Keep believing in the Pens: lessons from senior year English class

Game 6: Pittsburgh 3 @ Montreal 4

“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” – George Orwell, 1984

The Pittsburgh Penguins were unsuccessful tonight in closing out the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Canadiens at Montreal as the home side prevailed 4-3 in the Gladiatorial Colosseum that is the Bell Centre.  For the 21,273 fans inside the arena and countless other Montrealers, the words “Game Seven / le septième match” will now be the happiest words spoken for the next forty-eight hours.  For fans of the Penguins, “Game Seven” stands as the last words any of them wanted to hear, for the opportunity to swiftly end the series on the first try was there to be seized tonight, but just as quickly, evaporated.

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Montreal sniper Mike Cammalleri showed no fear from the outset of the Canadiens’ fourth elimination game of the spring.  He scored the game-opening goal, his playoff leading tenth, on the first shot by either side 73 seconds into the first period by rifling a wrist shot into the Pens’ net from the far circle after speeding by fallen Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang.  After Sidney Crosby tied the game at 7:22 by netting his first goal of the series by batting a puck out of the air in the Montreal crease, the Penguins went ahead 2-1 early in the second period on a power play goal by Letang, whose slap shot from the high slot trickled through Jaroslav Halak.

Yet once again, it was Cammalleri who revived his club, scoring the game-tying goal on a smart backhander at 10:45, when he cut across the seam and flipped the puck past the blocker of Marc-Andre Fleury.  Less than three minutes later, defenceman Jaroslav Spacek, playing in his first game of the series, fired a slap shot through traffic to give the Canadiens the lead for good.  Then at 11:03 of the third, the Habs’ agitator, Maxim Lapierre, walked in past several indifferent Pens’ skaters and calmly put a low shot past Fleury for an insurance goal.  That marker proved to be huge as Bill Guerin tipped in a Sergei Gonchar slap shot with Fleury pulled at 18:36 to cut the lead to one.  However, it was the closest the Pens would get in the waning seconds of the game.

For Penguins’ fans on Tuesday morning, coffee will taste more bitter, toast more stale, orange juice more acidic, bacon less crispy.  Such are the flavours of defeat during the Stanley Cup playoffs.  When arriving for work, coworkers will once again declare that the sky is falling, the Pens are doomed to the same fate as the Washington Capitals and even though Crosby scored two points, insist that his presence and contributions are not enough to overcome the Team of Destiny – Montreal.

Untruth.

Coworkers, friends and beloved family members will point out how the Canadiens have slowly been taking away Crosby’s time and space to create scoring chances and that Crosby has lost more faceoffs than he has won for two straight games.  They will allege (as one caller on Monday night’s Penguins Hotline post-game radio show already did) that Evgeni Malkin’s slump is somehow related to Crosby’s lack of leadership and inability to motivate his teammates.  Therefore, they will conclude, he is choking when the pressure has increased.

Untruth.

Still others will gnash their teeth irrationally and once again cover their ears to silence voices of reason and begin the hurling of stones at Fleury, blaming him for this latest loss, merely on the basis of reading the final score without bothering to check the details of the plays on which he allowed the goals.  Not fit for backstopping us to another Cup, the cry will go up.

Untruth.

Close confidants will confuse you with all their bleating and worry and drive you to tear your hair out at their pessimism.  If you are a true, sensible Penguins’ fan, you will wonder if the whole world has gone mad around you, as many bail out at the first occurrence of challege during this defence of the Stanley Cup title.  However, as Orwell declared, through his fictitious Winston Smith, “if you [cling] to the truth even against the whole world, you [are] not mad.”  For the next forty-eight hours, Big Brother is possibly, your brother, your father, your son, your friend, your classmate, your colleague telling you that the Battleship Penguin has taken another shot to the bow and is listing to port, sinking into the deep.

But you know in your mind that the Penguins have not lost consecutive games yet this post-season.  You cling to the fact that the Penguins have shown a remarkable capacity to adapt, to regroup and to persevere, forged through the battles of 2008 and especially, 2009.  You remember how so many Big Brothers declared Pittsburgh’s momentum dead after losing in triple overtime less than three weeks ago at home against Ottawa.  You remember how the bleating reached a fever pitch when Game 6 went into overtime and then … Pascal Dupuis.

Truth.

You think back to Game 5 in Detroit last June and the enemy masses in Joe Louis Arena beside themselves in joy as Fleury went to the dressing room early after allowing a five-spot and how he turned “momentum” on its head by posting back to back pressure-packed 2-1 wins with the Penguins facing elimination.  You cling to Fleury’s resolve and determination demonstrated in this very series, shutting out Montreal 2-0 in the Bell Centre after a tough loss two nights earlier.

Truth.

You remember that the Penguins played a Game 7 in the second round last year as well.  You remember that the Penguins are Champions until further notice.

If you cling to the truth even against the whole world, you are not mad.