This time around, can Pens stop Wings?
PITTSBURGH -- It matters not that the Pittsburgh Penguins have taken a different path to this critical juncture of the Stanley Cup finals, but the stark reality remains exactly the same: They must find a way to stop the Detroit Red Wings from winning a Stanley Cup in their own building, in front of their own eyes and the eyes of all of their fans.
The Penguins could not stop that from happening a year ago, and after losing 5-0 in Game 5 on Saturday night to give the Red Wings a 3-2 series lead, and there are many who believe they are powerless to stop it from happening now.
Still, as painful as those memories must be -- the jubilant Red Wings pouring onto the ice as Marian Hossa's final effort skittered by the goal line, the Stanley Cup being paraded around the Mellon Arena ice -- these young Penguins seem to have done a good job of keeping those dark thoughts at bay.
"You know what, I haven't heard one thing about it. Nobody's even mentioned anything remotely close to that," Pens veteran forward Bill Guerin said Sunday morning. "I guess now that I think about it, it's kind of odd. But I think that's a good thing, though. Nobody's focused on last year. I think everybody feels differently. I wasn't here, but from what I'm told, it's a different feeling. It's a different confidence that the team has."
This was a day off for the entire Penguins squad, but the 38-year-old Guerin agreed to come down from the hotel where he's been staying to meet with the media.
In some ways, there could hardly have been a better perspective.
Guerin came to the Penguins from the New York Islanders at the trade deadline. He won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 1995 in his third full season in the NHL and has not been back to the Stanley Cup finals since.
Is there a voice in the back of his head whispering that this might be his last shot?
"Yup," he said. "You never know what the future holds for opportunities and chances to win the Cup, but yeah, I know where I'm at in my career. I know they're going to have to kick me out of this league because I want to keep playing as long as I can. But the opportunity is now."
Facing elimination in Game 6 isn't about an opportunity for just Guerin, but for everyone in the Penguins' room.
Yes, they have been to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals and are good enough to be a contender for years, but who knows when, if, it will happen again. Guerin said he thinks his teammates understand that.
"You know, the opportunity is now for a 38-year-old, and it's now for a 22-year-old, and for a 28-year-old. The opportunity is now, and you have to take it when you've got the opportunity because, you know, it could be 14 years before you get your next one," he said.
There is something about a Stanley Cup finals elimination game infused with a different sense of enormity. No surprise there. The Cup will be in Mellon Arena on Tuesday, polished to a gleaming shine. Every mistake by the Penguins will carry with it the most ominous overtones.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma wasn't with the team last season when the Wings celebrated their victory at Mellon Arena. His AHL team in Wilkes-Barre was still involved in a Calder Cup playoff. But he does have a sense of what his players went through having been part of an Anaheim team that went the distance with New Jersey only to lose in a seventh game in the Cup finals in 2003.
"We were on the road. It wasn't our home building, but I can remember vividly, too vividly, what it's like to have the clock ticking down. ... We were down 3-0 in the game in New Jersey, so then to have the pomp and circumstance afterward," Bylsma said. "So I do know what that is like personally, but that's playoff hockey.
"You're faced with elimination games, and you're faced with them on the road and at home sometimes. How you deal with them and the focus you can have on playing your game largely dictates how those games unfold. And some teams rise to the occasion, some teams relish in that pressure and come out with big performances. But they are tough situations to be in, and we're faced with one in Game 6."
When the Penguins return to work Monday, there will be myriad questions asked of captain Sidney Crosby, who had perhaps his least memorable playoff game Saturday, going minus-2 with just one shot on net. He also took a frustration penalty for slashing Henrik Zetterberg.
Questions also might be asked of Evgeni Malkin, who leads all NHL scorers in the playoffs with 35 points but took three minor penalties in Game 5. That's assuming he makes himself available to the media, not necessarily a sure thing.
Still, Guerin said those players' personalities suggest there will be no carryover of frustration into Game 6.
"I think they'll be fine. We talked a bit last night and it was already starting to roll off their shoulders," he said. "I definitely wasn't like that at 21, 22 years old. These guys are beyond their years. They know how to handle situations like this. They've proved that they can bounce back from a tough game.
"We didn't have a great go-round in Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, as well. And you know, they bounced back great for Games 3 and 4. So that's probably the least of our concerns right there."
There will also be questions asked of netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who was yanked for the first time in the playoffs after giving up five goals on 21 shots in Game 5. Likewise, Guerin thinks that outing has already been forgotten.
"This is a guy who comes in literally fresh every day," Guerin said. "Every day's a new day. He's always got a smile on his face. He's ready to go. I think he'll be absolutely fine. He's got a great type personality to let things just roll off his shoulders and refocus and have fun with it."
Although the Red Wings torched the undisciplined Penguins for three power-play goals in the second period with a fourth coming five seconds after the completion of another, it seems the outcome of Game 6 will be more determined by mental strength than by game plan.
Bylsma was asked if he thought he would coach more or less in the intervening 48 hours.
"Well, that's a good question. You can ask me that question again after Game 6," he said. "I think there are situations where you may coach less to an individual player, and there are players maybe that you need to coach more to, but there won't be a big change. I think change is a sign of an alarm bell and you set up the way you do things so that, in situations like this, we can act like we normally act.
"We can do the things that we normally do. It's just a matter of fact that we lost Game 5," Bylsma said. "This is a situation, this is what we thought about it. This is what we think going forward. We'll have that discussion tomorrow, and that is something we do pretty regularly after wins and losses."
Scott Burnside covers the NHL for ESPN.com.
