Deja Vu! Wings sit in same lofty position as Last Year Heading into Game Six

Moments after last year’s game six of the Stanley Cup Finals, Marian Hossa probably wondered what it took to win it all. After assembling one of the better seasons in Penguin history, and coming maybe two-three seconds closer to keeping the Pittsburgh faithful’s hopes alive, The talented forward looks to bury those dreams in Mellon Arena this June 9th 2009.

"It’s the first time I’ve been in this position, so close,” Hossa said. “That would be a dream come true (to win it in Pittsburgh), obviously.”"

If it were against any other team, It would be easier for Hossa, who has admitted to pressing throughout this whole series. Tonight’s action though is why he decided in the off-season to sign a one year deal with the Wings, instead of latching on long term with his former squad.  A team that has a history of eliminating it’s opponent before seven games. Not one team in Detroit has had a Championship series go seven games since the 1950’s, and tonight could be the first time since the 1977/78 Montreal Canadians clinched in Boston two years in a row to win back-to-back cups. For the Penguins, the key has to be to continue shutting down their former forward, and by adding pressure to offensive play when Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg take the ice together. Penguins defenseman Hal Gil believes that playing with Hossa gives his defensive corps an advantage.

“We’re trying to be on him as much as we can, clog up the neutral zone and keep his speed down,” Gill said. “We’re aware of what he can do on the halfwall, you want to get a good stick on it. … He’s a guy who can beat you one-on-one, so you want to try and be aggressive without giving him that opportunity.”

The Pens have much more experience than last year’s team despite losing Hossa. After battling so hard last season to get to this point, and even seeing a coaching change and personal changes mid way through this season, the Penguins have more battle scars coming into this match up. Marc Andre-Fluery, Sydney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin were on the ice when Hossa’s shot dribbled past Chris Osgood to  close out the 2008 season. Forward Max Talbot knows it too, saying yesterday , “We don’t want that image in our heads again.”  Captain Sydney Crosby believes his team isn’t going down without a fight, and that his Pens are going to bounce back from a horrible game five:

"“I think we’re going to bounce back. We have all year. We Weren’t happy with that effort, but we’ve moved on. I think we realize that, when we were in 10th place in the middle of the season, if they had told us that we had to win a game to force game 7, we would have taken it.”"

Even though the Pens captain and his squad have bounced back from a rough start this season, and have been through the tough game six, It fails to compare to the veteran core of Tomas Holmstrom, Captain Nicklas Lidstrom, Kirk Maltby, and Kris Draper that are working on their fifth championship together, none going to seven games.

"“You play for home ice and we have it, but that doesn’t give you any guarantees,” Kirk Maltby said Monday. “You always want to try and get that fourth win sooner than later. We have to play like we’re a desperate team.”"

That’s what separates these two squads tonight on Mellon Arena. The Wings, who were a desperate enough team to scrape up five goals and shut out the Pens in game five are the best closers in the ten years of NHL action.  Despite that fact, anything can happen when two of the world’s best hockey teams meet on the ice. Despite giving up five goals to the Wings in game five, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury believes this series is going seven games:

"“I really believe it is not over. I realy look for that game 7. But at the same time we’ve got to be ready to just play the game.”"

The Penguins will look to defend their chance of bringing home the Stanley Cup tonight on NBC at 8 PM ET. The Red Wings will look to hoist it in the same opposing rink as last year. Either way when the cup is on the line, every game is extremely special. Especially for goaltender Chris Osgood, who is going for Stanley Cup number four.

"“It’s obviously a special night when you know you have a chance to win the Cup in one single hockey game.”"