An historical look at the Stanley Cup finals

Because there's an off day and I have nothing better to do, I did some research about the history of Stanley Cup finals. There's some interesting stuff about power outages, forced evacuations, neutral site games, entire series played in one arena, and even ties in the Stanley Cup finals.

Using this as a starting point, I did some investigating into how many times the team with "home ice advantage" has won and how many times the Cup was presented on "home ice".

In the "modern" NHL-only era, which began in 1927, the Cup has been presented 80 times. The best-of-seven format began in 1939, but it hasn't always used the 2-2-1-1-1 format. In 1944, for example, the series only needed four games, but it appears that the format would have been 1-2-2-1-1. In 1984 and 1985, they used the ridiculous 2-3-2 format which the NBA still uses. It gives the "road" team the advantage. Edmonton was the "road" team both of those seasons. Each time, they split the first two games, then swept their three straight home games for the "road" team. Thank goodness the NHL did away with that.

In 1988, there was an oddity in that game four at Boston was canceled when the power went out at 16:37 of the second period with the score tied 3-3. The series moved back to Edmonton where they played what was technically game five. They had three home games out of four official games, and completed the sweep.

In 1940, the Rangers only got two of six games at home despite being the "home" team. The circus ran them out of town, as they often did in the 1930's.

Between 1931 and 1938, a best-of-five series was used. Theoretically, the format was 2-2-1, but it didn't go that way very often. In 1932, 1933 and 1937 the Rangers were only availed Madison Square Gardens for one game while the circus held court. 1932 was especially odd in that game two between the Rangers and Maple Leafs was played in BostonIn 1928, the entire best-of-five series between the Rangers and the English-speaking Montréal Maroons was played at the Maroons' barn due to the circus.

In 1929 and 1930, the NHL experimented with a best-of-three format. Both years saw the winning team sweep the series 2-0.

In the first year of the "modern" era, Ottawa and Boston played a best of three series that required four games, and was won 2-0. Yeah. That's not a typo. In those days, if a game was still tied after one overtime period, it just ended as a tie. Even in the Stanley Cup finals. Games one and three ended in ties, but Ottawa took games two and four to win the best of three series 2-0 in four games.

Out of 80 cups, 55 have gone to the team who had home ice advantage. Nine in a row have gone to the "home team".

The Cup has been awarded on the winning team's home ice less frequently: just 48 times. Nine of the 32 "road ice" presentations occurred after a four-game sweep. The same occurred once after a two-game sweep of a best-of-three series.

Anyway, the point is that if the Penguins can rally, they will accomplish something that only the 1945 Maple Leafs and the 1971 Canadiens did. They'll be trying to win a SCF game seven on the road.

Of course, they still have to win game six at home for that last stat to be relevant. If not, the Red Wings will be the 33rd team to hoist the Cup on enemy territory, and the first since the 2000 Devils.

Click on the little image on the left for a full-size view of the spreadsheet I created after gathering the data.

Petr Sykora ends marathon game after calling his shot.

Petr Sykora was a hero on Monday night Tuesday morning when he scored the game-winning goal he promised Pierre McGuire he would score. He didn't quite point to the left field bleachers, but not far from it. During the second overtime, he pointed to himself indicating to NBC's ice-level crew that he would score the game winner. He did.

I'm amazed.

Amazed that he called his shot. Amazed that he came through with the promise. Amazed. Just amazed.

Way back in the third period when the Wings took a 3-2 lead with about seven minutes to go, I started writing a eulogy for the Penguins. Almost three full periods later, at 12:51 in the morning, Sykora forced a game six in Pittsburgh.

Emma Fleury was absolutely awesome. I hate that word, but in this case, I was literally awe struck by his play in periods three through six. The Wings were applying relentless pressure, crashing the nets hard and shooting a ton. Fleury answered the bell every time.

Pittsburgh still has a very steep hill to climb, but they are by no means out of it.

Game six will be Wednesday night at Mellon Arena.

In a lot of ways, this series is really reminding me of the Canes-Oilers series in 2006.

Pens waddle home down 2-0

On Monday night, the Penguins came up empty in game two against the Red Wings, falling 3-0. They are down 2-0 in the series and will go home for games three and four on Wednesday and Saturday. Winning game three is absolutely imperative.

If the Penguins made any adjustments rather than subbing Roberts in and Laraque out, it didn't look like it. They still looked lethargic. They still looked about a step slower than Detroit. They still looked frustrated and exhausted. They still couldn't get the puck deep. They still missed the few quality chances that they had. Ryan Malone and Maid Marian Hossa still looked confused.

It isn't so much that the Penguins were playing like crap. The Wings have had some unbelievably good defense. Osgood hasn't really had to work that hard, and even when a shot gets through, he paddles it down to a sea of red sweaters. They're keeping the Pens forwards out of the house. They're dominating the neutral ice play, they're getting to all the loose pucks behind the net. The Red Wings blueliners have even drawn defensive zone penalties.

Through two games, the Penguins have only mustered 41 shots on goal. This isn't going to get it done.

For game three, the Pens are gonna have to juggle the line combinations. They're gonna have to find a way to get the puck through the neutral zone. They're gonna have to find a way to keep it deep. They're going to have to take some shots and put some big bodies down low. In short, they're gonna have to figure out how to play against the Wings suffocating defense.

On top of all this is the most obvious thing. They're gonna have to find the net.

The good news is that Pittsburgh has won 16 straight games at the Igloo. The last time they lost there was a 2-1 shootout loss to the Sharks way back on February 24.

Pens hotel has false alarm

Last night in Detroit, the fire alarm at the Penguins hotel went off at 1:30 am. The Post-Gazette does not suspect foul play. Whether it was foul play, a routine test, or a false alarm, the point is that the Pens players were roused from their sleep at 1:30 in the morning and forced to evacuate their rooms.

After getting the "all-clear" to go back in the building, there was a hotel-wide announcement 30 minutes later that it was a "false alarm" and that everything was okay. By that point, it was at least 2:00, and Penguins players were still unable to get the much needed sleep before today's morning skate and tonight's game.

None of the Red Wings players were roused from their sleep, but $50 Canadian says their team hotel will have a fire drill of its own when they visit Pittsburgh.

The Post-Gazette also reports that The Mule will play tonight. Even after missing six games, including game one of the SCF, he leads all players with 12 goals this playoff season.

Emma Fleury has been practicing his ice-entering routine after falling flat on his face Saturday.

Game one: Wings

M-A Fleury came charging out of the tunnel, leading the Penguins on the ice for game one on Saturday. He fell. This was not a good way to get things started in hostile territory, and the game was already over at that point.

The Pens were pretty sharp for the majority of the first period, but both teams went into the first intermission with no score.

After that, the Pens were lifeless. Between the blue lines, they were sluggish and mistake-prone. They never really did get the puck deep in the Detroit zone, and even when they did, they didn't do anything.

Detroit capitalized on a couple of Penguin miscues, and after building a two-goal lead, they clamped down defensively. It was frustrating to watch, but very impressive.

At the end of it all, the final tally was 4-0.

Pens need to work on a lot of things before Monday's game two.

More details later.