PITTSBURGH -- Long before he scored the Stanley Cup winning goal, Henrik Zetterberg had made his case to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The goal, strange as it might have been, was only the exclamation point for his candidacy for most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Zetterberg's playoff was a tour de force, a remarkable display of almost every aspect of hockey that matters: Offence, defence, skating, puck handling, shot blocking. He did all of that over 22 playoffs games.
He did it best when it mattered most.
Zetterberg had a goal and an assist last night in the 3-2 Game 6 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins and ended the playoffs with 27 points. But what he put on display aside from his offensive skill in the post-season was his attention to detail, ability to win faceoffs, uncanny defensive ability for being in the right place at the right time.
Last night, for the second time in the series, Zetterberg was huge in killing a 5-on-3 power play by the Penguins, putting just enough pressure, reading the play so well, making it so difficult for the Penguins to take advantage. They couldn't score with a 1:33 two-man advantage last night. They couldn't do it in Game 4 here also.
And on a night when captain Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European player to be captain of a Stanley Cup winner, Zetterberg became the second European to win the Conn Smythe.
The first, not surprisingly, was his captain.
"I didn't know that," said Zetterberg afterwards, as stoicly excited as he gets. "To have my name on this trophy, with his name, with all these great names, is very exciting. He's our best player every night. This means a lot to him, a lot to us."
