2009 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Pittsburgh Penguins 1 1 4 4 0 2 2 4 Detroit Red Wings 3 3 2 2 5 1 1 3
Location(s)	Pittsburgh: Mellon Arena (3, 4, 6) Detroit: Joe Louis Arena (1, 2, 5, 7)
Coaches	Pittsburgh: Dan Bylsma Detroit: Mike Babcock
Captains	Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby Detroit: Nicklas Lidstrom
National anthems	Pittsburgh: Jeff Jimerson Detroit: Karen Newman
Referees	Paul Devorski (1, 3, 5, 7) Dennis LaRue (1, 3, 5) Bill McCreary (2, 4, 6, 7) Marc Joannette (2, 4, 6)
Dates	May 30 – June 12, 2009
MVP	Evgeni Malkin (Penguins)
Series-winning goal	Maxime Talbot (10:07, second, G7)
Hall of Famers	Red Wings: Chris Chelios (2013; did not play) Pavel Datsyuk (2024) Marian Hossa (2020) Nicklas Lidstrom (2015)
Networks	Canada: (English): CBC (French): RDS United States: (English): NBC (1–2, 5–7), Versus (3–4)
Announcers	(CBC) Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson (RDS) Pierre Houde and Benoit Brunet (NBC/Versus) Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk (NHL International) Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti
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The 2009 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2008–09 season, and the culmination of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings. It was Detroit's 24th appearance in the Finals and Pittsburgh's fourth appearance in the Finals. This was a rematch of the previous year's Stanley Cup Finals where Detroit had defeated Pittsburgh in six games. This time, the Penguins defeated the Red Wings in seven games to win their first Stanley Cup title since 1992 and their third overall. However, the Red Wings scored more goals during the series, with 17 points to the Penguins' 14.

Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin would win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 playoffs, becoming the first Russian-born player to win the trophy. Until 2021, this was the last time the Final was played entirely in the Eastern Time Zone. This can never happen again under the current arrangement without a special season unless a team moves.

Road to Finals

Detroit Red Wings

Entering the 2008–09 season as the Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings signed head coach Mike Babcock to three-year contract extension.^[1] Marian Hossa signed with the Red Wings after turning down a $49 million offer from the Penguins, whom he played for throughout the 2007–08 playoffs.^[2] The Red Wings also signed Ty Conklin, who had played for the Penguins throughout the 2007–08 season.^[3]

The Red Wings won the Central Division title with 112 points before defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4–0, rival Anaheim Ducks 4–3, and then-division rival Chicago Blackhawks 4–1 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the sixth time in the past 14 seasons.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins were the reigning Eastern Conference Champions. After playing 57 games of the 2008–09 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins had a record of 27–25–5 and were five points out of playoff position.^[4] The organization fired head coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with Dan Bylsma, head coach of the organization's American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.^[5] Under Bylsma, the team went 18–3–4, including 10–1–2 in March, losing one home game.^[6] Before the trade deadline, the Penguins acquired Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin from the Anaheim Ducks and the New York Islanders respectively.^[7][8]

The Penguins qualified for the playoffs for their third consecutive season. They did not repeat as champions of the Atlantic Division, but earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with 99 points. They began the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs on April 15 against their cross-state rival Philadelphia Flyers. They beat the Flyers 4–2, Washington Capitals 4–3, and Carolina Hurricanes 4–0 to earn a second-straight berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Game summaries

Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs

Game 1

The Red Wings took Game 1, 3–1, as three different Detroit players scored goals off of unusual bounces.^[9] The first period featured back and forth action, with each team having a variety of chances. Detroit scored the first goal of the game at 13:38 into the first period when Brad Stuart's shot missed wide left, bounced off the end boards, and then deflected off the back of Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's leg into the net. The Penguins tied the game at 18:37 when Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood mishandled a shot by Evgeni Malkin, allowing Ruslan Fedotenko to score. Malkin gained the initial opportunity after forcing defenceman Stuart into a turnover. The Penguins dominated the early portion of the second period, but Osgood kept the game even, including when he bailed his team out by stopping Malkin on a breakaway. The Red Wings bounced back and went ahead at 19:02 of the period after Brian Rafalski's shot rebounded off the end boards to Johan Franzen, who banked a shot off Fleury and into the net. Detroit's third goal of the game came at 2:46 of the third period when, after a save by Fleury on Ville Leino, the puck bounced high into the air and was swatted by Detroit rookie Justin Abdelkader from midair to his stick. Abdelkader then went around Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal (who had lost sight of the puck) and shot it above Fleury. Only three total penalties were called in the game, two on Detroit and one on Pittsburgh, but neither team could take advantage on their respective power plays as Osgood stopped 31 out of 32 shots while Fleury stopped 27 out of 30.^[10][11]

Game 2

Game 2 was another 3–1 victory for Detroit. Pittsburgh started out the game strong, setting up numerous chances from behind the net that were stopped by Chris Osgood. The Penguins then struck first at 16:50 of the opening period. After the Red Wings' Niklas Kronwall was sent to the penalty box for cross checking, Evgeni Malkin fired from the slot, and a scramble in front of the net ensued after Osgood gave up a rebound. The puck eventually came to Malkin for a second crack, and the shot was inadvertently deflected by Brad Stuart into his own net. Detroit took over in the second period, dominating in shots and benefiting from some luck, such as when Bill Guerin's wrist shot hit the inside of the post but stayed out of the net. Jonathan Ericsson tied the game at 4:21 of the second period, moments after the Penguins were forced to ice the puck after a long shift. Pittsburgh promptly lost the ensuing faceoff in their zone, allowing Ericsson to score from the point. Then at 10:29, the Red Wings went ahead after Valtteri Filppula was able to backhand a shot from a difficult angle into the net. Filppula scored after Fleury had stopped both Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa, but could not hold the rebounds.

At 1:39 of the third period, Sidney Crosby peeled out of the corner and fired a shot that bounced off the post and rolled along the Detroit goal line. The play was reviewed by video replay, but the ruling on the ice was upheld as a no goal. Then at 2:47, Justin Abdelkader gave the Red Wings their third goal of the game, as he moved in slowly against the Pittsburgh defence and blasted a shot that caught Marc-Andre Fleury off guard as it landed in the net. Tensions flared up near the end of the game at 19:41 of the third period. Maxime Talbot was called for slashing, which eventually led to a fight between Malkin and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg. Malkin received an instigator penalty and a misconduct penalty, but was not suspended by the league for the incident, despite Rule 47.22 (now Rule 46.21) of the NHL rulebook automatically imposing the suspension.^[12]

Game 3

The Penguins won Game 3, 4–2, cutting their deficit in the series in half. Pittsburgh got off to a strong offensive start and scored first at 4:48 of the opening period when Evgeni Malkin set up Maxime Talbot, who fired a one-timed snapshot. Detroit answered less than two minutes later with a Henrik Zetterberg goal at 6:19 in the period. Zetterberg scored on a rebound after Ville Leino's wrap-around attempt was stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury. After Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik was called for interference, Johan Franzen responding by scoring a goal at 11:33 with under ten seconds left in the penalty. Franzen's score was a one-timer that resulted after Zetterberg fed him a pass around the goal crease. While Detroit dominated the middle of the first period, at one point firing nine straight shots, the Penguins caught a break when the officials missed a penalty for too many men when Pittsburgh had inadvertently created their own powerplay, and played with six men for nearly 30 seconds.^[13] Pittsburgh then used a late holding call on Daniel Cleary to set up a game-tying power play goal. Defenceman Kris Letang fanned on a one-time attempt as he took a pass from Malkin, but regained control of the puck and fired a wrist shot into the net.

The score remained unchanged through the second period, although Detroit had numerous scoring chances. The Penguins' Fleury stopped 16 Detroit shots in the frame, and caught a break as Mikael Samuelsson hit the post on a breakaway. The Penguins came out with strong defence in the third period, and the Detroit offence sputtered, at one point going over ten minutes without a shot. Midway through the third period, the Penguins earned a power play opportunity after Jonathan Ericsson was called for interference. At 10:29, Sergei Gonchar drilled a slapshot from near the blue line, which sailed through traffic and beat a screened Chris Osgood to give the Penguins the lead. Detroit could not mount a late surge with the extra attacker on the ice, and Talbot added an empty net goal at 19:03 for his second of the game to seal the victory.

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