My most memorable game: Brooks Orpik

Installment No. 4 in an occasional series highlighting the most memorable game in which players participated as a member of the Penguins.

Player: Brooks Orpik
Date: June 9, 2009
Game: Game 6, Stanley Cup final
Site: Mellon Arena
Result: Penguins, 2-1
Three stars: 1) Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury. 2) Penguins RW Tyler Kennedy. 3) Penguins C Jordan Staal.

History says this is the game in which the Penguins evened the Stanley Cup final at 3-3, forcing the series to a title-deciding finale three nights later at Joe Louis Arena.

Orpik sees it as much more than that, though.

It was, he said, when the foundation of what would play out in Detroit later that week was laid.

His most vivid recollection is "just the energy and the momentum that we created in that game, then carried over to Game 7. Especially after getting absolutely embarrassed in Game 5."

Absolutely embarrassed? That might have been sugar-coating it.

The Red Wings had crushed the Penguins, 5-0, at Joe Louis three nights earlier, positioning themselves to replicate their feat of the previous spring, when they claimed the Cup with a Game 6 victory at Mellon Arena.

Had the Penguins dwelled on what transpired while they were being humbled in Detroit, the script from 2008 might well have played out again. But rather than that defeat dispiriting the Penguins, it drove them.

"After something like that, sometimes you don't know how the team is going to respond," Orpik said. "But I remember that going into (Game 6), it wasn't like we waited to see what was going to happen. We initiated, right from the start."

The Penguins swarmed the Red Wings during the first period, outshooting them, 12-3, but didn't break through until Staal beat Chris Osgood 51 seconds into the the second. The score remained unchanged until Kennedy made it 2-0 at 5:35 of the third and, although Kris Draper got Detroit back within a goal at 8:01, that was the only one of 26 Red Wings shots that eluded Fleury.

Although Orpik didn't score a goal that night (which gave it something in common with almost every other game in which he ever played), he had a typically significant impact on the outcome.

He blocked a game-high six shots -- that was half the total produced by the entire Detroit team -- and recorded four hits while logging 21 minutes, 52 seconds of ice time, just eight seconds shy of Sergei Gonchar's team-best total.

Orpik didn't receive recognition as one of the game's three stars, but then, a lot of people who played a part in the victory were overlooked. That includes the 17,132 fans who turned out.

At least the ones who hadn't shown up because they hoped to see the Red Wings parade the Cup around Mellon Arena for the second year in a row.

Indeed, had the crowd noise been any louder at times, it might have been visible to the naked eye.

"That was probably the best atmosphere I've been a part of," Orpik said.

Of course, there was another guy who never skated a shift during the series, but figured prominently in how it played out.

That would be Mario Lemieux, whose visit to the locker room after Game 5 helped to buoy the spirits of the guys in there and who provided an infusion of confidence to his team with the simple text message he sent to players on the morning of Game 7:

"This is a chance of a lifetime to realize your childhood dream to win a Stanley Cup. Play without fear and you will be successful!! See you at center ice. Mario"

"Mario kind of inserted himself a little bit," Orpik said. "As an owner, he's not super-visible. He's obviously around and involved, but he likes to keep a lower profile. I remember after Game 5, having him around and reassuring everybody that the series wasn't over ... then, we got the text from Mario.

"He kind of let all the coaches do their thing. He was always behind the scenes. Obviously, when he did insert himself, it got everybody's attention."

Lemieux did, of course, meet the Penguins at center ice that night, and a city celebrated.

But all of that was possible only because of how the Penguins had reacted to their punishing defeat in Game 5, how they simply refused to accept in Game 6 that another silver medal was inevitable.

"It was one of those games where nobody really had to say anything to you," Orpik said. "But you could tell everybody had the same mindset just because of what was at stake. We knew that if we lost, the season was over and it was going to be the same ending as the previous year."