The Pittsburgh Penguins have captured their third
Stanley Cup by edging Detroit 2-1 behind two goals by Maxime Talbot
and clutch goaltending by Marc-Andre Fleury (MAHRK'-ahn-dray
FLUHR'-ee).
In doing so, the Penguins are just the third road team to win a
seventh game of a Stanley Cup final. The last team to win a Stanley
Cup Game 7 on the road was Montreal in 1971.
Talbot's pair of second-period goals gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
Detroit's Jonathan Ericcson cut that lead in half with a goal with
6:07 left. The Penguins then withstood a furious Red Wings rally in
the final minutes to win their first NHL champion since Pittsburgh
won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992.
Fluery turned back 23 saves, including two late point-blank
shots to preserve the lead in the final minute. Evgeni Malkin won
the Conn Smythe (smyth) Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. Pittsburgh
won despite their other young star, Sidney Crosby, suffering a leg
injury early in Game 7. He returned for one brief shift in the
third period, but did not play thereafter.
Crosby calls winning the Cup "unbelievable" and says it's
something he dreamed about as a kid. He says the Penguins "picked
up momentum" the deeper Pittsburgh advanced in the playoffs. The
Penguins rebounded from a pair of two-game deficits.