The Pittsburgh Penguins did not go quietly into the night in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup FINAL (no S, I guess because that way the word is bilingual or somesuch). The Pens held serve in their last home game of the season, beating the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1.

“I thought [Pittsburgh] were better than us, though, at the start of the game; probably, for the first almost 32 minutes,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “They won more races and more battles, had more play, were on top of us more, and they kept us to the outside.

[By the third period], Detroit was fighting an uphill battle. Jordan Staal had given Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the second period. Then Tyler Kennedy scored a solo-effort goal in the sixth minute of the third period.

Game 7 will be played Friday [*pumps fist*] in Detriot [*recants fist pump*]. If you’ve gone all year without watching Sidney Crosby pick up a garbage goal just outside the crease or whine about the officiating, this would be your last chance to do so. Yeah, those aren’t really good selling points, are they…

A short-handed goal from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jordan Staal sparked an onslaught that saw the Pens even their Stanley Kubric Steemer Tucci Cup Final series with the Detroit Red Wings after winning, 4-2, in Pittsburgh. The series heads back to Detriot for Game 5 on Saturday. From Y! Sports:

Staal’s goal instantly changed a major opportunity by Detroit to seize control not only of the game but the series into a tie game, and the 17,132 jammed into a suddenly rocking Mellon Arena sensed how big the play might be. And they were right.

“That was a big momentum changer for us,” Talbot said. “The building was so loud, it gave us a lot of emotion.”

Perhaps the most spectacular goal of the night was that of Tyler Kennedy, who capped off what everyone seems to enjoy calling a tic-tac-toe play to beat Chris Osgood. Video of that goal is after the jump, and if it doesn’t make you wet your pants the first time you see it, then I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.

We may have jumped the gun in burying the Stanley Cup Final as we did in this post two days ago (and some of you said as much). The Final’s first two games reportedly have been the highest rated in seven years, and their cause can only be helped by the fact that the Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to not roll over and die. From Why? Sports:

Sidney Crosby(notes) still didn’t find the net as Henrik Zetterberg(notes) shadowed him whenever possible—Crosby has one assist in three games—but playoff scoring leader Evgeni Malkin(notes) set up the first three goals. Malkin, almost invisible at times during last year’s finals, has 33 points in 20 games—the most since Joe Sakic(notes) had 34 for Stanley Cup champion Colorado in 1996.

Pittsburgh also went 2 for 3 on the power play, with Red Wings coach Mike Babcock calling the interference penalty on Jonathan Ericsson(notes) that led to Gonchar’s game-winner.

Game Four will be played in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Puck Daddy has a great interview with one of the greatest players of all time, Bobby Hull. And Mark Messier has his own award now? When did this happen?

While the Red Wings seem to be scoring with ease against the Pittsburgh Penguins in this year’s Stanley Cup Final, the games themselves aren’t scoring many viewers. From the AP:

The NBC telecast [for Game 1 of the Final] drew a 2.6 rating and a 5 share. That’s compared with a four-game NBC average of a 3.2 rating and a 6 share one year ago.

Detroit has won convincingly in the two back-to-back games in Detroit, and suddenly the Pens are facing elimination at home unless they can win Game 3 in the Igloo on Tuesday. If a team falls in the playoffs and nobody’s around to watch it, does Sidney Crosby’s crying still make a sound? While you ponder that (or not), here’s the big fight (via Hockeyfights) that should have earned Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin a one-game suspension, as it happened in the last five minutes of play. At least when the NHL throws its rules out the window, it does so from the league’s front office, and not from the referee’s wallet at a Vegas sportsbook.

Read the rest of this entry »

We love athletes that play for the love of the game, even if “play” sometimes takes the interpretation of “beat the snot from thy opponent’s body,” which is what happened at the end of Anaheim’s win against Detroit in Game 6. They just couldn’t wait to start Game 7, and some mighty scuffling occurred therein. Boston also managed to force a Game 7 by beating Carolina, but they did it in a much less masculine way. Aaron Ward played, despite having a bruised vagina.

More quasi-brawlishness after the jump, specifically from the ice hockey world championships in Switzerland where the United States and Switzerland played off for the bronze medal. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, the Anaheim Ducks (they’re no longer the “Mighty Ducks” since Disney sold the team to this guy in 2006) edged out another win against Detroit last night, but the rub was that Detroit actually scored the tying goal with under two minutes to play in regulation. Only the referee pulled a Hochuli and blew the play dead, thereby disallowing the goal. Even though the NHL has had instant replay since 1991, this play apparently was not reviewable. Which is yet another reason we need to see a team get screwed before any of us care about hockey.