What to watch for: 2009 Stanley Cup Final (Game 7)

During the next few weeks AT&T SportsNet will be airing a series of "Pittsburgh Penguins Classic" content (click here for details). That includes re-airing the Penguins' four victories against Detroit in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final (Games 3, 4, 6, 7).
To get you set for these games I've provided a quick preview/recap of the game. Obviously, the Penguins won each game and we've all seen them before. So, I tried to highlight some stuff that you may not remember, or other interesting aspects of the game that may have gone under the radar in the grand scheme of things. It's the type of thing that hindsight can really bring into focus.
Enjoy!

SETUP: The Penguins staved off elimination in Game 6 in Pittsburgh with a 2-1 victory. That set the stage for a winner-take-all, do-or-die Game 7 at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. The entire series and the entire season came down to one 60-minute affair. High tension, high entertainment, high stakes. Detroit had been magnificent all year at home (especially against Pittsburgh in the Final), and the home team in a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was 12-2 at that point in NHL history. Could the Penguins pull off the unimaginable by going into a hostile environment and dethrone the defending champions?
SUMMARY: Max Talbot scored the only two goals for the Penguins, the only two goals that Pittsburgh would need as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and the defense held on for a 2-1 victory to capture the third Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, and the first of the current era. Sidney Crosby became the youngest captain, 21 years old, to raise the Cup. Evgeni Malkin won the Conn Smyhe as playoff MVP after posting a league-best 36 points (14G-22A). The Penguins had won four out of five against Detroit, and clinched all four series in the 2009 playoffs on the road. Twice Pittsburgh trailed 2-0 in a series, but still managed to prevail (winning both Game 7s on the road).
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
The only lineup note worth mentioning is that Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora suffered a foot injury in Game 6 and was scratched. Sykora's absence created a void next to Evgeni Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko. That void was filled by Max Talbot, who had been relegated to fourth-line duty in Game 6. Of course, the rest is history. But imagine if Sykora had played and Talbot stayed on the fourth line. Who knows how things would have played out.
19:27: The Red Wings, feeding off of the crowd, carried the play early. In the opening 30 seconds Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary each had chances, and Fleury was tested early.
8:41: Talbot got trucked in the neutral zone on a hit from Niklas Kronwall. Luckily, Talbot spotted Kronwall at the last second. Though it wasn't enough time to avoid contact, Talbot was able to brace the for the blow and avoid injury.
3:08: Another great Red Wings chance, this one was from Valtteri Filppula. As Filppula carried the puck, Mark Eaton followed his man and vacated the slot. Evgeni Malkin, who was on Filppula, allowed him inside leverage (perhaps assuming he had support from Eaton) and Filppula had a clear lane to the net. Fleury, always aggressive with his stick, poke-checked the puck out of danger.
2:07: Red Wings veteran Kirk Maltby got off a great shot following an offensive zone faceoff win. Detroit owned the dots in the game, winning 70 percent of the draws (33-14). Maltby generated a great scoring chance from this win, but, again, Fleury made the stop.
:53: The Penguins best scoring opportunity of the opening period occurred in the final minute. Talbot's hustle led to an extensive offensive zone shift. Malkin had a chance and then Talbot a look from the slot. If not for the block by Kronwall, Talbot would have scored as Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood was falling to his side. It was only the beginning of Talbot making his mark on the game.
:00: Detroit had the momentum early, particularly in the first 10 minutes. The Penguins started mounting their own wave after in an extremely tight 20 minutes. But, alas, it was 0-0.
SECOND PERIOD
18:52: GOAL!! Talbot got the Penguins on the board as Pittsburgh drew first blood with the game's opening goal. An innocuous dump by Brooks Orpik changed the course of the game. Talbot forechecked Brad Stuart while in puck pursuit. Stuart's pass up ice went off of the skate of Malkin and coincidentally right to the stick of Talbot. He alertly controlled, deked and then shot. If Talbot had shot immediately, Osgood would have made the save. But Talbot's hesitation caused Osgood to reset. While Osgood was resetting and shuffling his feet, Talbot quickly snapped the puck between his legs.
I also love that after the goal Talbot can be seeing looking down at Fleury while pumping his fist and shaking his head.

15:22: A couple big momentum swings on this sequence. Darren Helm was stopped on a great chance from between the circles. The Penguins went the other way when Brian Rafalski's attempted dump went off of Matt Cooke, allowing him for a chance up ice for a semi-breakaway. Both goalies made the stops.
14:36: This was the play that almost changed the entire trajectory of the game. As Sidney Crosby is pursuing a puck in the neutral zone Johan Franzen leveled him against the boards. Crosby hunched over in pain and slowly made his way to the Penguins bench and down the runway. The hit sidelined Crosby for basically the remaining 36:13 minutes of the biggest game in the franchise's history (other than a lone 32-second shift in the third period). If the Penguins were going to topple the reigning Cup champions they would have to do so without their captain and best player in the world.
Note: Following Crosby's injury, the Penguins adjusted their lines: Kunitz-Staal-Guerin; Fedotenko-Malkin-Satan; Cooke-Talbot-Kennedy. It forced the team to break up its most effective unit (Cooke-Staal-Kennedy) and play a man short. But by the third period all the lines were broken and the team was throwing out a mishmash of characters and combinations. It's amazing that the team still managed to prevail in spite of the broken continuity.
10:02: The Penguins won a puck battle deep in their own zone. Rob Scuderi rifled a wraparound that found Chris Kunitz near the blue line. Stuart pinched to keep the puck alive. At the same time, Jiri Hudler opted to track toward the puck instead of filling in Stuart's position on the backend. That led to …
9:58: Kunitz pushed the puck ahead to Talbot, who entered the Detroit zone on a 2-on-1 with Kennedy. Talbot held, then went top shelf glove side to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. Talbot dropped to his knees, clenched his fists and screamed, an iconic image forever immortalized to Penguins fans.

Note: Talbot scored eight goals during the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. Four of those eight goals came against Detroit in the Final with two two-goal performances in Game 3 and Game 7.
Second note: It's been written many times that Osgood was off of his angle on this goal. And that is obviously true. But what always struck me was that Osgood was off on the wrong side. With a 2-on-1 you would anticipate a goaltender leaning a little toward the other shooter in anticipation of the pass option. So, it can sometimes be forgiven if a goalie is off of his angle. But Osgood was leaning the other way, toward the corner, giving up the far side. It was clearly a misread by the veteran goaltender. And it cost his team dearly.
7:20: To win a championship takes sacrifice. Watch Miroslav Satan lay out to block a shot from Kronwall. He could have eaten a puck on that. He didn't care. Because it's the Cup.
:03: The Red Wings had a late flurry and got a great chance late from Zetterberg in the low circle. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Zetterberg's body position forced him to collect the puck and turn to shoot. If he was better positioned and could have quick snapped a shot, he may beat Fleury. The extra second was all Fleury needed to cover the distance.
THIRD PERIOD
Welcome to the longest 20 minutes in the lives of many Penguins fans.
20:00: I still remember watching Crosby come out before the start of the third period and do a lap around the ice. It was just a tease. Crosby would play, but it wouldn't occur until the period was halfway expired.
15:24: The Penguins penalty killing unit came up huge again for the team. They killed both Detroit power plays in Game 7. They had a minor meltdown in Game 5 (surrendering three man-advantage goals), but in the other six games of the series Pittsburgh PK was a combined 13 of 14 (93%) against the NHL's top-ranked power play.
10:25: Crosby's lone shift of the third period lasted 32-uncomfortable seconds. You could tell Crosby didn't feel right and was in excruciating pain when he got back to the bench. He gave it his all, but it just wasn't meant to be.
6:41: The Red Wings entered the Penguins zone and a 32-second offensive zone shift ensued, helped by Satan's inability to clear a puck on the wall. That lengthy shifted ended when ….
6:07: Jonathan Ericcson scored to make it a 2-1 game. You knew the Red Wings weren't going to go down quietly. And you also knew a two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey. Now, there was no room for error for Pittsburgh.
4:15: Malkin gained the blue line and laid into a heavy slap shot. It was the Penguins' first shot of the third period. In fact, it would be the Penguins' only shot of the third period. Luckily, the team held Detroit to only seven shots in the frame. But Pittsburgh was certainly playing on its heels much of the final 20 minutes.
2:15: Ding! Kronwall hit the crossbar after his shot was double deflected. There's no telling how many hearts stopped beating in Pittsburgh at that exact moment.
1:17: Detroit used its timeout. Amazingly, including this one, there would be four stoppages before the game ended. FOUR! And three in the final 33 seconds. It was the longest 77 seconds in the history of hockey (or fastest 77 for Red Wings fans).
1:10: Craig Adams had the puck in the neutral zone and was staring down an empty net. He also had two outlet options in Talbot and Hal Gill. Either would have had an easy empty net. Instead, Adams tried to flip the puck toward the vacated cage, only to be thwarted by Nicklas Lidstrom.
I don't blame Adams on the decision. But can you imagine if he'd passed the puck to Talbot and he scored a hat trick?! In Game 7?! Of the Stanley Cup Final!? I guess it didn't end too poorly for him though in the end.
:06.5: Penguins fans will never forget this sequence. Detroit won the most important faceoff of the year. Rafalski's shot was blocked. Zetterberg's attempt was also stopped and the puck skittered into open ice and right to ….
:01.5: Lidstrom will go down as one of the greatest defensemen in NHL history. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, won the Norris Trophy (as NHL best defenseman) six times and has won four Stanley Cups. Detroit's fate laid on the tip of his stick.
Pittsburgh's fate laid in its 24-year-old goaltender. Fleury pushed to his right and frantically dove out, thrusting his torso toward the elevating black rubber. The puck ricocheted off of Fleury and toward the corner. A pile of bodies pursued to no avail.

:00: Mike Lange: "And it ends! That's it! The Pittsburgh Penguins have won this hockey game! The Penguins have won the Stanley Cup!! And Lord Stanley, scratch their names on your fabled Cup!"

To view all Pens Classic Rewind content, click here.