The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions! I honestly did not believe the Penguins had it in them to defeat the mighty Red Wings in Detroit.

I am glad the Penguins won though. This is very good for the game of hockey. Young guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury winning the Stanley Cup is amazing for hockey. This is only going to bring more and more bandwagon fans over not only to the Penguins, but to the sport of hockey, which is good for everyone.

Sidney Crosby – This will shut up a decent amount of the “Crosby sucks” people. What are they going to say? “Crosby and his Stanley Cup ring suck!” Crosby played absolutely amazing during these playoffs. If it wasn’t for Henrik Zetterberg shadowing him for the entire Finals series, he would have most likely tied and or broken the Playoffs goal scoring record of 19 and made a dent into the top 5 Playoffs scoring with at least 38 points.

Evgeni Malkin – Deserved the Conn Smythe whether the Pens won or lost this game. Malkin finished with 36 points which is only 2 shy of Wayne Gretzky for 5th best all time in one Playoffs. That is pretty amazing and if that doesn’t get you a Conn Smythe, I don’t know what does.

Henrik Zetterberg – Played amazing like usual, but I think the whole “shadowing” of Crosby was a double-edged sword. Because Zetterberg was out worrying about and eliminating Crosby the whole series, he basically destroyed his own offensive presence as well, which may have turned the series to a different outcome for the Wings.

Chris Osgood – All I heard all playoffs long was how “amazing” Osgood was playing and how he deserved the Conn Smythe. I laughed at everyone that told me that. We all expected Osgood to be the Achilles Heel for the Red Wings and since he didn’t totally screw up, we assume he is playing “amazing?” Not here at NHL Snipers we don’t. Osgood still played average at best and as we all saw in the only game that really mattered (Game 7) he let in two goals that were easily savable. Osgood looked very average and if the Red Wings had a guy like Luongo, Lundqvist, Backstrom, etc… they would most likely have been skating around the cup a week ago.

Marian Hossa – Does this guy get the loser award of the year or what? You can’t help but rip a guy apart for losing in the finals to the Wings in 2008 to switching teams only to lose again to the Penguins in 2009. Sucks for him. Anyways Datsyuk and Hossa just didn’t show up for the Wings in the playoffs. Imagine if they played up to par and each had about 20-30 points in the playoffs? Again, Wings probably would have won the Cup a week ago easily.

Pavel Datsyuk – Played great defensively all playoffs, but was a null factor when it came to the scoreboard. Yes, he was injured for 7 games, which was a huge loss for the Wings. I also didn’t even see Datsyuk in Game 7. The only time I saw him out there was late in the game when he got washed along the boards trying to make a dumb behind the back pass. He was just not himself in these playoffs and his foot was obviously a huge issue.

Marc-Andre Fleury - He did not play amazing ever or really stole many games for the penguins, but he played well enough to give his team a chance to win…which they did. Also, he needs to fix that stupid goutee/stash combination that he calls a “playoff beard.” I would’ve blamed the loss of the Finals on that horrible looking thing. At least Crosby tries to grow one; he doesn’t shave it awkwardly like Fleury does.

Complete domination on all fronts by the mighty Red Wings. Pavel Datsyuk was impressive even though it was very obvious he basically is skating on one foot.

This series may be over in 6 unless the Penguins can get their act together at home.

We have a series! Game 4 came down to Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury. All three of these Penguins played amazing!

Evgeni Malkin played out of his mind offensively like usual. He is on pace to easily get into the top 5 ever for most points in one playoffs.

Most Playoff Points Scored – Single Season

Wayne Gretzky – 47
1985

Mario Lemieux – 44
1991

Wayne Gretzky – 43
1988

Wayne Gretzky – 40
1993

Wayne Gretzky – 38
1983

Evgeni Malkin – 35 currently

Sidney Crosby – 31 currently

I see no way unless Henrik Zetterberg or Sidney Crosby play out of their minds in the remaining games that any one else other than Evgeni Malkin will win the Conn Smythe. I think that even if the Penguins lose the series, that Malkin still deserves the trophy.

Sidney Crosby had a solid game as well again. I give credit to the fact that the Penguins are at home and he is able to get away from Henrik Zetterberg.

Jordan Staal plays well seemingly ever single game because of his all-around play and presense on the special teams. He had a great game again with a huge short-handed goal for the Pens.

Marc-Andre Fleury played out of his mind as well facing 39 shots.

Will we see these same Penguins in Detroit?

Great game from the Penguins. They let the Red Wings get an early lead again, but managed to fight back this time. Evgeni Malkin played out of his mind having the primary assist on all three Penguins goals besides the empty-netter.

This series could easily be 3-0 Penguins, assuming they could finish on all of their scoring chances. Chris Osgood and the Red Wing Penalty Kill are their Achilles Heel. The Red Wings are very beatable and the Penguins have proved it.

Now can the Penguins do it three more times?

Anyone think the series is over yet? The Red Wings again work hard, gain the lead, and go into their defensive system only to get a lucky goal from Justin Abdelkader.

I can not see the Penguins winning another game unless Evgeni Malkin can step up and carry this team on his back. Luckily he will have a chance at that because the NHL does not want a star player out of a playoff game so they went against their own rules and did not suspend Malkin for his instigating penalty at the end of this game…

Sidney Crosby is basically useless, unless he is on the Powerplay because of Henrik Zetterberg constantly shadowing him.

The worst part about these two losses is that Marc-Andre Fleury is not playing awful and Chris Osgood is not playing amazing either. The Penguins are getting their chances, but need to start capitalizing more.

Now the series shifts to Pittsburgh. Must win time for the Pens….

This was a pretty sloppy game for both teams. All 4 goals are goals that “should not” have gone in. The refs were letting them play which is great, but still missed a few calls (Malkin breakaway that could have been 2 min for Malkin, Zetterberg covering the puck in the crease that should have been a penalty shot, and the slash on Helm when he was on the breakaway)

Hopefully game 2 will be more crisp and show off both of these excellent teams…..

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings

…..where to start. Common sense says predict the Detroit Red Wings, but my I am leaning towards the Pitsburgh Penguins.

Common sense says Detroit because both the Red Wings and the Penguins have basically the same exact teams as last season, except Marian Hossa is on the Red Wings now rather than the Penguins. So taking that into assumption, the Red Wings should easily win the Cup again.

But, I absolutely love the way Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are playing. They are basically taking turns leading their team in these playoffs so far. Both are on pace for potential record breaking playoff point totals with 28 points each so far.

The other reason I like the Penguins is because of Nik Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk and their mysterious injuries. These are not only two of the best Red Wings, but two of the best players in the world who are potential out and definitely not 100% assuming they come back.

But then again, the Red Wings are the Red Wings and they could easily go through these Penguins in five games. I have been saying this for every series so far but Pavel Datsyuk and Marian Hossa have been very lackluster so far and if they get on fire, then the Penguins have zero chance.

Pittsburgh Penguins in 7 games!