PITTSBURGH - Oil up the Winged Wheel, it's time for another victory parade. Hockeytown is home to the Stanley Cup — again.
Following in the footsteps of Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman, new captain Nicklas Lidstrom led the Red Wings to the title. Detroit's 11th NHL championship team is the first in league history to be captained by a European.
"I've been over here for a long time and I watched Steve Yzerman hoist it for three times in the past," the Swedish defenseman said. "I'm very proud of being the first European. I'm very proud of being a captain of the Red Wings."
The celebration came two nights later than expected. The Penguins forced the series back to Pennsylvania by tying Game 5 with 34.3 seconds left in regulation and winning it shortly before 1 a.m. in Detroit on Petr Sykora's power-play goal in triple overtime.
Undeterred, the Red Wings wrapped up their fourth straight series on the road in these playoffs. Detroit is third in NHL titles, trailing fellow Original Six clubs Montreal and Toronto.
It was the best night for Swedish hockey since the national squad won the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Along with Lidstrom's achievement, Henrik Zetterberg, who had a goal and assist in the Cup clincher, earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Just like in Game 5, things got a little dicey for the Red Wings, who allowed Marian Hossa's power-play goal with 1:27 remaining that got the Penguins to 3-2. Pittsburgh had already pulled Game 5 hero Marc-Andre Fleury to create a 6-on-4 skating edge.
With the final seconds ticking down, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby put a backhander on goal that Hossa just missed with a tip at the right post.
"I knew it was a good backhander," goalie Chris Osgood said. "I tried to get as far out as I could, and it ended up hitting my arm. I think time had ran out before it started rolling over the side of the net. I was happy to see the ref yell time was up."
That set off a pile-on celebration behind the Detroit net as the disappointed fans in Mellon Arena saluted their club once more with a chant of "Let's Go Pens!"
"I don't know how many seconds were left, but when I saw the puck behind the net, and I looked up and it was 0:00 on the game clock, I was a pretty happy man," Zetterberg said.
His goal 7:36 into the third period, that was pushed in by the backside of Fleury, extended the Red Wings' lead to 3-1. He tied teammate and countryman Johan Franzen for the playoff lead with 13 goals, and matched Crosby for the postseason scoring crown with 27 points.
Lidstrom is one of five players to be with the Red Wings for their four most recent titles (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008). He handed off the Cup to forward Dallas Drake, a champion for the first time in 14 seasons.
"I started thinking about it actually in the first round," Lidstrom said. "I didn't tell anyone about it, but I started thinking about if we were to go the whole way, who should be the guy I gave it to first."
Crosby came close in his third NHL season to adding a Stanley Cup to his resume that already includes a scoring crown and a league MVP award.
Only one team that trailed 3-1 in the finals came all the way back to win the Cup, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs against Detroit. Pittsburgh was trying to become the seventh to force a Game 7
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