Motor City Meltdown: Penguins lose momentum, confidence during discouraging 5-0 loss

Pens lose it all during embarrassing 5-0 loss

DETROIT — The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their momentum, confidence and composure, their scoring touch and their goaltending. Their stars? They seemed lost, too.

Any one of those problems alone might have cost them Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Red Wings, who played with the desperation and purpose of a champion during a 5-0 victory in Game 5 on Saturday night.

All of them together might well have cost the Penguins a series that, only two nights before, looked to be shifting their way after their youth and speed helped them beat the weary-looking Red Wings 4-2 for the second successive game.

Maybe the Penguins underestimated how good the Red Wings can be when backed into a corner during the playoffs. Maybe they overlooked the fact they still haven’t won a game yet in Detroit in these finals, getting outscored 11-2. Maybe they felt that Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby simply couldn’t be slowed after they looked nearly unstoppable back on home ice.

Or maybe the Penguins simply aren’t ready yet to win a championship, not when the opponent is a victory away from raising the Stanley Cup for the fifth time since 1997 and the second year in a row. Possibly in Pittsburgh’s own building Tuesday in Game 6, just as the Red Wings did a year ago.

“The situation’s pretty clear for us: We have to go home and be desperate now,” Crosby said. “It’s nothing new, and we have to respond right away.”

Nothing in a Stanley Cup finals is as fleeting as momentum, as the Penguins proved not only by failing to win Game 5, but by being embarrassed in it, taking retaliatory penalties and losing their poise. They had 48 minutes in penalties, with Craig Adams, Matt Cooke and Max Talbot all drawing 10-minute misconducts.

“You’re going to have emotions in a situation where you’re not getting a result, the other team fills the net on you,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “I think our guys were frustrated and then trying to play physical and started to get off the page by trying to run around and be physical. It’s a show of emotion.”

That’s not all. Their special teams melted down, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury fought anything shot his way while stopping only 21 of 26 shots and Malkin and Crosby disappeared for long stretches. They were held to a combined two shots and neutralized by a Red Wings team that suddenly doesn’t look old or tired, dead-legged or the least bit intimidated.

“A goalie’s going to be upset in that situation, that’s the competitor in him,” Crosby said of Fleury. “We didn’t give him much help and he’s got nothing to be mad about.”

Even if the Penguins do force the first Stanley Cup finals Game 7 in their 42-year history, they still must win in Detroit to win the series.

“We won in Game 5 last year in overtime, and we won a regular season game here, so I think we’re pretty confident we can do a job here,” Crosby said. “We didn’t do it tonight, but get ourselves back in it here with a big win at home and take care of it hopefully.”

Bylsma now has two days to repair the damage done by a blowout loss that seemingly came out of nowhere, and whatever psychological damage it caused — especially to Fleury.

“It’s only one game,” defenseman Rob Scuderi said. “We may have lost 5-zip, but it could be 10-0, it’s still worth only one game.”

Another worry for the Penguins: They now have seen how NHL MVP finalist Pavel Datsyuk elevates the Red Wings into a much better team than the one they faced in the first four games.

“We haven’t had a big loss like this maybe in the playoffs, but we’ve been through a lot we’ve had to bounce back from,” Crosby said. “Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an easy loss, but like I said, a loss is a loss.”

Or is it? Crosby and Malkin are capable of taking over a game or a series seemed lost and quickly change everything, but this might be too much to ask even of them.

After a night when they made one dreadful error after another, the Penguins have no margin for error against a team that doesn’t seem the least bit willing just yet of surrendering the title of champion.