Gorman: On brink of history, Penguins draw from past

The Penguins are on the precipice of history, one victory shy of becoming the first back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in 19 years.

The only thing standing between the Penguins and their fifth Cup in their 50th season is the Nashville Predators, a team from a city seeking its first world championship.

Nothing is more desperate than a team on the brink of elimination, especially one that has never won a title.

The Penguins know what it's like to win, lose and draw in Game 6 of the Cup Final.

In 2008, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury watched Detroit celebrate the Cup after a crushingly close 3-2 loss at Civic Arena.

In a rematch the next year, the Penguins staved off elimination with a 2-1 victory over a Red Wings team trying to repeat and would win the decisive Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena.

Last year, the Penguins clinched the Cup for the fourth time with a 3-1 Game 6 victory at San Jose.

“It's not just another game,” said Crosby, the Penguins captain. “We all understand that, but we have to approach it the same way and use that as motivation. If anything, that should push you to be at your best.”

Crosby might resort to canned answers, but those who know him best believe his playoff failures stoke his competitive fire.

Penguins winger Chris Kunitz, traded to the team in '09, sees that '08 Game 6 defeat to Detroit as a primary motivator. In the final minute, the Red Wings turned away a Crosby shot and watched Marian Hossa's rebound slide through the crease without crossing the goal line.

“I think a lot of his character-building and things come from that defeat and driving their team to be better every single night when he's out there,” Kunitz said. “So, I think being with him that he's always had the motivation to be — maybe the best-working hockey player out there, somebody who's going out there to drive your team in any way, in every facet that he can.

“He's a guy that's always worked on his game to become a better player, but I guess you kind of look at that (first) shift last game in the first period that he was propelling our team to drive us to the win.”

Crosby knows these Cup runs are solidifying his place in hockey history. Perhaps that's what drives him to take his game into another stratosphere.

Or maybe it's he remembers the Penguins being in the Predators' skates, coming off a lopsided loss in Game 5 (5-0 in '09) to win the next two games and claim his first Cup.

“I think it's just about going in there and playing your best game,” Crosby said. “You can draw on different experiences and I think everybody does that when you get to big moments like this, regardless of what side of it you're on.

“It's just about going out there and playing your best when it means the most and we trust that we can do that. That's our mindset going in.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan talks about living in the moment, a message his players like to repeat, but he understands the previous Cup experiences separate these Penguins from the Predators.

“Experience is the best teacher for all of us,” Sullivan said. “So, when you go through the types of experiences the players on our team have been able to go through, you can't help but learn from it, both their successes and failures. Sometimes, you learn more from your failures than you do your successes.

“That's part of what shapes us as people. That's certainly what shapes us as athletes. We all draw on those experiences to do our very best moving forward.”

Those are conversations Crosby will share with his teammates in private moments before Game 6 on Sunday night at Bridgestone Arena.

Those are conversations the Predators can't have. Not yet, anyway. They haven't been through a Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, haven't dealt with the win, lose or draw.

“You know they're going to be desperate,” Crosby said. “You expect that, you know that, so you try to worry about your own game. You need to understand what you're going to see but you also have to understand that you have to play your own game to the best of your own ability.”

History awaits.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.