To be the man, you have to beat the man...

With all the odds stacked against them, the Pittsburgh Penguins have brought Lord Stanley's Cup back to the city of champions. Winning their third Cup in franchise history - first since 1992 - the Pens were the better team on the ice and deserved this championship.

In the previous 14 game 7's, the road team only won two of them. The Penguins had never been in a Stanley Cup Final game 7, where as Detroit had experience. The game was in Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings had been 11-1 in this year's playoffs coming into the game. Only one team in history has ever comeback from a 2-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup. Everything pointed toward a Detroit repeat, but that's why games aren't played on paper.

There are so many storylines coming from this game. But the thing that defined it is that this was a full team effort with everyone contributing in some way.

The biggest contribution to the offense of the Pittsburgh Penguins was Max Talbot. A true center, Talbot moved up to the second line earlier in the playoffs to play as a winger to Evgeni Malkin. "Mad" Max scored two goals off Red Wing missteps with a beautiful deke and five-hole shot for the first, and a seeing-eye puck that bent in just under the crossbar over Chris Osgood's glove for the second. Osgood, who has been scary good for most of this series, gives up these two goals out of the Pens' 18 shots, making the difference.

Next is the two stars for Pittsburgh. And yes, I know, on the stat sheet the two-headed monster, Crosby and Malkin, only combined for one assist and four shots on goal. But Malkin, the Conn Smythe winner with 36 playoff points, made an excellent play off the boards cutting off Brad Stuart's outlet pass, which led to Talbot's first goal. Both of these guys still played with the same passion they've played with all series, especially on the defensive ending taking away shooting and passing lanes from the Red Wings all night. Plus Crosby only played 9:59 on the ice including one very short shift in the third period due to an injury from a Johan Franzen hit in the second. Regardless, without these two guys, the Pens don't make it past any of the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Another reason for the Pens success is the questionable play by the Red Wings' defensivemen. Both goals came off of Detroit defensive mistakes made by Brad Stuart. The first goal came off an outlet pass that Malkin deflected off his skate to an opportunistic Max Talbot. On the second goal, Stuart tried to pinch in the offensive zone, when a savvy Chris Kunitz moved the puck in the neutral zone, where again Talbot created a two-on-one ending in the game's second goal, which turned out to be the game-winner.

Finally, for all the flack this guy has caught for his questionable play in Detroit, he deserves all the credit in the world for his performances in game 6 and 7. Marc-Andre Fleury played on his head in this game. The Red Wings had numerous opportunities, but Fleury remained strong. Detroit outshot Pittsburgh 24-18 in this game, which is actually misleading for two reasons. First, the Pens only had one shot on goal in the third becuase they basically played twenty minutes of defense. Second, the Wings also had a lot more chances because many of them never ended up on goal, and therefore don't count as shots.

But back to Fleury. From the drop of the puck, possibly with the exception of Max Talbot, Fleury was the best player on the ice. From the doorstep chance by Kurt Maltby early on to the last second dive across the crease to stop the last second Nicklas Lidstrom shot. Fleury proved that he has the ability to be a Stanley Cup caliber goalie.

As a fan this game was entertaining and had everything you can ask for in a game 7 and more. From the physical play to the great scoring chances to Sidney Crosby being the youngest captain to ever hoist the Cup with the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. The simple fact is that it's a shame anyone had to lose. Both these teams played with tremendous heart, true grit, but the truth is that someone had to lose.

When it was decided that the Stanley Cup Finals would be a rematch of last year's Final, it seemed fitting to me. In the words of the 16-time World Heavyweight champion Ric Flair, "To be the man, you have to beat the man." If Pittsburgh was going to climb to the top of the mountain, they would have to go through the same team denying them last year. Pittsburgh proved they had what it takes to get behind the driver's seat of this league, taking the NHL into the next generation.

Pittsburgh is the man.

The only disappointing thing about this game is the fact that hockey is over until this coming fall. But we all knew it would come to an end, and this Stanley Cup Final has provided enough excitement to hold us over until next season.

But for now, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the NHL Stanley Cup champions. Until this fall, remember to keep your head up when you're on the ice, it's either hit or be hit.