12 years, all of which have come with Lidstrom in the lineup.
"I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished," he said. "I’m also very proud to be the first European to lead a team to the Cup. I watched Steve Yzerman do it three times in the past and that was a thrill, but I’m very proud to be the captain of this team and all that it’s accomplished."
In the end, perhaps that’s what the Red Wings will remember best.
