Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Who knew?

I mean, we should have known.  It’s not like he kept it a secret.

Every time Maxime Talbot would enter that car dealership in Pittsburgh, and talk with the pretty lady, he’d declare that he was a “superstar”.  And every time, watching that TV commercial at home, I would crack up at, well, first the bad acting on everyone’s part, and second, at the thought of Talbot as a superstar, even in the fevered mind of some scriptwriter.

Well, after Game Seven this evening in Detroit, Monsieur Talbot can indeed be treated to superstar treatment wherever he goes all this summer, thanks to two of the biggest goals he’ll ever score during his life.

Don’t know about you, but that was an emotionally draining game to watch, and I don’t root for either team involved.  We all wanted a great Game Seven, well, we got one.  A game for the ages.

Have there been better playoff games?  Heck, yes, including a number during these playoffs.  Have there been better Game Sevens?  Probably, but this one deserves to be somewhere on the list, particularly after time passes, and we all have had a chance to savour what we just witnessed.

None of the three goals were highlight reel material, but then again, none of them were fluky.  Okay, the Penguins got a fortutitous bounce on the first Talbot goal, but that kind of bounce happens in the game of hockey on a regular basis.  The question is, what will you do with such a gift when presented with it.

Talbot tore the wrapping paper off it and lit the lamp.

Sure, Fleury probably would have liked to have had that Detroit goal back, but from a fan’s perspective, the Wings scoring late only served to rachet up the tension to a sublime level.  It was sweet pain.

Many people, including myself, were hoping that this game would be so good that it would have to go into overtime to decide things.  Well, close enough.  Only two previous Stanley Cup Game Seven’s have gone into extra time, and we’ll have to wait for another shot at such an ending.

But Detroit certainly didn’t surrender, despite the clock ticking down on their chance at a second Cup-in-a-row.  With 6.5 seconds remaining in the third, they controlled the puck, and set up a beauty of a chance with, what, a second remaining?  Okay, we didn’t get overtime, but we were treated to Fleury making a heck of a save to preserve the Penguins’ third Cup in team history.  Shades of Patrick Roy, who, according to those quick profiles Hockey Night in Canada does at the end of every Cup clinching game, was one of Fleury’s goaltending heroes growing up; Roy and Martin Brodeuer.

Roy has four Cups and free admission anytime into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.  Brodeur has three Cups and will get that same pass someday soon.  Fleury has one Cup and counting.  No matter what happens during the rest of his career, Marc-Andre Fleury is a Stanley Cup winning goaltender.

Which brings us to the Terrific Two.  Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

Malkin erased all bad memories of last year’s Final, and had a great playoff, after a great regular season.  He wins the Conn Smythe Trophy, (the first Russian to do so), in the same season that he won the Art Ross Trophy.  Think of what this amazing young player has accomplished after only three seasons in the NHL.  Not too shabby.

Neither was the effort of Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby, who limped off the ice after being on the receiving end of a terrific hit during the second period.  He came back for the third period, and took a shift, but it was no go.

Didn’t matter.  Crosby did what he had to do earlier on, particularly down the stretch during the regular season and during the first three rounds of the playoffs, including when Pittsburgh were down 2-games-to-none against the Washington Capitals in the second round.

All the Sidney Crosby haters out there, I sincerely hope you choked on the image of 87 lifting the Stanley Cup.

It was beautiful.  One of the true superstars of hockey, accepting the Stanley Cup as captain.  Put aside your petty prejudices and think of what this young man has already accomplished during his four years in the National Hockey League.  With this Cup win, he’s practically done it all.  Oh sure, the likes of Alexander Ovechkin may very well get to this point in the near future (and what a fine moment that will be), but Crosby, and crew, beat him there.  That’s a fact.  Twist it as you will.  Denigrate it on the internet billboards with juvenile talk of league conspiracy, but nothing will change that fact.

Man, there can’t be much better things in the world of sports than waiting to hoist that Cup.  The Conn Smythe was the Christmas stocking; the Cup were the mountains of presents under the tree.  Just rewind your PVR and watch the eyes of the Penguins’ players as that moment arrived.  At that juncture in time, money and injuries meant nothing.  It was all about the win, all about the team, all about the Cup.

And that ends maybe the most enjoyable National Hockey League post-season I have ever watched, and I’ve watched them all since 1971.  The first and second rounds featured some amazingly enjoyable hockey.  The third round dipped a bit, but it set up a fantastic seven-game Stanley Cup Final between the Red Wings and the Penguins.  One for the ages.

The King, ahem, the Wing is dead.  Long live the King Penguin.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s