Fleury's performance Roy-esque

Penguins coach says goalie's effort 'was phenomenal'

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 3, 2008 at 8:26 p.m.

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Photo by Don Wright / Associated Press

Penguins coach Michel Therrien tries to score against goalie Marc-Andre Fleury during an earlier practice. Therrien played with Patrick Roy when both were minor-leaguers in Quebec.

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Patrick Roy was a teenager when he and Michel Therrien were minor-league teammates in 1985, when the future goaltending great led the Sherbrooke Canadiens to the Calder Cup as American Hockey League champions.

So Therrien, in his second full season as Pittsburgh Penguins coach, had a reference point when asked Tuesday how he would rate Marc-Andre Fleury's performance in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

"I played with Patrick Roy a few years ago," said Therrien, a defenseman in his playing days. "He was pretty good at that time. But, definitely, Marc-Andre was phenomenal."

The Penguins, down 3-2 in the series, will be back at Mellon Arena tonight, taking on Detroit in yet another potential Cup- clinching affair because Fleury - his nickname is Flower - wouldn't wilt under the Red Wings' relentless pressure, which included 58 shots on goal.

Fleury stopped 55 of them - 24 after regulation - in the Penguins' 4-3, triple-overtime win that ended on Petr Sykora's power-play goal in the sixth period.

It goes without saying that it was the best game Fleury has played in his four NHL seasons.

"I think so," he said. "It was certainly the toughest and the longest. It was just a great feeling to come out with the win at the end there. You just want to try to keep doing your job, and for me, just to try to make that next save, try to keep the game going fast. But we're not done here."

There were plenty of other Penguins heroes in the four-hour, 36-minute marathon that ended Tuesday at 12:51 a.m. EDT.

Max Talbot whacked a puck inside the right goal post to tie the score with 34.3 seconds remaining in the third period as the Stanley Cup was being polished for presentation.

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who suffered back spasms after crashing into the end boards late in the second period, took a handful of shifts in the third period and sat out the first two overtimes before returning to help set up Sykora's winning goal.

Ryan Malone, whose nose was broken earlier in the series, was hit in the face with a slap shot off the stick of teammate Hal Gill late in the second period and bled profusely as he left the ice. He returned in the third period and played the rest of the game. He was undergoing more X-rays Tuesday.

"Everybody stepped up, and that's the story of our season," Talbot said. "Guys go down and guys step up. We did it all year and we can do it again."

Keep on going

The game was the fifth longest in Finals history. The longest was May 15, 1990, when Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime to give Edmonton a 3-2 win against Boston in the opening game.

Confident Red Wings

The Red Wings are taking solace in the fact they still have a 3-2 lead and clinched their three previous series on the road.

"We're a confident group," Kris Draper said. "We feel that we can come into another team's building and be successful. So here we go again. We would have loved to have been able to wrap things up, but that wasn't the case. Now we get another crack at it."

Said coach Mike Babcock: "I think the disappointment phase ends about 15 minutes when you're out of the (locker) room. For me, it was when I got home, talked to my wife for a second. She was disappointed, too. When you get up in the morning, the sun gets up, and so do we, and we're up 3-2. Let's play."

Complaints all around

Babcock took a page out of Therrien's complaint book to lodge an objection concerning the goalie- interference penalties that were assessed to Henrik Zetterberg and Daniel Cleary while driving to the net in overtime.

"I'll jump on the soapbox," Babcock said. "We talk about scoring more goals in the National Hockey League. We want more goals. I've never seen anything like that in my whole life."

Asked if he intended to discuss the matter with league officials, Babcock responded: "Zero. Just had it. I'm going to try what the other guy has been trying all series."

Ratings rise

NBC earned a 4.3 overnight rating and an 8 share (8 p.m. to 12:45 a.m. EDT) for Game 5, the best for an NHL game on the network since it reacquired broadcast rights in 2004.

The rating peaked at 5. 8/10 from 11-11:30 p.m. Denver's numbers - a 7.2 rating and 12 share - were the fourth highest in the country, behind Pittsburgh (35. 4/52), Detroit (29. 6/46) and Buffalo (10. 2/17).

Numbers game

50:46ice time for Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who had 54 shifts. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom played a Red Wings-high 45:24 with 55 shifts.

Red Wings at Penguins

* When: 6 p.m. MDT today.

* Where: Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh.

* What: Game 6, best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals.

* TV/radio: KUSA-Channel 9; KKFN-FM (104.3).

* Leading postseason scorers

Detroit (15-6) G A P

C Henrik Zetterberg 12 13 25

RW Pavel Datsyuk 10 11 21

RW Johan Franzen 13 5 18

C Jiri Hudler 5 9 14

D Nicklas Lidstrom 3 10 13

D Brian Rafalski 3 10 13

D Niklas Kronwall 0 13 13

Coach:

Mike Babcock

Pittsburgh (14-5) G A P

C Sidney Crosby 6 20 26

RW Marian Hossa 11 13 24

C Evgeni Malkin 9 11 20

LW Ryan Malone 6 10 16

D Sergei Gonchar 1 12 13

Coach:

Michel Therrien * Injuries: Detroit - C Tomas Kopecky (knee) is out. Pittsburgh - D Mark Eaton (knee) is out; Gonchar (back) is probable.

* Sidelight: When Max Talbot scored with 34.3 seconds left in the third period of Pittsburgh's 4-3 triple-overtime win in Game 5, the Penguins became the second team in Finals history to avoid elimination with a tying goal in the final minute of regulation. Toronto's Pep Kelly scored with 41 seconds left in Game 3 of a best-of-five series against Detroit in 1936 and the Maple Leafs won 4-3 in overtime.

* Notes: Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's 55 saves were the most in a Finals game since Washington's Olaf Kolzig stopped 55 in a 5-4 overtime loss to Detroit in Game 1 in 1998. . . . Petr Sykora's overtime power-play goal was the fourth in Finals history and the first since the New York Islanders' Denis Potvin netted one against Philadelphia in Game 1 in 1980. . . . Road teams have won 10 of the past 12 overtime games in the Finals and 15 of 19 since 1990. . . . The Red Wings are 3-for-27 on power plays in the series; the Penguins are 3-for-22.

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