Game Six
| June 4 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2 – 3 | Detroit Red Wings | Mellon Arena | Recap |
Pittsburgh's Ryan Malone was scheduled to have X-rays on June 3, after being hit in the face with the puck in game five, but was expected to play.
The Red Wings took a 2–0 lead in the second period in game six en route to a 3–2 victory to clinch the Stanley Cup. Brian Rafalski scored a power play goal at 5:03 in the first period before Valtteri Filppula extended the lead with a goal at 8:07 in the second. The Penguins had an opportunity to get their first goal later in the first period, with a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:33, but could not convert. Pittsburgh finally cut the lead at 15:26 of the second period with Evgeni Malkin's power play goal. However, a third period shot by Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg squeezed through the legs of Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who, after noticing he was not covering the puck, fell backwards and accidentally knocked the puck across the goal line for the Red Wings' third goal. Marian Hossa scored a power play goal at 18:33 of the third period to cut the lead to 3–2, but the Penguins, despite a shot by Sidney Crosby and shot off rebound by Hossa in the final seconds, could not tie the game before time ran out. Lidstrom became the first European-born Stanley Cup captain.
The Wings' victory also saw the Triple Gold Club, made up of individuals who have won the Stanley Cup plus gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships, gain three new members. Niklas Kronwall, Mikael Samuelsson, and Zetterberg had previously won the other two components with the Sweden national team in 2006 at that year's Olympics and World Championships.
- Game six summary
- First period
- Scoring: Detroit: Brian Rafalski (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk) PPG 5:03
- Penalties: Darryl Sydor, Pittsburgh (Interference) 04:17; Dallas Drake, Detroit (Charging) 08:28; Kris Draper, Detroit (Roughing) 08:55; Adam Hall, Pittsburgh (Hi-sticking) 11:15
- Second period
- Scoring: Detroit: Valtteri Filppula (Mikael Samuelsson, Niklas Kronwall) 8:07; Pittsburgh: Evgeni Malkin (Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa) PPG 15:26
- Penalties: Andreas Lilja, Detroit (Slashing) 02:06; Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit (Interference) 14:22; Gary Roberts, Pittsburgh (Hi-sticking) 16:13; Johan Franzen, Detroit (Roughing) 17:58; Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh (Roughing) 17:58;
- Third period
- Scoring: Detroit: Henrik Zetterberg (Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall) 7:36; Pittsburgh: Marian Hossa (Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin) PPG 18:33
- Penalties: Jiri Hudler, Detroit (Hooking) 18:13
- Goalie statistics:
- Detroit: Chris Osgood — 20 saves / 22 shots
- Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury — 27 saves / 30 shots
- Shots by period:
-
Team 1 2 3 T Detroit 9 9 12 30 Pittsburgh 8 8 6 22
Read more about this topic: 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, The Series
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