This was also the first Cup Finals between two United States–based NHL teams since2003.
In the United States,Versus televised games one and two, andNBC broadcast the rest of the series. It was broadcast in Canada onCBC in English and onRDS in French. In the United Kingdom, all games were aired live onFive, and on the cable sports channelNASN. The series was also broadcast by NHL Radio viaWestwood One.
TheDetroit Red Wings entered the Finals after winning thePresidents' Trophy as the team that had the best record during the regular season. Led by forwardsHenrik Zetterberg,Pavel Datsyuk, andJohan Franzen, Detroit scored 55 goals in the first three rounds of the playoffs. With struggling goaltenderDominik Hasek being replaced mid-series byChris Osgood, the Red Wings defeated their division rivalNashville Predators in the Western Conference quarterfinals, in six games. The team swept theColorado Avalanche in the Western Conference semifinals, in which Franzen scored nine goals – tying with the entire Avalanche squad, who also scored nine goals in the series. The Red Wings then defeated theDallas Stars in six games to win their fifthClarence S. Campbell Bowl in franchise history.
ThePittsburgh Penguins entered the championship series after winning theAtlantic Division and earning the second-best regular season record in theEastern Conference. The team was led bySidney Crosby; missing 29 games throughout the regular season because of an ankle injury, the captain returned to lead the first three rounds of the playoffs in assists, and to tie for the lead in points heading into the Stanley Cup Final. GoaltenderMarc-Andre Fleury recorded three shutouts throughout the playoffs, to lead the league in that category.Evgeni Malkin andMarian Hossa each recorded nine goals and ten assists throughout the playoffs. The Penguins swept theOttawa Senators in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, a reversal ofthe series of the previous season when Ottawa beat Pittsburgh 4–1. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Penguins defeated division rival theNew York Rangers, in five games. The team won thePrince of Wales Trophy by defeating another division rival, theirin-state rivals, and another fiercerival of the Rangers, thePhiladelphia Flyers, also in five games.
The 2008 Stanley Cup Final marked the first time that the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins met in postseason play, and the first time since the1909 World Series that professional sports teams fromDetroit andPittsburgh met in a postseason series or game. The Red Wings and Penguins did not play each other during the 2007–08 regular season.
Pittsburgh'sGary Roberts and Detroit'sChris Chelios were both healthy scratches for game one. Prior to the game, a ceremonialfaceoff featuring former Pittsburgh captain and current team chairmanMario Lemieux and former Detroit captain and team vice president at the timeSteve Yzerman. Each dropped a puck to their current captainsSidney Crosby andNicklas Lidstrom, respectively.
At 15:20 into the first period, a goal scored by Lidstrom was waved off afterTomas Holmstrom was called for goaltender interference. The remainder of the first period went scoreless, as Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on four consecutive power plays. At 13:01 into the second period,Mikael Samuelsson gave the Red Wings the unassisted game-winning goal, on a wrap-around. Just over two minutes into the third period, Samuelsson added his second unassisted goal of the game. At 17:18 into the third period,Dan Cleary scored shorthanded to give the Red Wings a 3–0 lead.Henrik Zetterberg scored on the power-play with 13 seconds remaining.Chris Osgood recorded his second shutout of the playoffs, to give the Red Wings a 4–0 victory in game one. The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 36–19.
In preparation for game two, head coachMichel Therrien revised Pittsburgh's lines; the revision includedGary Roberts who did not play in game one.[5]Johan Franzen, the leading goal-scorer in the playoffs, returned to the line-up for Detroit.[6]
Detroit'sBrad Stuart scored the first goal of the game 6:55 into the first period, on a slap shot, with an assist fromValtteri Filppula.Tomas Holmstrom added a goal at 11:18 into the first period, to put Detroit up 2–0. Pittsburgh struggled throughout the period, failing to get a shot on goal for the game's first twelve minutes. Detroit outshot the Penguins 11–6 in the second period, but both teams failed to score. At 8:48 into the third period, Valtteri Filppula scored his first goal of the series, beating goaltenderMarc-Andre Fleury with a wrist-shot. Chris Osgood recorded his second consecutive shutout, stopping all 22 shots faced.
Game three was held inPittsburgh, where going into the matchup the Penguins had won sixteen consecutive home games.[7] Pittsburgh continued to shuffle their lineup by replacing defencemanKris Letang with veteranDarryl Sydor,[8] but going back to the top line combinations from game one. Penguins captainSidney Crosby scored the team's first goal of the series late in the first period, with an assist fromMarian Hossa. The Penguins went up 2-0 after Crosby scored a second time, his second coming on the power-play, just 2:34 into the second period.Johan Franzen pulled the Red Wings within one, when he scored on the power-play at 14:48 of the second period.Adam Hall scored his second goal of the post season, when the Penguins winger scored at 7:18 of the third period, putting his team up 3–1.Mikael Samuelsson scored a second goal for the Red Wings, with assists fromBrad Stuart andValtteri Filppula. However, Pittsburgh's 3–2 lead held, giving the team their first victory of the series. Despite winning the game, Pittsburgh was outshot by the Red Wings for the third consecutive game by at least 10 shots.
Entering Game Four,Petr Sykora said the game was a must-win for the Penguins, "For us, basically, [game four] is a do-or-die game".[9]Jiri Hudler's game-winning goal at 2:26 of the third period broke a 1–1 tie, and the Red Wings killed off a Penguins 1:26 5-on-3 advantage midway through the final period to help preserve the victory, thanks in large part to a terrific defensive play by Henrik Zetterberg on Sidney Crosby, preventing what would have been a tap-in goal when he tied up Crosby's stick at the front of the net. Pittsburgh scored first onMarian Hossa's power play goal 2:51 into the game beforeNicklas Lidstrom tied the game at 7:06 of the first period.
Pittsburgh'sMarian Hossa scored the first goal of the game at 8:37 into the first period. TeammateAdam Hall added his second goal of the series at 14:41 of the first period, giving the Penguins a 2–0 lead. Detroit then scored three consecutive goals—byDarren Helm,Pavel Datsyuk, andBrian Rafalski—to gain the lead. After Pittsburgh pulled its goalie with less than one minute remaining in regulation,Maxime Talbot scored with 34.3 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime. The goal marked only the second time in NHL history that a team avoided elimination in the Finals by scoring in the last minute of the third period.[10] The first two overtime periods were scoreless, and the game went into the third overtime with Detroit killing two consecutive penalties, and Pittsburgh killing one. At the 9:21 mark, Pittsburgh'sPetr Sykora scored the game-winning goal on another power-play, forcing the series back to Pittsburgh for game six. The goal was assisted by defencemanSergei Gonchar, who was playing his first shift in forty minutes as a result of an injury, andEvgeni Malkin, who got his first point of the Finals. Pittsburgh became the first team in modern NHL history to have three overtime power-plays in the Finals. GoaltendersMarc-Andre Fleury andChris Osgood stopped 55 and 28 shots, respectively. The triple overtime game was thefifth-longest in Stanley Cup Final history.[11]
Pittsburgh'sRyan Malone was scheduled to haveX-rays on June 3, after being hit in the face with the puck in game five, but was expected to play.[12]
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 beforeValtteri 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 withEvgeni Malkin's power play goal. However, a third period shot by Detroit'sHenrik Zetterberg squeezed through the legs of Pittsburgh goaltenderMarc-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 (in addition to the Penguins pulling Fleury for an extra attacker and the Red Wings'Andreas Lilja having lost his stick as a result of Malone knocking it out of his hands) 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.
In the United States,Versus aired games one and two whileNBC televised the remainder of the series. Game one of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final had a 1.8rating, drawing 2.3 million viewers. The rating was a 157% increase overthe previous Playoff Finals opener, and a 100% rise fromtwo years previous.[13] Game two had a 1.9 rating, drawing 2.5 million viewers. It was the highest-rated and most-watched cable telecast of the Finals in six years in the United States. The rating was the highest for an NHL game on Versus and the second highest rating for a Versus broadcast ever only toLance Armstrong's seventh straightTour de France victory in 2005 (2.1).[14] Game three drew a 2.8 rating, representing an 87% increase over the previous year's game three. In Detroit, game three drew higher ratings (18.2) than game five of the2008 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between theDetroit Pistons and theBoston Celtics (15.9).[15] Game four earned a 2.3 rating, up 21% over the previous year's game four. Game five drew a 4.3 rating, representing a 79% increase from the previous year's game five. It drew the highest ratings for a game five since 2002.[16]Game six had a 4.4 rating, the best performance in a game six since 2000. It was a 100% increase over game six of 2006 and was the highest rated game for NBC since they reacquired the NHL broadcasting rights in 2004.[17]
Justin Abdelkader hoists the Stanley Cup after Game six
The 2008 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom byNHL CommissionerGary Bettman following the Red Wings 4–2 win over the Penguins in game six.
The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
Ken Holland (Executive Vice President/General Manager/Alt. Governor),Steve Yzerman (Vice President/Alt. Governor),Jim Nill (Vice President/Asst. General Manager), Ryan Martin (Director-Hockey Administration)
^A #14Derek Meech (D) played in 32 regular season games, but was a healthy scratch for the entire playoffs. Meech spent the entire season with Detroit. As he did not automatically qualify,[a] Detroit successfully requested an exemption to engrave his name.
Chris Chelios became the oldest player to win the Stanley Cup at age 46 (See 1928Lester Patrick for oldest player who played in the Stanley Cup Final).
Five players won 4 Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008 – Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kirk Maltby, and Darren McCarty.[18] Chris Osgood only missed the 2002 title.[19]
Steve Yzerman also won 4 Stanley Cup with Detroit 1997-98-2002 (Captain), 2008 (Vice President).
19 non-players won 4 Stanley Cups with Detroit - Mike Ilitch Sr., Marian Ilitch, Christopher Ilitch, Denise Ilitch, Ronald Ilitch, Michael Ilitch Jr, Lisa Ilitch Murray, Atanas Ilitch, Carole Ilitch, Jim Devellano, Ken Holland, Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill, Mark Howe, Hakan Anderson, Paul Boyer, Joe McDonnell, Mark Leach (left off cup 2008), Paul McDonald (Left off cup 1997-98-2008).
A record number of 12 European born players won the Stanley Cup – Dominik Hasek and Jiri Hudler of the Czech Republic; Tomas Kopecky of Slovakia; Valtteri Filppula of Finland; Pavel Datsyuk of Russia; and Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Andreas Lilja, Nicklas Lidstrom, Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Zetterberg of Sweden.
Sergie Tchekmarev (Team Masseur), Lynn Newman (Massage Therapist) – Rick Szuber (Equipment Assistant). All 10 members were left off the Stanley Cup, but received Stanley Cup rings.
Seven players on the roster during the Final were left off the Stanley Cup engraving due to not qualifying.[a][20] OnlyMark Hartigan played in (and dressed for) the playoffs.
#44Mark Hartigan (C) – 23 regular season games and 4 playoff games. He was left off for the second year in row for not playing in the last two rounds of the playoffs.
^abcAutomatic qualification for a player's name to be engraved on the Stanley Cup: Playing in (for a goaltender, dressing for) at least one Stanley Cup Final game or at least half of regular season games for the Stanley Cup winning team.
