Stanley Cup Preview?

If revenge is best served cold, then obviously the ice would be the ideal venue when the Penguins get to take yet another shot at Marian Hossa and the Blackhawks tonight. Chicago has certainly followed the model laid out by the Penguins in building their team through the draft with two dynamic scorers in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. In order to accumulate this talent however, Chicago suffered through some futility similar to that of Pittsburgh from 1997-98 to 2007-2008 as the Blackhawks made the playoffs on just one occasion and found themselves picking near the top of the draft for ten straight years. Of the skill that the Blackhawks possess, Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma said: “It’s kind of like this is our one time to see some of these kids and how they’re progressing and how they’re playing. There will be a little bit more of a buzz to the game I think.” This game is definitely carrying its fair share of hype, but that hype was diminished a bit when it was announced this morning that marquee Pens scorer Sidney Crosby would miss this contest due to a nagging groin injury. Without the spotlight on Crosby out on the ice, much of the attention will shift to the return of Hossa to Mellon Arena in yet another uniform. Of course the presupposed animosity between Hossa and the Penguins is mostly untrue as Pens defenseman Brooks Orpik points out saying: “It will be a good chance to see him. I think it is just a chance to see a former teammate that you got along with and helped us get to the Stanley Cup Final (in 2008). There is no bitterness from my side.” That bitterness certainly still resides within the bellies of numerous Penguins fans and they will undoubtedly let that displeasure be heard tonight whenever Hossa gets his stick on the puck.

As for the game itself, the Blackhawks share one more thing in common with the Penguins as they have some skilled guys on defense including Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith. At nearly every position the Hawks match up well with Pittsburgh and that should result in a highly competitive Saturday night of hockey. Penguins centerman Jordan Staal was short and sweet when he offered comments on the upcoming showdown saying: “It’s an exciting challenge. It should be a good game.” And with that the puck is now on the ice and this Pittsburgh crowd lets Hossa hear it as he jumps over the boards for his first shift of the night. Matt Cooke’s return to the ice tonight after serving his two game suspension earlier in the week is unceremoniously cut short on his first shift as he is sent to the box for an interference penalty. The first shots of the night by either team are had on the Chicago power play nearly five minutes into the opening period and both are turned away by Marc-Andre Fleury as the penalty expires. Another whistle puts Pittsburgh a man down again shortly after Cooke’s return to the ice as Brooks Orpik is sent off for holding. Cooke’s fiery temperament antagonizes Duncan Keith into taking an undisciplined penalty for interference to even things up at four on four. Some poor rebound control by Fleury leaves a Brian Campbell shot on the doorstep for Hossa to bury into the Pens net to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Fleury is forced to quickly forget about the first goal as he comes up with a spectacular glove save on Patrick Kane. Finally the Pens apply some pressure to the Blackhawks backup netminder Antti Niemi who is playing in the second night of a back to back situation for the Hawks and he comes up with two nice pad stops midway through period one. Niemi again comes up huge stopping a one timer on Bill Guerin set up by Evgeni Malkin from behind the net. Mark Letestu is in the lineup for the third time this year as a result of Crosby scratching and he is beginning to get comfortable winning some faceoffs for the Pens in the Chicago zone. The yapping out on the ice continues as these two teams are building up a general dislike for one another here in the opening frame. Malkin runs the gauntlet and sparks some Pittsburgh momentum nearing the end of period one as Ruslan Fedotenko and Letestu team up on the following shift to put a bit of heat into the Blackhawks kitchen and finish the period on a high note.

Many NHL pundits have been touting this game as a potential Stanley Cup preview and with all of the chippy activity in the 1st period, these two teams seem to have taken that to heart and developed a bit of hostility toward one another despite this being their only meeting in the regular season. This extra curricular activity really doesn’t favor either team as both of these squads are more in favor of the up and down the ice, fast paced action so it’s anyone’s guess how this will turn out. Period two gets underway with Malkin and company setting up shop in the Chicago end finally applying some substantial pressure on Niemi as Guerin forces him to fight off a high shot near the collarbone area on the goaltender. Some furious action exchanged as this is more of the style that fans had to be expecting coming into this one as some work in the zone by the Pens produces a point shot for Sergei Gonchar who rings one off of the post near Niemi. The puck is definitely moving more north and south in this second frame as it nears the midway point of this stanza with Fleury forced to turn away a shot from Kris Versteeg and Niemi required to deny a handful of chances by both Staal and Tyler Kennedy. Mark Eaton has been effective when he is on the ice with Malkin tonight nearly connecting with the Penguins centerman for a goal on a beautiful pass that just bounced over his blade near the Chicago crease. Pittsburgh is storming the castle on Niemi but despite a nice setup from Cooke to Kennedy the Pens are denied of the equalizer by the pads of the Chicago netminder. Two more quality opportunities are turned away by Niemi as Mike Rupp and Eric Godard both fire good shots on the Blackhawks net without results. A jump off of the faceoff from the Letestu unit again produces a great chance for DuPuis as the puck is deflected up into the netting. Off of the ensuing draw Malkin and Colin Frazier get tangled up and exchange some blows as they go down to the ice together and are sent to the box in tandem as well with offsetting minors for some more four on four hockey. Letestu has been the best player on the ice for the Penguins tonight as he sets up Gonchar for a one timer that is robbed by the one guy on the ice that is outplaying Letestu tonight in Antti Niemi.

The Penguins controlled the action in the second frame, but have still been unable to penetrate the goal line behind Niemi as he has been fabulous thus far for Chicago. Pittsburgh really needs to get some traffic to the net and impede the vision of the Blackhawks netminder to get the biscuit behind him and pay off some of this fantastic pressure they have been producing all night long. The 3rd period is off and running with some spectacular goaltending by Fleury to keep Pittsburgh in the game as he makes a toe save on Hossa and then denies Versteeg with the glove. There has been no shortage of misfortune tonight for the Penguins either as Malkin and Talbot take off on a two on one and the pass by Malkin jumps over the stick of Talbot to negate any potential scoring chance for the Penguins. Pittsburgh is going to bring everything they’ve got here tonight as Letestu sends a backhander off of the post and the Pens are still denied of the equalizer. The building is ready to erupt if the Pens can get the puck behind Niemi here tonight as this continuous pressure has really ignited some energy in Mellon Arena here midway through the final period. Kennedy gets off a great shot down the right wing that is shoved aside by Niemi with the stick keeping the Pens off of the board. Yet another quality save to add to Niemi’s highlight reel tonight as he flashes the leather to deny a wrister from Guerin. Wow, yet another cardiac arrest kind of night by the Penguins as they send Fleury to the bench for a faceoff in the Chicago zone in favor of the extra attacker and they cash in. Right off of the draw won by Letestu, the puck is sent to Malkin on the point who fires a shot on net and Staal gets on the rebound and slips it in behind Niemi to finally get the equalizer for Pittsburgh to send this thing into overtime.

The adrenaline shot in the arm that yet another late goal has to provide to this Penguins team should be significant as Pittsburgh will be looking to get another point here as they head to OT. The two teams exchange chances in the opening minute of overtime with Staal getting a chance on the Chicago goal with some fancy stickhandling and Fleury forced to fight off a Toews shot in the Pittsburgh zone. Chicago ends the game on a three on two breakout with some great puck movement as Versteeg finishes this game cleaning up a Campbell rebound to make the final margin of victory 2-1 Blackhawks.

This game really lived up to all of the hype as the atmosphere and the caliber of hockey really had the feel of a playoff game. With top class goaltending on both sides combined with a plethora of extracurricular activity, this may be the only time that these two meet during the 82 game regular season, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a stretch to think that they could collide in late May and early June for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Given the full compliment of players, this game could have been even better if that’s possible considering the absence of Crosby from this one tonight. For Pittsburgh, the best player on the ice was the man called up to replace Sid in Mark Letestu as he dominated in the faceoff circle and generated a handful of great offensive chances for the Pens here tonight. Pittsburgh will hit the ice again on Monday to face the Hurricanes so it’s back to Eastern Conference foes for the Pens in the near future.

Tags: Antti Niemi, Bill Guerin, Brian Campbell, Brooks Orpik, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Dan Bylsma, Duncan Keith, Eric Godard, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews, Jordan Staal, Kris Versteeg, Marc Andre Fleury, Marian Hossa, Mark Eaton, Mark Letestu, Matt Cooke, Mike Rupp, Patrick Kane, Ruslan Fedotenko, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup, Tyler Kennedy