FanHouse DarrylSydor

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

There is a popular story in Pittsburgh sports lore that after Game 4 of the 1979 World Series, which the Pirates lost 9-6 to fall behind the Orioles three games to one in the series, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and Chuck Tanner sat around the clubhouse talking about the loss and Pops stood up and said, "Coach, I don't know if we can win this series, but just for one game I want to show everyone what the Pittsburgh Pirates can play like." The Pirates responded with three straight wins, lead by Stargell's sixth inning homer in Game 7, to take home what is to date their last world title.

I don't know if the same thing happened in the Penguins dressing room after Game 2 of these Stanley Cup Finals, but I do know that most Penguin fans felt the way Willie Stargell did on that October night. The team that played the first two games of the Finals was not the team that breezed through the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings were great in those games, but the Penguins were equally bad. Was it too much to ask for ONE performance to show everyone that the Penguins belonged in the Finals?

Apparently, it was not. With the season lying in the balance, Sidney Crosby picked the team up and scored two early goals, nearly blowing the top off of the Mellon Arena. What followed those goals were frantic, fast paced hockey filled with great scoring chances, pucks ringing off of posts, and a tense final 40 seconds that saw the Penguins hold on and take down a win to draw to within one game of the Wings. It was exactly the kind of hockey most people expected from this series and it was exactly what the Penguins needed after their early series debacle.

Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that veteran Pittsburgh defenseman Darryl Sydor will make his first post-season appearance in tonight's Stanley Cup Final Game 3 against the Detroit Red Wings. The move comes at the expense of rookie Kris Letang.

The 36-year-old defenseman appeared in 74 games for the Penguins this past season, posting 13 points in the process. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he spent most of his time on the ice with Ryan Whitney.

He has played 151 playoff games and been to the Finals four times over the course of his career. He won a Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999 and again with Tampa Bay in 2004.

The fact that Sydor has not played since March 31st is probably a concern for Penguins fans, but he sounds ready. He told the Macomb Daily's Bruce MacLeod,

"Yah, I've got butterflies and I'll have them tonight. That's when you know your time is done when you're not nervous any more. It's a good nervousness. I'm excited to be back and helping out."

Sydor's insertion into the lineup will certainly give the Penguins a boost in the experience department.

To refresh your memory, Letang was the Penguin victimized by Detroit's Valtteri Filppula in Game 2 as the latter got behind the young defenseman and scored a highlight reel goal (video) in the third period.

Who's In: G Ty Conklin (FA-BUF); G Dany Sabourin (FA-VAN); D Darryl Sydor (FA-DAL); RW Petr Sykora (FA-EDM).

Who's Out: LW Nils Ekman (FA), RW Michel Ouellet (FA-TBL), G Jocelyn Thibault (FA-BUF).

What's Changed: He's a habitual whiner. He dives way too much for an individual who has more talent than many NHL teams have on their entire roster. He's over-hyped, overexposed and lucked his way onto what might become this generation's answer to the Gretzky Oilers.

Despite Sidney Crosby's unquestioned -- and unrivaled -- ability on the ice, there are people who detest him simply because of who they believe he is; like a table full of frumpy goth kids sneering at the head cheerleader in a high-school cafeteria. Entire Web sites are dedicated to loathing Sidney Crosby, while other fans resent everything from the way he plays the game to the way he's inadvertently affected Western Conference realignment (yes, seriously).

It's tempting to buy into that group-think, to ask for citizenship in Hater Nation. But then you hear something that reminds you what an incredibly special player this kid is, and why he's going to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup sooner rather than later.