2009 stanley cup \ News and notes

June 4, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

TV ratings: Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals has earned the series’ highest cable television rating since 2002. Tuesday’s Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Versus drew a 2.6 rating and averaged 2.96 million viewers. The network said that the rating was up 37 percent from the average for the two games on Versus during last year’s series. The channel aired Games 1 and 2 last year; this year it is showing Games 3 and 4 while the first two switched to NBC. The 2.6 rating was the highest ever on Versus, beating a 2.1 for Lance Armstrong’s final ride in 2005 and Game 5 of this year’s Detroit-Chicago series.

Penalty-killing woes: The Red Wings have put themselves in a position to win another NHL title despite an awful rate of failure as penalty killers. If Detroit doesn’t fare better when the Penguins have an extra skater, though, its weakness might end up costing it the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings rank 14th out of the 16 teams that began the playoffs in penalty killing, successfully preventing teams from scoring just .714 percent of the time. On the road, its success rate dips to .655 percent to lead only the Montreal Canadiens this postseason. “It’s not even the percentage, it’s when you give them up,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “Last night we needed a kill, without any question, when it was a 2-2 game.” Sergei Gonchar broke the tie with a power-play goal midway through the third period and Pittsburgh went on to win 4-2 to cut its deficit to 2-1 in the series. The Penguins converted two of their three chances on the power play, and they’re hoping to have an extra skater even more tonight at home in Game 4.

Author: Penguins coach Dan Bylsma has authored or co-written four books, one about what it takes for a young player to make the NHL, so finding the right word usually isn’t a problem. When asked how it feels like to be coaching in the Stanley Cup Final less than four months after taking over the Penguins, Bylsma wished for a larger vocabulary. “I think the English language doesn’t do a very good job of wrapping up the emotions that you can have,” Bylsma said. “Do I enjoy this? Absolutely. Is it kick my feet up, have a cool drink with a fruit in it? It’s not that kind of enjoyment. But as a competitor, as a coach, this is exactly where I want to be enjoying my time.” The Penguins are 31-10-4, counting the playoffs, since Bylsma inherited a team that was not among the Eastern Conference’s top nine in mid February.

Associated Press