Remember when the Pittsburgh Penguins filed for bankruptcy in 1998? Remember the threats of relocation to Kansas City? Those days seem to be no more as the Penguins take their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals since their 1992 victory.
The road to the finals, however, was not an easy one. The last five years of the franchise's history have been shrouded in turmoil and defeat which all culminated in an embarrassing last place finish in the 03 - 04 season. But that humiliating season was the proverbial ashes that the new and improved team has risen from.
The new Penguins have only lost two games in this playoff season and have won all 12 home games played so far, sending off the Flyers in their final game with a crushing 6-0 defeat. That game produced the 64th consecutive sellout crowd for Mellon Arena which is a far cry from the average ticket sells of 11,877 just a few years ago. Those crowds did not come easy and many steps were taken to improve the franchise, including the drafting of Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins are a well-rounded team, however, and have made more than one good draft choice in recent history. Take, for instance, the drafting of Evgeni Malkin who was picked second overall by the Pens in 2004. Or Marc-Andre Fleury who, being a goaltender, was a controversial number one draft choice in 2003. Or even Jordin Staal who was drafted second in 2006.
On July 22, 2005 the Penguins drafted Sidney Crosby and the team slowly began to change for the better, but they still suffered from a losing streak at the beginning of the season. This led to the firing of headcoach Ed Olcyzyk who was replaced by the current coach Michael Therrien who was essential in turning the team around.
After a 3-1 loss to Edmonton on January 10, 2006, Therrien lit a fire under the entire team by publicly calling them out for their mistakes in a post game interview. "Half the team doesn't care," he said adding, "I really start to believe their goal is to be the worst defensive squad in the league -- and they're doing a great job [at it]. They turn the puck over. They have no vision. They're soft. I've never seen a bunch of defensemen soft like this."
Did he really just say that about his own team? You could hear the whispers in the back of every room throughout Pittsburgh condemning the speech. Little did the scolding voices know that the strategy would work. The team took notice and stepped up their game using Therrien's words as a stark wake up call.
The Penguins still lost the next game, but they were finally starting to look like a team that cared and then, like magic, things started looking up for the franchise.
The Penguins are no longer the definition of terrible defense. Just look at
this amazing
play by Sergei Gonchar that stopped the Flyers from scoring a crucial goal in the Eastern Conference finals. That was undoubtedly the best play of the series.
Now, in the current playoff run, Crosby's 21 points is tied for the most of any player this season, but the team has proven that they are much more than a one man show.
Earlier in the season Crosby suffered from an ankle injury that kept him off the ice for a total of 28 games. During that time, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was also out with a high ankle sprain. These injuries threatened the Penguins' season, but the rest of the players were not willing to lay down without a fight.
With Crosby on the bench, 21-year-old forward Evgeni Malkin enjoyed some well deserved time in the spotlight. He took the opportunity to become the Penguins' leading scorer and a contender in the points race for most of the season. Malkin obtained a total of 60 points in the second half of the season, including 36 points in the first 21 games Crosby was absent from. By the end of the season he had a total of 106 points trailing only Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.
In the wake of Fleury's absence second string goalie Ty Conklin hit the ice becoming an over night sensation in Pittsburgh winning all of his first nine starts. In the next two and a half months before Fleury's return he obtained an impressive record of 17–4–5. He also managed to retain the highest save percentage in the league for the current season.
During the current season the Penguins also made a great trade that brought Marian Hossa, Pasquale Dupuis, and Hal Gill to the team. Gill, the 6' 7" defenseman has been a force to be reckoned with. Hossa and Dupuis have been shown to be good pickups scoring more than a few goals this playoff season between the two of them. Hossa, in fact, has been on a little streak of his own scoring nine goals in the five game series against the Flyers.
So now its off to Detroit where the Penguins will face a foe that they have not yet seen this season. Both teams breezed through the first few rounds of the playoffs, but neither will have it easy in the finals. No one could have asked for a better matchup.
My prediction (though it might be a little bias) is that the Pens will win in seven games. The last being an exciting double-overtime nail-biter! Well it is possible, I correctly
predicted the last series after all!
The young Penguins team -- young if you don't consider veterans like
Gary Roberts -- is constantly underrated and they now have the opportunity to show all of their critics what they are made of. Will they be up for the challenge? Only time will tell.
