Something happened between July 1st and today to make Ruslan Fedotenko give up his demands for a multi-year deal and return to the Penguins on a one year contract. What exactly happened will only be a matter of conjecture but I have a feeling it has something to do with the inevitable salary cap pinch all teams are feeling for the coming year. This is made more likely by the stinging fact that while Ruslan made $2.25 million last season he will only make $1.8 million under the terms of the new contract.

A pay cut was certainly not warranted based on his production in 08-09 so the only reason is that the market has dried up fast as teams have inched closer and closer to the cap since free agency began. In 65 games Feds racked up 16 goals and 23 assists missing some time with a broken hand suffered during a fight. Fedotenko’s return will keep one of the most dangerous and feared lines in all of hockey together for one more season.

I am glad to have Feds back but I hope that he doesn’t feel as though he got screwed over by accepting less money and doesn’t play up to his potential.

The Penguins also signed Defenseman Nate Guenin, a Pittsburgh native, to a one year contract as well today. Guenin has been with the Flyers since 2006 but appeared in just 12 games.

Game 7 could not have played out any better for the NHL; a close game that came down to the wire between two excellent teams. But I will not lie to you that I am ecstatic that the Penguins came out on top after a wild run to beat the Detroit Red Wings and FINISH what they could not complete last year.

Talbot was the hero for the Penguins in game 7 scoring both goals for the Penguins but Marc-Andre Fleury has got to be the MVP of the entire series because despite some soft goals and missteps he stood tall when need be.

I’m too excited right now and still on an adrenaline rush to much more than to say it sounds so right to say.

STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS PITTSBURGH PENGUINS!

WOOOOOOOOOO!

This is it. We are down to Game 7 and it is for all the marbles. On Friday night the Penguins will march into Mordor … I mean Detroit and attempt to defeat Sauron … I mean the Red Wings.

For the Penguins this will be uncharted territory. This team has not had to endure the pressure of a single game to crown the NHL champion having lost last year in six to Detroit where there were no last minute heroics to be had. This year it was Detroit who could not find the net as game six wound down.

Forget pressure. Both teams are under it. Detroit needs the Cup to show that they still have what it takes to be champions and prove wrong those that say they are too old. Pittsburgh needs the Cup to prove that they are not doomed to be the bridesmaid and never the bride. Plus getting back to the finals three years in a row for the Penguins is a bet I will not even make.

Forget age versus youth. Sure the Red Wings are older but older warriors are wiser. Pittsburgh is younger for sure but so far the speed of their youthful legs has been pretty much held in check.

Goaltending? Both Fleury and Osgood have proven to be mortal at times and both have been spectacular at others. But I will give this obvious conclusion … which ever plays better in Game 7 wins.

Big names and big guns? So far this series has belonged more to the role players than that stars who have consistently canceled each other out.

Matchups? So far it is has been a series of picking your poison on both sides of the ice. Put Zetterberg out there against Crosby and you negate Crosby but also Zetterberg as Crosby has fallen into the counter role of his constant shadow.

Trends of history? Who cares! Sure the Penguins have been unbeatable in Game 7s but those players are for the most part long gone from this roster except those that played in the Washington series this year. Sure Detroit has been pretty much invincible on home ice but the Penguins have shown that they can win there in both the regular season and the playoffs … just not this postseason so far. They are either due or just incapable of doing it.

So considering all this I tried to think about what I would say to the Penguins team if I were coach Bylsma prior to game seven. What follows are my extemporaneous remarks written without edit as if I were speaking to the team and continuing with the Lord of the Rings theme I opened with …

The Lord of the Rings is a heroic tale of men, and hobbits, who had to go to war for their very survival and they found out a lot about themselves as they fought each battle. They learned that even when they thought that they had nothing left to give there was more that they could bring forth to fight the next battle. Along the way they suffered losses and felt the sting of defeat. But they also experienced great victories as well.

We have done the same. We have taken to the field of battle and both lost and won along the way. We are beaten and bloodied. Our bodies ache. But there is one last battle that must be fought before this is over and that battle will determine who is the hero and who is the villain. Everything up until this point is meaningless.

One game to rule them all … that is what this season has come down to. It probably never should have come to this considering Detroit stormed out to another 2-0 series lead this year on us. But while the first three games played out with the same results as last year, the last three games have each seen a different winner from the previous season proving that nothing is certain. The future is not written nor is it based on the past. There was no Game 7 last year so everything from here on out is all brand new and all bets are off.

One game to find yourself … to find yourselves as either champions or as nothing but a footnote that is to be surely forgotten except to be cursed in the sports bar by disgruntled Pittsburghers or mocked by joyous Red Wings fans. Well Sid, how badly do you NOT want to be in that photograph of the losers again as Detroit parades around with the Cup in triumph? The time to decide is at hand. The time to find yourself and rise to the occasion is now. There is no tomorrow.

One game to bring it … and bring it while leaving nothing on the ice and no doubt at all. When this game ends the looser goes home empty handed with only the hope that they could potentially return to this precipice again next year and a trinket of a trophy from the Conference Championship to show for their efforts. The time is now for the future contains no guarantees. If you want the Cup you must win tonight and never think about future opportunities that may never arise to claim it.

Are you frightened Sid? How about you Geno? Marc-Andre? Jordan? I do not believe that you are nearly frightened enough! It is time to pledge to each your life (or death) to protect one another and stand as one. It is time to draw a line that Detroit will not be allowed to cross. It is time to pledge your stick, your mind and every inch of your body to this task at hand. It is time to proclaim to your foes facing you that if they want the prize before you both that they must claim it from you for it is in your hands which victory rests! Do not allow them to take it without a fight! They tell you that there can be no victory. But there is always hope.

When Frodo took the One Ring to Mordor he did so believing that he would not come back alive. But he did what he needed to do. He was willing to sacrifice everything for his friends and strangers who were counting on him. And in the end he found out that death was not so certain after all although pain certainly was.

The gates of Mordor are opened and are challenging each of you to dare to enter and face down your nemesis; to face a foe that is menacing and wields unimaginable power. You must not fear pain. For you will feel pain. You must not fear death. For you must expect that you will surely feel as if you are dying as you expend every last ounce of energy over the course of this final and deciding game no matter how long it takes be it sixty minutes or six hundred. You must face death without fear in order to cast your demons into the fire and destroy them. To defeat the Red Wings you must know this and be willing to make every sacrifice that is required of you.

Then and maybe, just maybe, you will survive and be heroes.

The time is chosen and it is at hand. The field of final battle is chosen and you are about to go forth up on it. We are in enemy territory from this moment on. If it moves, has the puck and wears a red sweater you will hit it. If the puck is headed towards your own net you will block it. If the puck is loose you will race for it. If you are in the offensive zone with the puck on your own stick, you will shoot it. If you are in a scrum for the puck in front of their goalie you will bury it.

Why? Because you are not just penguins, but Pittsburgh Penguins – the only one of the species that can soar to the greatest of heights.

The schedule for the Eastern Conference finals has been set. The match up will feature none of the division champions of the conference with Boston, Washington and New Jersey all hitting the golf courses already. Instead the showdown features two teams who each needed grueling seven game series to get here; the 4th seeded Penguins and the 6th seeded Hurricanes.

Each team eliminated one of the top two seeds in the East in the last round to advance.

The schedule features, for better or worse quite a few days off compared to the more typically every other day schedule for hockey.

The match up starts Monday, April 18th. Then the teams have two days off before resuming on Thursday, April 21st. Then one day off and a game on the 23rd. Then two days off again until game 4 on the 26th. Then another two days off until, if necessary, game 5 on the 29th.

Talk about stretching things out!

Kunitz had better pay dividends for the Penguins because they gave up a lot in Ryan Whitney to get him. In his first game with the Penguins, Kunitz helped power the Penguins past Chicago by providing a powerful and aggressive presence on the ice netting a goal and an assist playing along with Jordan Staal. With the way those two played together they might still be looking for someone to slap on the wing with Crosby even though Kunitz was supposed to be that man.

The Penguins jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead last night against the Blackhawks on a goal by Jordan Staal (16). A shot by Sarge was not handled well by Huet and Staal roofed the rebound with energy that he has not had since signing his contract extension. The Penguins then went up 2-0 as Kunitz (17) slipped a puck softly under Huet’s pads.

But penalties would be the Penguins nemesis. Late in the first period Tyler Kennedy (who later left the game with illness) took a hooking call and Toews (23) scored his first of three goals on the power play to make it a 2-1 game. Toews would have had four goals on the night had he not batted another power play chance down with what was, despite moans from Blackhawk fans, a clear high stick.

The Penguins regained a two goal cushion in the second after Toews (24) tied the game thanks to goals by Satan (16) and Talbot (9). But in the third, the Penguins went into a shell and let the Blackhawks beat on them with twenty shots. Two of those twenty found the net and tied the game. The Penguins had a golden opportunity to put pressure on Antti who replaced Huet in the third but simply could not.

So into overtime the contest went. The Penguins carrying over a late powerplay set up in the Chicago end 4 on 3. Gonchar came high and had only one man in sight – Evgeni Malkin. Sarge fed him the puck and Geno fired it to the back of the net behind Antti for the win.

The Blackhawks got really lucky last night as the only reason the game was not 4-0 or worse before they scored their first goal was the play of Huet who made some incredible saves on great opportunities by the Penguins who seem to be taking their playoff run seriously. Finally.

The win moved the Penguins record in February to 7-4-1 and their overall record to 31-26-6 (68pts) and still a point out of the playoff race. On Sunday the Penguins face another Western Conference foe in the Dallas Stars in Dallas.

Dallas is 5-5-0 in their last 10 games and are hanging on to eighth spot in the West and will be desperate for a win against the Penguins who are 6-3-1 in their last 10 and trying to get into the playoffs.

I have to be honest.  I gave up my tickets for today’s Pens game because I am going to the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field to watch the Steelers and Ravens take to the field.  I could have gone to both but decided that that was just too long of a day with a young child at home.  But that doesn’t mean I do not care about the Pens and their match up against the Rangers.

The Penguins have won two of their last three contests and, frankly, should have beat the Capitals.  But they failed to play 60 minutes of hockey which seems to be a common refrain from me these days.

The Rangers have climbed back to the Atlantic Division and the Penguins, who briefly held the #8 spot in the Conference have fallen back to #9 and desperately need a win today against a division rival.

The keys to a Penguins victory are simple.

First they have to not only limit shots, but limit attempted shots as well.  The Penguins are the walking wounded and the more shots they are forced to block because they are not pressuring the opposition, the more likely more injuries will occur.

Second they have to play with the same desperation they did against the Might Ducks.  They have to go after pucks and they have to hit hard.

Today is a good test of whether or not the Penguins have turned the corner.  A win would begin pointing me to saying yes.  A loss keeps me wondering.