Last year's Game 6 saw a last-second desperation effort by the Penguins' Marian Hossa go just wide of the net as time ran out and the Penguins lost 3-2.  This year's Game 6 saw a desperate Detroit team, with the goalie pulled, miss tying the game as Penguins' defenseman Rob Scuderi made the biggest "stick save" of the Penguins' season. 

In last year's Eleventh Hour, the Penguins were the team desperate to tie the game, and the clock struck midnight.  This year, the Red Wings were the team desperate to tie, and the clock chimed eleven again—this time for the Red Wings.  The best way to play in your Eleventh Hour is with a lead; the Penguins were able to, and hockey—no, sports—fans everywhere get to enjoy the awesomeness of a Game 7 in a championship series.

Who will take the first lead Friday night?  Will it hold?  Will it get bigger?  If the game comes down to one goal, how desperate will the scramble be to tie it?  Who will become an immortal part of Stanley Cup lore if the game goes to overtime?  So many questions—but for now, the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good for Pittsburgh: 

1. Detroit did not skate around with the Stanley Cup on your home ice.

2-5. See #1.

6. The third line was responsible for both goals.  Even if Detroit shuts down both Crosby and Malkin in Game 7, it is possible to win the Cup with contributions from role-players, strong defense, and great goaltending.

7. The goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleurry.  Fleurry was outstanding tonight—especially in the sequence late in the third in which he turned 3 shots away in about 5-7 seconds. 

8. The physicality of everyone.  Detroit took more hits than they dished out—and unlike Game 5, the whistles didn't blow after every other Detroit player went down.  The same sort of disciplined physical play and intensity is going to be necessary to win Game 7 and can provide the same sort of edge.

The bad for Pittsburgh:

There were only two real problems for the Penguins tonight:

1. Detroit carried the offensive play in most of the second and third periods.  A desperate team trying to win the Stanley Cup, playing from behind is going to push hard, but the Penguins still need to play more in Detroit's defensive end and less in their own.

2. Bill Guerin's "veteran" high-sticking penalty.  A bad penalty from a veteran player nearly cost the Penguins the lead and a shot at the Cup.  I gave a split second thought to how I was going to throw Guerin under a bus of halfwits chanting "O'Doyle Rules" as he skated to the box.

Stupid penalties cannot happen in Game 7.

The good for Detroit:

If Zetterberg hits net instead of the inside of a post, or if Rob Scuderi's stick doesn't stop a puck on its way into an open net, it's a different game, and Detroit could've closed the gap between it and Ric Flair for championships won.

Crosby and Malkin were kept off the scoresheet for the second straight game, and the odds of Pittsburgh splitting games when that happened are slim as it is.  The odds of Pittsburgh taking two out of three when Crosby and Malkin don't register a point have to be somewhere around a 2-outer on the river.

Since Crosby and Malkin have been locked down twice in a row, it can a third time right?

The answer to that question is going to fall more on the shoulders of Chris Osgood than anyone else.  His outstanding goaltending tonight is all that stood between a few points for both players, and Detroit fans can't expect Crosby and Malkin to play a game 7 without getting chances, either with shots, or to set up teammates.  They're going to be too desperate to be stopped by the checking of defense alone.

The bad for Detroit:

You aren't skating around with the Stanley Cup on Pittsburgh's ice.  You also got beat by Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy, and on plays in which soft defense lead to goals.  If Game 7 is a tight game, those sort of lapses can be the difference between winning and losing the Stanley Cup...like they were tonight.

The ugly:  There's nothing ugly about this game.  It was two desperate teams, playing desperate, championship hockey.  Penguins fans now have what any hockey fan can hope for at the start of a season—one game for the Stanley Cup.

Oh—here's somethiing ugly.  Take a desperate drink, as if you're desperately thirsty, for every time I used 'desperate' in this post.

Add this rule—anytime someone says 'desperate'—to your Game 7 drinking game.  Make it two drinks if it's a player using it in an interview.