So much for those old and tired-looking Red Wings. School was in session Saturday and it was a painful lesson for the young Penguins.
DETROIT – We’ve covered a lot of sports, been inside hundreds of dressing rooms and dealt with all kinds of athletes from all kinds of places.
We’re talking rodeo cowboys from Stockholm, Saskatchewan to National Hockey Leaguers from Stockholm, Sweden; professionals from Oakland to amateurs from Oakville.
But we haven’t met many who wouldn’t have taken the words that came out of the Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room over these past couple of days and tagged them right up there on the bulletin board.
The Detroit Red Wings, as an organization, are one of the few who did not. For two reasons: They are so good, they do not require artificial inspiration. And why do they not?
Because they are so good, that’s why. Even if Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik did offer up a truck load of it between the end of Game 4 and the start of what was an eye-popping, 5-0 Red Wings butt-kicking in Game 5.
"They looked a little fatigued to us," Orpik had said after Game 4. "(Henrik) Zetterberg … he looks so tired out there."
"Any time we hear ‘too old,’ ‘too tired,’ or ‘too slow,’ it doesn’t bother us one bit,’" said Detroit winger Dan Cleary, whose game-opening goal stood up as the winner in a Chris Osgood shutout.
You don’t expect them to be "bothered" by it. But to not use a free bit of fuel like the Orpik quotes?
How could it hurt?
"We don’t need to do that," Cleary said. "We’ve got guys in here with pride, and we’re going to play our hockey hard, work hard. Too old, too slow, too tired? We just play the game the right way."
Detroit head coach Mike Babcock perhaps put it best when he asked, "When we play well, do we talk about their players like that?"
So, if we are searching for the elements that separate the arcs of these two organizations at this precise moment, maybe that’s a place to start.
Detroit has been there. They’ve won four Cups in the past dozen seasons and now sit one victory away from a fifth.
Pittsburgh is close. They’ve made it this far for two years in a row now.
But the question is, after a tour de force like the one the Red Wings laid down Saturday night in Motown, in which area is the Penguins pool too shallow?
Depth of talent? Depth of experience? Depth of skill?
Depth of calm and confidence, the likes of which poured out of this Detroit team in gallons just two nights after they had — to more eyes than just Orpik’s — appeared to be in the process of being ridden hard and put away wet by the young Penguins.
They shellacked Pittsburgh on Saturday, and were the better team by 10.
"We haven’t had a big loss like this in the past," admitted Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby. "We’ve been through a lot. We’ve bounced back a lot.
"Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an easy loss. But a loss is a loss. It’s unfortunate we didn’t have a better effort. We just have to get home and…hopefully be a lot better."
Hopefully? Did you catch that?
Yes, it was Crosby and the Penguins who sounded tired after Game 5. Tired of having their lunch fed to them, mostly by a Detroit power play that went 3-for-4 by the 15:40 mark of the second period, then began declining power plays the rest of the way.
The narcoleptic Zetterberg had a goal, an assist and six shots on goal. The returning Pavel Datsyuk — whom Orpik promised wouldn’t be in good enough shape to concern the Pens — had two helpers, a couple of shots on goal and four hits.
And the Bobby Clarke slash that Maxime Talbot nailed him with in the second period did not even phase Datsyuk.
"What a huge lift. What if you took (Evgeni) Malkin out of their lineup?" Cleary asked. "Pav was great tonight with the puck, made a lot of plays, he was physical — played a tremendous game. He looked like he didn’t miss a beat.
"Seven games (missed) is enough. It was great to have him back, not only on the ice, but his demeanour and his leadership off the ice. I could see it in the guys’ eyes, when we knew he was playing. It was a huge lift."
The Penguins were in this game for about four minutes in the first period. After that, school was in session.
Detroit can now wrap up their second consecutive Stanley Cup with a win at Pittsburgh in Game 6 on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh may well crawl back into this series, match up against these Red Wings back at The Igloo and force a Game 7.
They’d have to find a place to start though. Pittsburgh wasn’t in Detroit’s league in Game 5.
