2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog - Stanley Cup Final

Pittsburgh left-winger Ruslan Fedotenko, who missed Thursday’s practice because of illness, rejoined the Penguins for their workout at Mellon Arena before a flight to Detroit Friday afternoon.

He got through the practice with no apparent problem and then pronounced himself ready to play in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma seemed equally optimistic after watching Fedotenko go through the workout.

“I haven’t talked to our trainers yet,” he said. “But I thought he was fine.”

Moving on

Marian Hossa’s decision to leave Pittsburgh and sign a one-year contract with the Red Wings last July has prompted a lot of discussion around the league in recent days - and likely will inspire a lot more as the series unfolds - but it’s a non-issue inside the Pittsburgh locker-room.

Hossa’s former teammates were disappointed and, in some cases, surprised when he opted to go to Detroit, citing a desire to maximize his chances of winning a Stanley Cup, but no one took it personally, the way a significant segment of the Penguins’ fan base seemed to.

“It was made to be a big deal, but there was never an issue in here,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “He made his choice, and that was it.”

Defenceman Brooks Orpik echoed that sentiment and noted that had Hossa stayed in Pittsburgh, there’s no guarantee the Penguins would have returned to the final.

“Maybe if he came back this year, we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to get some of these other guys (Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz and Craig Adams) and maybe we wouldn’t have made the playoffs, or lost in the first round,” he said. “It’s something you just move on from.”

Sprucing up special teams

One of the key variables in the Cup final figures to be how Pittsburgh’s power play performs against Detroit’s penalty-killing.

The Penguins don’t have a man-advantage goal in two of the past three games, but still are on a 12-for-46 run over the past 10 games. That’s a dramatic upgrade for a unit that underachieved for most of the regular season, primarily because it often tried to generate highlight-tape goals rather than consistently putting the puck on goal and going after deflections or rebounds.

“We’re blessed with world-class players on the power play, and they have the ability to make great plays,” said Penguins assistant coach Mike Yeo, who oversees the power play.

“It's not always easy for somebody to simplify and keep things [basic], to not try to make an outstanding play, and just make a good play. But, to their credit, they've done it. And the fact that they've gotten a reward from it helps a lot.”

While the Penguins’ power play has been in a pretty good rhythm lately, Detroit allowed at least one man-advantage goal in 13 consecutive games before Chicago went 0-for-2 with the extra man during Game 5 of the Western Conference final Wednesday.

‘Fleury won’t get rattled’: Meloche

Goalie coach Gilles Meloche says he believes Marc-Andre Fleury is ready to take the next step in his development - leading his team to a championship - but appreciates the challenges the Red Wings will pose for Fleury.

“Every line can score,” Meloche said. “They have skill on every line. They can score from anywhere, and everybody knows about the two guys in front (Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen), which makes it extra tough on goalies.

“But I don’t think (Fleury) will get rattled. I don’t think he got rattled last year. The big difference is that he’s been there. He knows what to expect.”

Meloche said he is confident Fleury can help the Penguins win a Cup because he’s been making “the big save at the right time,” and because he hasn’t shown any signs of feeling the stress that can go with playing high-stakes hockey.

“He doesn’t put extra pressure on himself,” Meloche said. “He’s happy, easy-going. He’s having fun out there.”

The inside track?

Bylsma, who has deep roots in the Western Conference after spending his playing career in Los Angeles and Anaheim (where he played for Red Wings coach Mike Babcock), consulted with some of his old acquaintances in the days leading up to the final to get input on what he can expect from the Red Wings.

Bylsma steadfastly declined to identify the people with whom he spoke, but the responses he got were pretty much the same, across the board.

“I talked to a few people about how they had success against the Red Wings, what they tried to do, and they said, ‘You’re going to face a very good team. They’re good in a lot of areas, and you’re going to have to be ready to play a very good game against them to have success,’” Bylsma said.

Team depth = good health

The Penguins have stayed remarkably healthy this spring - the two games defenceman Sergei Gonchar missed after a knee-on-knee hit by Washington’s Alex Ovechkin in Game 4 of the second round are the only ones they’ve lost to date because of health issues - and good fortune almost certainly has played a part in that.

Left-winger Matt Cooke, however, suggested that Pittsburgh’s depth has played a part in it, too.

“Obviously, playoffs are a gruelling time, and usually teams that can be the healthiest have the best opportunity [to advance],” he said. “A lot of our [good health] has to do with the system we play, and the lack of stress we put on our key players.

“We don’t have guys who are playing 35 minutes a game, whereas other teams do have a defensive pairing that’s playing 28 or 30 minutes a game. We’re strong enough that we don’t have to do that. We roll four lines and you stay fresher.”