(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

In the past few days leading up to tonight's Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals, Disco Dan Bylsma had his usual calm, cool, and collective attitude on display in every press conference he did.

He talked about the Pittsburgh Penguins beating the Detroit Red Wings in Game Six.

He didn't talk about the Penguins preventing the Red Wings from winning the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh, he talked about the Penguins winning one game in order to be in a position to win the Cup themselves.

The Penguins began the 2008-09 season on Oct. 4 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Just 105 games later, one win stands between fulfilling a dream and suffering yet another devastating defeat.

It doesn't get any bigger than Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, but you don't need me to tell you that.

Recap

Coming off of an embarrassing loss in Game Five, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked to a familiar source for an extra boost in Game Six.

There were 17,132 rabid fans filling the seats of the ageless Igloo, and they made their presence known early and often tonight.

The Pittsburgh Penguins weren't playing to prevent the Detroit Red Wings from winning, they were playing to win themselves.

The Pens dominated play in the first 20 minutes, outshooting the Wings 12 to three, but came out of the opening frame with nothing to show for their effort on the scoreboard.

You could tell that the Penguins were playing like they had nothing to lose, and really, they didn't.

Jordan Staal finally rewarded his team for their valiant efforts in the opening minute of the second period.

Rob Scuderi moved the puck to the blue line where Tyler Kennedy made a nice play on the wall to chip the puck into open ice.

Staal picked up the biscuit and generated a two-on-one with Matt Cooke after beating a Red Wing in the neutral zone.

Staal later said of his decision to decline on a pass attempt: "I'm not a passer, I'm a shooter."

A shooter he was, as Staal's initial attempt was stopped by Osjoke, but the big man stayed with his shot and banged home the rebound to put the Pens on top 1-0.

After the goal, the Wings pushed hard, but Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi led the Penguins' defensive corps to one of the best shutdown performances in recent memory.

The Wings came out strong again to open the third period, but Marc-Andre Fleury came up with a couple of big saves to preserve the lead.

Ruslan Fedotenko, who was set up by Evgeni Malkin at least four times in a quality scoring chance situation in the game, was not discouraged by his inability to find the back of the net.

Tank kept a puck alive in the offensive zone and Max Talbot made a nifty play behind the net to reverse the puck to a wide open Tyler Kennedy.

TK walked out in front of the net and took a couple of whacks at the puck before beating Osjoke on the glove side to put the Pens ahead by two goals.

Just three minutes later Kris Draper put a puck behind Fleury to pull the Wings within one.

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