All ProSports

By Matt Valentine

Move over Babe Ruth, you have some company in the form of Penguins forward Petr Sykora. And while, Ruth’s mythic called shot at Wrigley Field has become the thing of legend and much speculation there can be no doubt about Petr Sykora’s overtime heroics in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Before overtime began Sykora told NHL ice-side reporter Pierre McGuire that he would be the one to score the game winning goal and he lived up to his proclamation.

For a long while though, the game and the Stanley Cup, seemed to be firmly in the grasp of the Detroit Red Wings. They controlled the play in all 3 overtime periods and dominated the third period in which Pittsburgh saw its 2-1 lead quickly vanish into a 3-2 deficit.

The game started out well for the Penguins as they controlled play in the first period and held a 2-0 lead heading into the second. Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead on Marian Hossa’s goal at 8:37 in the first off a feed from linemate Sidney Crosby. They expanded on that lead when forward Adam Hall scored an unassisted goal at 14:41 in the first period his third of the playoffs, and seemed to have Detroit on its heels.

Detroit emerged from the locker room with a renewed determination to capture the Stanley Cup on home ice and quickly tallied their first goal of the game when forward David Helm took a feed from Kirk Maltby and slipped a shot by Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The rest of the period remained scoreless and ended with the Penguins leading 2-1.

In the third period Detroit seemed to put any notion that they would not be hoisting the Cup to rest, dictating the pace of play from the start. At 6:43 of the third, Pavel Datsyuk took a pass from Henrik Zetterberg and notched his tenth goal of the playoffs, tying the game at 2. Less then 3 minutes letter Brian Rafalski found some open space in Pittsburgh’s zone, secured a pass from Johan Franzen and gave Detroit its first lead of the night.

With about a minute remaining and time quickly running out on Pittsburgh’s seasons, they pulled goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to gain a man advantage. The crowd at Joe Louis Arena was on its feet chanting “We Want the cup!”, and they were just 35 seconds from receiving their wish. That is until Penguins forward Max Talbot jammed a puck from the side of the net past goalie Chris Osgood saving his teams season and sending the game to overtime.

(Penguins bench erupts in celebration after Max Talbot ties Game 5 with just 35 seconds remaining.)

In all 3 overtime periods Detroit seemed to be the fresher team out-skating and out-shooting a tired Pittsburgh squad. And then Pittsburgh received the biggest break of the game when Detroit forward Juri Hudler sent an errant stick check into the lip of Pens defensman Ryan Whitney giving Pittsburgh a 4 minute power play.

It took just 36 seconds for the Penguins to take advantage of the power play. Sergei Gonchar returning to the ice after being injured in the second period sent a pass to Evgeni Malkin who found an open Petr Sykora near the right face off dot he fired a shot over the shoulder of Chris Osgood and sent the series back to Mellon Arena for a Game 6.

This could be the shift in momentum that Pittsburgh has been seeking since dropping the first two games at Joe Louis Arena, before taking one game at home and losing their first game of the playoffs at the Igloo in Game 4.

After a much needed rest the two teams will square off again for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, 8 o’clock at Mellon Arena.