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Pens Focus On Winning Game 5

Sunday, 06.01.2008 / 12:41 AM / Blogs
By Joe Sager  - pittsburghpenguins.com

Now, it’s crunch time for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Trailing the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1, the team must win Monday night's Game 5 in Detroit to stave off elimination in the Stanley Cup Final.

“We know we are in a tough situation. It’s going to be extremely difficult, but they still have to win one game,” Penguins winger Marian Hossa said. “We’re going to fight to the end. We just have to keep our heads up and get ready for the next game.”

Even though the Penguins face an imposing task of needing to win three-straight games to claim the Stanley Cup, they are not focused on the big picture.

“That’s a cliche, but we’ll take one game at a time,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “We’ll see.”

It all starts Monday night when the Penguins travel back to Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.

“It’s not a 3-1 situation. Right now, there’s one game. It’s 0-0; you go back to square one. That’s it,” Penguins winger Adam Hall said. “We’re fighting for our lives now and our season and one game is all that matters right now.”

The Penguins struggled in Detroit as they were outscored, 7-0, in two losses to open the series.

“None of that matters. Everything in our past doesn’t matter,” Hall said. “We have to start over. We have confidence in all our guys and this isn’t over.”

Pittsburgh rebounded from those two defeats to earn a 3-2 triumph in Game 3. The Penguins delivered another solid effort in Game 4, but were edged by the Red wings.

“We have to win one. We have to win one to get back. So that’s the way we’re thinking,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “I thought we were pretty consistent throughout the game. It could have gone either way. But, our effort was there and we created some chances, and they didn’t go in. It was anyone’s game. It’s 1-1 and the next goal pretty much wins, and they got it.

“They scored two [Saturday] night. We scored one. So, I don’t think they’re running away with it. I don’t think we’re playing catch-up either,” he continued. “So, we’ll battle them in Detroit and see what happens.”

 

SCHEDULE

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AWAY
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STANDINGS

EASTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 WSH 23 13 5 5 82 68 31
2 PIT 23 15 8 0 71 66 30
3 BUF 20 12 6 2 54 50 26
4 NJD 21 14 6 1 58 47 29
5 PHI 20 12 7 1 69 54 25
6 OTT 20 11 6 3 62 59 25
7 BOS 22 10 8 4 52 56 24
8 TBL 20 8 5 7 52 60 23
9 NYR 22 11 10 1 65 61 23
10 MTL 23 11 11 1 56 65 23
11 NYI 23 8 8 7 63 71 23
12 ATL 19 10 7 2 68 56 22
13 FLA 21 10 9 2 60 68 22
14 CAR 22 5 12 5 52 81 15
15 TOR 21 4 11 6 53 77 14

STATS

2009-2010 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Crosby 23 10 12 3 22
E. Malkin 16 6 13 4 19
A. Goligoski 20 6 8 11 14
B. Guerin 23 5 8 -1 13
J. Staal 23 6 6 2 12
C. Kunitz 19 3 9 0 12
M. Cooke 23 4 7 4 11
R. Fedotenko 23 4 5 -3 9
P. Dupuis 23 5 3 -4 8
T. Kennedy 12 5 3 8 8
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
M. Fleury 12 7 0 .902 2.63
B. Johnson 3 1 0 .897 3.00