Good night: ARE YOU HAPPY NOW GARY BETTMAN!?
The Lead
For the Pittsburgh Penguins, this journey began on a Saturday, Oct. 4 at 2:30 in the afternoon. At least back in home in the Eastern time zone. But they were, instead, playing the Ottawa Senators at 8:30 p.m. Stockholm time, 4100 miles from home.
The journey ended roughly 241 days and eight hours later, with the pride of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, their captain, the NHL’s poster boy, Sidney Crosby, who was trumpted as The Next One, the heir apparent to Gretzky and Lemieux for what seems like decades, the player who singlehandedly saved the Penguins from a fate worse than relocation.
And where Don Quixote had Sancho Panza and Lemieux had Jagr, Crosby, of course, had the best player in the world ostensibly playing the role of sidekick. Evgeni Malkin set up Talbot’s first goal, after all, and scored eight points in seven games this series, and 14-22-36 in just 24 playoff games on the way to winning a richly deserved Conn Smythe, and was the one keeping Pittsburgh going while Crosby was off tilting at windmills.
But all along, Crosby had the numbers to back up the haughty comparisons to legends, living and otherwise. Statisticians could point to league-wide goalscoring ratios and say that if you adjusted so-and-so for such-and-such you would see that Crosby actually scored MORE than Gretzky or Lemieux ever could have hoped to, at least relatively. But the comparisons all fell short because Gretzky had more Stanley Cup victories than he knew what to do with, and Lemieux won two in a row close to 20 years ago, and because of those two facts Sid the Kid was never fit to be mentioned in the same breath as these two priors of point production, these gargantuan greats of goalscoring.
That is, of course, until tonight. History will slowly forget that Crosby caught a vicious hit from Johan Franzen midway through the second period that chased him from the game for pretty much the whole remainder of the game, and that after the hit he only had one brief shift inside of five minutes to go. History will also, however unfairly, probably gloss over the fact that it was Max Talbot who scored both of Pittsburgh’s goals in tonight’s thrilling, gripping, heart-stopping Game 7 win over the team that had beaten the Penguins in just six games last year. And over the years, the fog of memory will drift slowly over the fact that, really, he wasn’t even that good for the entirety of the series. The tide of time will slowly lap away at everything but what an excellent team Pittsburgh had this year, and what an excellent job Crosby and Danny Bylsma and all the rest did to finally climb to the top of the mountain, eroding everything but the vivid image of the picture you see above.
Because at just 21 years old, Sidney Crosby, widely regarded as the league’s last best hope for mainstream relevance, is a Stanley Cup champion.
June 13th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hey man,
Nice piece. I wrote something similar last night, you can check it out here:
http://thesportsdick.com/2009/06/13/i-hope-youre-happy-bettman/
Later
Mike
June 14th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
f the penguins.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Just to make sure that all those who feel the series was rigged, I would like to present the following. Feel free to verify my numbers….
Through the series, Detroit had 23 Powerplays to the Penguins 15 and Detroit had a total of 47 minutes of penalties called against them to 95 minutes against Pittsburgh. Even taking away the ridiculous numbers from game 5 for both teams (Pitt 2 PPs, 48 PIMs ; D- 9 PPs, 14 PIMs), the Pens were still called for 47 minutes in penalties to the Wings’ 33 and Detroit had a 14-13 edge in power plays. And please don’t forget that among the Detroit power plays were back to back calls in game 4 that resulted in a (very brief) 5 on 3 advantage and almost 4 consecutive minutes on the PP while leading 2-1, only to give up a short handed goal and completely fall apart.
Further, The power plays in the last 2 games went in favor of detroit (2 in each game versus 3 total for Pittsburgh). In 3 of 4 the games that Detroit lost, they had as many or more PPs than did the Penguins. It could also be argued that since Detroit got the last power plays in both games 6 & 7, in the third period while trailing no less, that they were actually given an advantage by the officials.
There was no rigging. The better team won this series. I really wish all the Detroit fans, whose team I had previously held an enormous amount of respect for, would please just acknowlede that a team who was hungrier and wanted it more beat them and won The Cup fair and square.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:12 am
Jobalev congrats on pointing out how the series was not rigged statistically, but all you had to do is watch the poor reffing in Pitts favor throughout the season…
No calls…..No calls and more No calls
Lets see where should I start?
First game Malkin was clearly offsides, you scored on that possesion
I dont even remember the exact games but I remember Lidstrom getting checked against teh boards and he wasn’t even within 20 feet of the puck…no call…
Just a shit ton of interference no calls
Icing on there first goal in game 7, it was a no call when detroit touched it up….. Not to mention when crosby got checked he liked jumped and held on to franzens back ….no call….
November 24th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
To Jobalev,
Non rigged? You must be kidding! I have been watching NHL hockey & Stanley Cup Playoff hockey for more years than I care to mention. I have NEVER seen Stanley Cup Final officiating so one sided in all my years. You mention Detroit’s advantage in PP minutes & number. That is a given!! My Lord, the speed & EXTREME discipline would explain this alone! Hal “the tortoise” Gill was an obstruction machine that was called for, ready for this, two minors the ENTIRE SERIES. I’m sure he averaged that every game until the Finals. How about what I consider to be the greatest non call in the history of the Finals: Red Wings on PP: Pens counter with 26 SECONDS OF TOO MANY MEN. Not called!!! Less than a minute after PP ended, Pens GIVEN PP & scored tying goal. Just imagine…26 seconds that four officials forgot how to count. Too busy eye-balling all Wings looking to even out the numbers, I think. At that point of the game & series, Detroit on a 70 second 2 man advantage, forget about it. They bury the Pens. Detroit up 3-1 going back to the Joe. One last point, game 7 non call icing touch up gives Talbot goal 1. Non called offside gives Talbot goal 2.
Before you want to play with real fans, you better check your facts. All you Pens fans are just bandwagoners & we all know it. Where were you when the league had to save your beloved Pens from bankruptcy & relocation? Again, more research for you. Bettman NEEDED Cindy to win the Cup & he insured it (read above again). Seems the only people who will not accept this are those in the 3 rivers area. The fans, players & world know a dirty little secret. Hungrier team my ass…stay on the porch little dog, stay on the porch.