NHL

With some sports teams soaring and others tanking, there's no time like the present to jump on a bandwagon, writes D.J. Gallo for ESPN.com. In 10 easy steps, you too can latch onto a winning organization: Pick a team. Hint: avoid the losers. Get some gear, but skip the tattoo. Involve your family. They make pink jerseys for a reason. More »

Hockey Night in Canada is changing its theme song, and if that doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, you’re probably not Canadian. The 40-year-old ditty has become almost a second national anthem for the hockey-obsessed nation. But thanks to a legal challenge from composer Dolores Claman, the state-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has announced a contest to find the new theme. More »

Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom and Finals MVP Henrik Zetterberg both learned their hockey skills in Sweden, but it's not Detroit's strategy of drawing European talent that secured them this year's Stanley Cup. The team's success, writes Scot Burnside for ESPN, is due to management's willingness to gamble on older mainstays of the Hockeytown franchise. More »

The Detroit Red Wings held off the resilient Pittsburgh Penguins tonight to win their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years, the Detroit News reports. Detroit won Game 6 by a score of 3-2 after surviving a near repeat of their late collapse in the previous game. The Penguins scored with about 90 seconds left to make it a one-goal game, then came within a whisker of a miraculous tying goal by Marion Hossa as time ran out. Brian Rafalski, Valtteri Filippula and playoff MVP Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Wings. More »

The Detroit Red Wings' road to the Stanley Cup has another stop to make. Against all odds, the Pittsburgh Penguins stayed alive in the Stanley Cup finals with a 4-3 victory in Game 5 that ended on Petr Sykora's goal 9:57 into the third overtime last night. More »

If the Red Wings are marching inexorably toward possession of another Stanley Cup, it's thanks in large part to their remarkable composure, writes Bob Wojnowski for the Detroit News . Henrik Zetterberg and Co. kept their cool last night despite an early deficit and potential peril of a long 5-on-3, making every play and stuffing Kid Crosby over and over. More »

Detroit is just one game away from yet another meeting with Lord Stanley. The Red Wings beat Pittsburgh 2-1 tonight to take a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. Jiri Hudler broke a 1-1 tie early in the third, and goalie Chris Osgood turned in one of his best games of the playoffs, the Detroit Free Press reports. Nicklas Lidstrom scored Detroit's other goal, while Marion Hossa got Pittsburgh's. Game 5 is Monday night in Detroit. More »

It appears Chicago’s famed Wrigley Field will host an outdoor NHL game next year, after competitor Yankee Stadium was deemed unsuitable “for a variety of reasons,” the Tribune reports. The hometown Blackhawks would play the rival Detroit Red Wings in the third edition of the open-air contest, played in 2003 in Edmonton and this year in Buffalo.  More »

Sid the Kid saved his team from the brink tonight. Teen phenom Sidney Crosby scored twice to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 victory over Detroit in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Post-Gazette reports. The Penguins finally found their offense after being shut out in the first two games. Now they hope to even the series when they host Game 4 Saturday night. More »

In the second game of the Stanley Cup finals last night, the Red Wings had made eight shots and scored two goals before the Penguins attempted their first shot, and the lopsidedness continued throughout the game, writes the Detroit News . After a 3-0 loss last night, Pittsburgh has yet to score, as experience appears to be trumping youth. More »

For a while it looked like the kickoff of the Stanley Cup finals would be a goalie's battle, but then Detroit's Mikael Samuelsson kicked into gear with goals in the second and third periods. Two more Red Wings goals on Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, by Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg, sealed the Penguins' 4-0 fate, reports the Detroit Free Press. More »

The NHL may have dinky ratings and a long way to go to catch the big three of American sports, but it couldn’t ask for a better pick-me-up than this year’s Stanley Cup final. The Pittsburgh-Detroit matchup that starts tonight is one of the most compelling in years, the Washington Post notes. The Penguins are loaded with young phenoms like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, while Detroit boasts a veteran lineup well suited for "Hockey Town." More »

Red Wings fans, save room in that suitcase—it may be tough to buy an octopus in Pittsburgh next week. One steel-town fishmonger refuses to sell octopi to Detroit fans once the Wings-Penguins Stanley Cup finals kick off on Saturday. In a tradition spanning more than 50 years, Detroit fans have been tossing eight-leggers on the ice to boost their team, the Detroit Free Press reports. More »

Ryan Malone, the one Penguins player with firsthand memories of the team's two previous Stanley Cup appearances, scored twice and set up a third goal as Pittsburgh routed rival Philadelphia 6-0 Sunday to win the Eastern Conference championship and a trip to the NHL finals. Pittsburgh will play the winner of the Detroit-Dallas series for the Stanley Cup. More »

Fans aren't the only ones rooting for particular teams in the NHL and NBA playoffs: Retailers are hedging their bets as well, getting ready to print different shirts and hats depending on games' outcomes. If Pittsburgh clinches the NHL Eastern Conference today, thousands of commemorative garments will hit the stores within hours; otherwise, sellers will stay in limbo, reports the Post-Gazette. More »

The Pittsburgh Penguins' road to the Stanley Cup finals along the Pennsylvania Turnpike took an unexpected detour. The smooth ride through 12 playoff games got a bit bumpier when the Philadelphia Flyers staved off elimination from the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-2 victory Thursday night, forcing a Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Sunday. More »

Detroit's goal with a guy barely in the crease, if at all, didn't count. Dallas' goal with a guy clearly in the crease did count. Apparently, that's what it takes to slow the mighty Red Wings. Loui Ericksson's goal about 12 minutes after Detroit's was waved off, then third-period goals from Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow sent the Stars past the Red Wings 3-1. More »

Quick strikes by Ryan Whitney and Marian Hossa raised the Pittsburgh Penguins to heights not reached since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr donned the black and gold. Whitney and Hossa scored less than 3 minutes apart in the first period, and the Penguins held the Philadelphia Flyers to 18 shots Tuesday night in a 4-1 victory that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. More »

Pavel Datsyuk and the Detroit Red Wings got the best retaliation against Mike Ribeiro and the Dallas Stars—a record-setting victory. Datsyuk scored twice in the first period then again with 2:41 left, and the Red Wings beat the Stars 5-2 Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. More »

Darren Helm and Henrik Zetterberg scored first-period goals to help make up for the loss of Johan Franzen and the Detroit Red Wings held on for a 2-1 win tonight over the Dallas Stars and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. Stephane Robidas tied it at 1 midway through the first period, but the Stars struggled to get shots to or past Chris Osgood. More »