2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog - DET vs. PIT

In the end, the Detroit Red Wings' Stanley Cup dream escaped because they were late in arriving. Friday's 2-1 Game 7 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena not only finished with the same score, but the same storyline as Detroit's Game 6 setback at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins got the jump on the Red Wings and Detroit, playing catch-up hockey, simply couldn't.

"I thought we got off to a decent start," Detroit winger Kirk Maltby said. "In the second period, it's not that we played poorly, but two mistakes led to two goals. Obviously, that's the end of it there. In the last two games, we played great in the third period, but the clock just ran out on us."

Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom, whose last-second chance was thwarted by a diving save from Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, credited the Penguins for weathering the storm early in Game 7.

"I thought we came after them the first 10 minutes of the game," Lidstrom said. "They did well defending themselves.

"They didn't open their selves up to too many chances. Once they got the first goal, they felt a lot more confident in their game."

Pinched themselves

Throughout the series, the Red Wings got themselves into serious trouble when defenceman made bad decisions to pinch on 50-50 pucks that led to Pittsburgh odd-man rushes.

That's how the Penguins netted the Stanely Cup clincher, when Detroit defenceman Brad Stuart got caught on a pinch at the Pittsburgh blue-line.

Max Talbot and Craig Adams broke away on a 2-on-1 and Talbot wired a high shot past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood.

"We had our third guy [Jiri Hudler] that popped in the middle," Stuart said, explaining the play. "Unfortunately, it got chipped by him.

"It was just one of those plays. I'd make that play again."

Stuart's turnover also led to the game's first goal, when his clearing attempt from behind the Detroit net banked off Evgeni Malkin right to Talbot in the slot.

"I just tried to make a play that I shouldn't have, it hit a shin pad and popped out in the middle," Stuart said. ""I saw a guy in the middle, just tried to lay a pass out to him and hit Malkin's skate or shin pad, I'm not sure which one.

"I should have just made the safe play. That's my bad.

"I'm obviously upset about the first goal. If I could do it over, I would.

"That's the way it goes. I tried to put it behind me and just play the rest of the game."

Hossa heartbreak

For the second year in a row, Detroit winger Marian Hossa watched the other team lift Lord Stanley's mug.

Last spring, he was a member of the vanquished Penguins, then jumped to the champion Red Wings as a free agent, a move that led to much consternation about him in Pittsburgh.

Even though he lost, Hossa expressed no remorse over his decision.

"Regrets? I don't regret it," Hossa said. "It could be different circumstances if I sign in Pittsburgh and now they probably couldn't sign some other players and they would be a different team.

"We could sit here for hours discussing this. But it could be different team, could be different things, so I don't regret the decision."

After scoring a series-high three goals in last year's Stanley Cup final, Hossa went scoreless this spring.

"That's how close it is," Hossa said. "That's how close this series was.

"Sometimes by inches, sometimes you can get lucky, the puck will go in and there will be overtime. But we didn't score.”

None for the thumb

Four skaters - Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Maltby and Kris Draper - were seeking to win their fifth Cup as Red Wings, but came out short.

"It's hard falling short one game when you're so close to the Stanley Cup," Lidstrom said. "We fought hard the whole season to put ourselves in this situation.

"It's hard losing the way we did."

The Red Wings were trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Cups since Detroit did it in 1997 and 1998.

"We've been on that end of it a lot," Maltby said. "To be on the other end of it, to come this far and not finish it off, especially at home, it hurts.

"To get one goal in each of our last two games, that hurts.”

No excuses

The Red Wings were a banged-up squad by the time the final started, but they wouldn't use that as a reason for failure.

"It's too late about injuries, now especially,” said Red Wings centre Pavel Datsyuk, who missed the first four games of the final series with a foot injury.

"My body doesn't feel anything now. I feel it's empty now.

"It was a tough series definitely. It's hard to lose in a Game 7 at home with our fans.

"It is tough. It is a little tough to talk about now.

"It is what it is. We need to still live with this one now."

History repeats itself

These Red Wings were just the third team to lose the seventh game of a Stanley Cup final on home ice, and the second Detroit squad to do it.

Detroit dropped the 1945 Stanley Cup final in seven to the Toronto Maple Leafs and dropped Game 7 at Olympia Stadium, also by a 2-1 count.

The Red Wings lost the deciding game on home ice for the first time since 1966.

That spring, Detroit also won the first two games of the series, taking a pair in Montreal before losing four straight to the Canadiens.