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The nice thing about hockey is that over seven games the best team almost always wins. Unlike football, where one bad playoff game means your season is over, in hockey, you can play a couple of stinkers and still beat a weaker team. A goalie can win a series, or several series (Patrick Roy), a coach can win (or lose) a series (Roger Nielson, Don Cherry), but in general the best team wins.
(Don't think the Wings haven't thought about using Hasek either, but at this point that would be a huge gamble, a gamble not many coaches would bet their career on.)
In the end it is a team game, coaches, skaters and goalies. So while you can make the argument that Osgood cost them the cup, at that point you are saying 'as a team we were not good enough to beat the Penguins'.
If the Penguins were to win, the primary discussion will not be about Osgood, it would be about Detroits inability to close out the series when they had the chance. Osgood has been good enough, the rest of the team has not. The second conversation would be about who stepped up for the Penguins, about leadership and the sheer will to win. And the third would be about the inability of a Swedish 'C' to win the Cup.
But don't lose too much sleep over it, it is still an unlikely event. But I'd love to see a game seven.
I will concede this: The skaters of the Wings, overall, are far superior to the Pens. The talent is there, can talent overcome desire tonight?
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