Bylsma can picture a better ending

FROM PITTSBURGH —  For anyone who has strapped on skates, playing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is the embodiment of a dream -- one the Penguins and Red Wings will live out Friday in Detroit.

Pittsburgh Coach Dan Bylsma played in a Game 7 with the Mighty Ducks in 2003. He wants his players to know one thing: they must seize every moment or risk skating off with the regret he has carried all these years.

Bylsma, gifted with far more perseverance than finesse, was determined to play the game of his life because he never imagined being there again.

He had an opportunity to score the game’s first goal against New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, tipping a shot from the point into Brodeur’s shoulder. The rebound popped in the air and a photograph published the next day in USA Today captured what happened next.

“I had one more swing at it that I failed to make contact with,” he said Wednesday, shaking his head at the memory of how he might have averted the Ducks’ eventual 3-0 loss.

“That’s going to happen this next game. There’s going to be a chance. There’s going to be a play, a blocked shot, a chance to score a goal. That’s where we put ourselves -- a one-game, one-chance scenario. And there will be a picture the next morning.”

He’s hoping for a happier picture this time and has done everything in his power to make that happen.

Less than a year after becoming a head coach and only four months after taking over a team that had world-class skill but lacked the abrasiveness to play a grinding game, Bylsma has led the Penguins to the brink of the franchise’s first Cup title since 1992.

Some of his moves have been obvious -- playing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together more in Game 6 than in previous games is a key example -- and other moves have been subtle, such as inserting Petr Sykora into the lineup in Tuesday’s must-win Game 6 and giving the Czech forward his first ice time since May 4.

Sykora -- Bylsma’s Anaheim teammate in 2003 -- didn’t score on Tuesday but dished out two hits and blocked a shot, precisely the gritty effort the Penguins needed to prolong their season. It’s a game they appear to be more capable of playing.

Their surrender to frustration and total loss of discipline in a 5-0 loss in Game 5 gave no hint of the smartly controlled performance they would muster in Game 6. Of course, it helped that goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who couldn’t stop a beach ball in Game 5, guarded his net in stellar fashion in Game 6 in making 25 saves.

“We’ve just got to stay confident in our game,” center Jordan Staal said Wednesday at Mellon Arena. “Every night we know if we play the right way we’ll be fine.

“You could tell everyone was comfortable in the room and ready to play. We knew if we played the right way we’d come out on top. We just feel the same way coming into Game 7.”

For the Penguins, the right way is simple:

They must dictate a fast tempo, avoid becoming tentative and get scoring from players beside Crosby and Malkin. And if Crosby doesn’t score -- he has no points in the Penguins’ three losses at Joe Louis Arena in these finals -- he must play solid defense. He did that in Game 6.

“He didn’t have a ton of points but he played his game, he played our system,” defenseman Rob Scuderi said. “Maybe he didn’t get a whole lot offensively but he didn’t give up anything defensively. To me, that’s the mark of a good leader.”

The Red Wings aren’t lacking for leaders, either, and they pressed hard enough in the third period Tuesday to come within inches of pulling even and taking the Cup home with them. They have history on their side -- home teams are 12-2 in Game 7 of the finals -- and they won a Game 7 against the Ducks in the second round of these playoffs.

Making it this far is a testament to their depth after a season in which their defensive play was uneven and their advancing age seemed to be tugging at them.

Detroit Coach Mike Babcock, the Ducks’ coach in the 2003 finals, said he wasn’t always sure this team would reach the level necessary to win a second straight title.

“To be honest with you, going into the playoffs against Columbus you wonder how much you have in the tank. You wonder how much drive you have,” he said by conference call from Detroit.

“That’s the thing I’ve been most impressed with about our group, that they’ve found a way to keep playing, to find a way to play, to be at this point to give themselves an opportunity.”

Bylsma knows all about opportunities missed and opportunities seized.

“That’s the agony and the beautiful thing of sport, that we play a game and we play it for some great reasons -- to win a Cup, to win a trophy, to be the best,” he said.

“When you don’t get it, it’s painful. And when you get it, it’s glorious, and you get a lot of good pictures. You take the bad ones if you don’t win and you put them in a basement in a box somewhere. And we’re looking for one we can hang on the wall.”

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helene.elliott@latimes.com

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Taking it to the limit

A look at the Game 7s in the Stanley Cup finals:

*--* Year Result Notes 1942 Detroit 1 at Toronto 3 Three goals in third period overcame 1-0 deficit. 1945 Toronto 2 at Detroit 1 Babe Pratt’s power-play goal in third period broke 1-1 tie. 1950 NY Rangers 3 at Detroit 4 (2OT) First Game 7 in finals decided in overtime. 1954 Montreal 1 at Detroit 2 (OT) Most recent Game 7 in finals decided in overtime. 1955 Montreal 1 at Detroit 3 Alex Delvecchio scored two; Gordie Howe added the other. 1964 Detroit 0 at Toronto 4 Maple Leafs win third straight Cup; Johnny Bower gets shutout. 1965 Chicago 0 at Montreal 4 All goals in first period; Gump Worsley recorded the shutout. 1971 Montreal 3 at Chicago 2 Henri Richard scored game-winner in third period. 1987 Philadelphia 1 at Edmonton 3 Oilers tallied one goal in each period to overcome early deficit. 1994 Vancouver 2 at NY Rangers 3 Mark Messier scored game-winner in second period. 2001 New Jersey 1 at Colorado 3 Alex Tanguay had three points; Ray Bourque gets first Cup. 2003 Ducks 0 at New Jersey 3 Home clubs won all finals games for the first time since 1965. 2004 Calgary 1 at Tampa Bay 2 Ruslan Fedotenko scored both Tampa Bay goals. 2006 Edmonton 1 at Carolina 3 Frantisek Kaberle scored the game-winner in second period. *--*