"The guy watching the Blue Jackets score on the power play once turned in one of the most impressive penalty-killing performances in franchise history — the Conn Smythe Shift, as dubbed by Doc Emrick, during Game 4 of the 2008 Stanley Cup final. Zetterberg willed the Red Wings penalty kill to a successful shift against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins during a two-man advantage for Pittsburgh.
He smiles at the memory, when asked what he remembers most about that shift.
“That I was tired,” he answers, with a laugh. “It was a long shift. Obviously it was an important kill in the series. I was out there for over two minutes, I think, and that was not planned. I couldn’t get off. The last half was full panic.”
It was during these battles that Zetterberg developed a healthy respect for Crosby. As time moves away from his career, we’ll forget the back issues that ended it prematurely. We’ll forget that he ended his career playing on teams that faded away from some of the best in franchise history.
Instead, we’ll remember the battles between one of the best two-way centers in the league on a team that knew how to win championships squaring off against the best player of his generation, still trying to figure it out.
Last season, when Zetterberg started to get the inkling that he might be done, he asked Crosby for a stick. Something to remember those incredible battles, maybe something to give his 3-year-old son, Love, one day.
“We played two series against each other. He was a young player and I was kind of in my prime and that was my job, to play against him. That was a fun challenge and something I will always remember,” Zetterberg said of Crosby. “He will go down as one of the best players to ever play the game. Obviously, we have a special bond together forever just because of that.”
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