Red Wings 1 win from hoisting Stanley Cup
Detroit expected to have Holmstrom back in lineup against Penguins
Last Updated: Monday, June 2, 2008 | 12:40 PM ET
CBC Sports
Tomas Holmstrom is expected to rejoin Henrik Zetterberg, left, and Pavel Datsyuk on the Red Wings' No. 1 line for Game 5. (Paul Sancya/Associated Press)Detroit sports fans are in the mood to celebrate, just 72 hours after Paul Pierce and basketball's Boston Celtics ruined their weekend by eliminating the Pistons in the NBA East final.
Red Wings fans will be ready to fill the streets of Hockeytown Monday night if their team can put away the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m. ET).
Detroit is familiar with NHL championships, having prevailed three times in 10 years: 1997, 1998 and 2002.
"This is where you want to be, to have a chance to win a Stanley Cup," Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom told reporters on the weekend. "It never gets old, but we haven't won anything yet."
Lidstrom, Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper, Darren McCarty and Tomas Holmstrom, who is expected to play after missing one game with an injured hamstring, have been part of the last three Cup-winning teams in Detroit.
"There's no need for nerves," said Maltby. "It's just go out … and play the only way we know we can play."
Pressure on Detroit, say Pens
Penguins' Brooks Orpik said the pressure is on the Red Wings, while fellow defenceman Darryl Sydor said the fifth game is very hard to win for the home team.
Well, not necessarily for Detroit, which downed the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 to win it all six years ago. The Wings swept Philadelphia and Washington, respectively, in the '97 and '98 Cup finals.
Monday will mark the first of three chances for Detroit to capture its 11th title and fourth in 11 seasons. And the Mike Babcock-coached Red Wings should ice their regular lineup if Holmstrom returns as expected.
"We have a number of veteran guys who have been through it before and understand what it takes and how hard it is to win [the Stanley Cup]," said Babcock, who was one victory from hoisting Lord Stanley's mug in 2003 when he was coaching Anaheim.
The Red Wings are coming off a well-deserved 2-1 win at Pittsburgh on Saturday in which their best players — Zetterberg, Lidstrom and Osgood — played up to their potential.
Zetterberg, who is second only to Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby in these playoffs with 23 points, came up huge in a defensive role.
He almost single-handedly killed off a Penguins two-man advantage for 86 seconds in the third period, tying up Crosby's stick at the side of the Detroit net.
Lidstrom answered Marian Hossa's first-period goal with a blistering slapshot from the blue-line later in the frame and played 28 minutes, 23 seconds at age 38.
Osgood, who has allowed four goals in this series, was spectacular late in Game 4 as Pittsburgh made a late push. He boasts a 13-3 record and 1.45 goals-against average since taking over from Dominik Hasek in the first round against Nashville.
Meanwhile, the Penguins will need more production from Crosby, defenceman Sergei Gonchar, Malkin and linemate Petr Sykora if they hope to extend the series.
Malkin has yet to collect a point in the series and has just one goal and two points in his past eight playoff starts.
"We've got to win to stay alive," said Crosby, Pittsburgh's captain. "We're going to be desperate, and all we focus on is winning [Monday's] game."
The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are the lone NHL team to rally from a 3-1 series deficit in the finals to win the Stanley Cup.
Penguins rookie defenceman has joined the club on emergency recall while Kris Letang left to attend the funeral of close friend and Vancouver Canucks blue-liner Luc Bourdon on Monday. Bourdon died in a motorcycle accident on Thursday near his hometown of Shippagan, N.B.
Game 5 sold out at box office
Red Wings fan Elizabeth Lesperance was turned away at the Joe Louis Arena box office Monday morning and told Game 5 is sold out. A loyal Hockey Night in Canada viewer as a child, the Garden City, Mich., resident took the day off work and arrived at 6 a.m.
Tickets, however, were available on StubHub.com and ranged in price from $624 US for a standing-room spot to more than $4,400 each for up to four seats near ice level.
