The Stanley Cup is back in Pittsburgh!!

It was the best of time, it was the worst of times.

The 2008-09 Penguins season was marked by exhilarating highs and debilitating lows. But it seemed like whenever the forecast for the Pens looked its bleakest, the Pens began to shine.

According to critics and experts, this current season was doomed while Detroit was skating around the Mellon with the cup. The "runner up curse" had not been kind to the teams that lost in the Stanley Cup Finals and why would the Pens be any different.

During the summer, a flood of free agents left the Pens. Among them was star winger Marian Hossa, who bolted to Detroit to "win a cup." Defenseman Ryan Whitney had foot surgery and wasn't expected to return until late December at the earliest.

In the first pre-season game in Tampa, top D-man and powerplay quarterback Sergei Gonchar had his shoulder separated by a hit from David Koci. Gonchar opted for surgery but would out until march at the earliest.

How did the Penguins respond? By getting off to one the best starts in franchise history.

The exciting October and November months, during which the Pens won 7-6 in a thrilling overtime game against Detroit in Detroit, led to the dark depressing months of December and January.

The play was bad. The players were frustrated.

The powerplay went scoreless in 32 attempts. The Pens couldn't string three wins together, often going win-loss-win-loss. They lost to teams in the NHL's basement- 2-0 to Tampa, 6-2 to the Maple Leafs. They fell from second in the conference to tenth and out of the playoffs.

Star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was injured. Star center and captain Sidney Crosby was injured.

The return of Ryan Whitney did little to stop the bleeding.

A players-only meeting was held to see if they could fix what was broken.

They couldn't.

It seemed like every time the Pens would gain an inch, they'd slid down four inches.

Early Feburary saw the return of Sergei Gonchar. The struggling powerplay looked worlds better with Gonchar at the controls, but was still nothing to write home about.

On February 15, the coach that lead them to the finals the year before, Michel Therrien, was replaced by the coach of the Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins, Dan Bylsma. Bylsma, who was 38 games into his first season as a head coach, took over a team in tenth place and five points out of the playoffs.

Once again the season was written off.

The Pens responded by losing in a shootout to the Islanders in the first game under the new head coach.

After this loss, however, the Pens would lose only three more times in regulation and gain a point in 22 games.

The trade deadline saw the Penguins trade D-man Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks for winger Chris Kunitz and top prospect Eric Tangradi. The Pens picked up 38-year-old veteran winger Bill Guerin from the Islanders for a conditional third round pick and picked up winger Craig Adams off of waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks. Struggling winger Miroslav Satan was sent to the WBS Pens to clear cap space for the new players.

The Penguins torched the schedule, going 18-3-4. Coach Bylsma's aggressive system, the return of Gonchar, and the addition of some quality wingers energized the club.

The tenth place team that Bylsma inherited was now sitting in fourth place and looking at home ice advantage against the hated Philadelphia Flyers.

But, alas, there was doubt about the Penguins' ability to handle the Flyers' potent offense and their plethora of 25- and 30- goal scorers.

With the help of excellent play by goaltender Fleury, the Pens dispatched the Flyers in six games. Capping off the series was a 5-3 come-from-behind win in game six in which the Pens rattled off five unanswered goals.

The second round brought the Penguins into the nation's capital against their next biggest rival, the Washington Capitals.

This series proved to be a battle of the stars. Pittsburgh's captain Crosby and Washington's top gun Alex Ovechkin traded goals and trash talk throughout the series. Ultimately, Crosby and the Penguins emerged as the victor in the seven game series.

Pittsburgh started the series in a two game hole, losing both games in Washington, then turned around to win three straight. Washington stole game six in overtime in Pittsburgh but the Penguins treated the Capitals to a 6-2 drubbing at the Verizon Center to win the series.

This series was one of the best series' in a long time. Each game was marked by strong up-and-down play and scoring chances galore. In game two, Crosby and Ovechkin each scored a hat trick. Capitals rookie goaltender Simeon Varlomov seemed unbeatable at first. But once his weakness was figured out, the series was over.

Up next was Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes. Goaltender Ward had never lost a playoff series and the Canes were 9-0 when top line center Eric Staal scored.

Both streaks were ended when the Canes fell to the Penguins in a four game sweep. Game one was close. Games two and three were lopsided wins by the Penguins (7-4 and 6-2). By game four, the Canes were broken. Eric Staal managed to finally score but the Penguins blasted off four unanswered goals and claimed the Prince of Wales trophy for the second year in a row.

All of the adversity that the Penguins had faced in the regular season and the playoff would pale in comparison to their next rival: the Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings boasted four Cups in 11 years, a lineup of all-stars and future hall-of-famers, and pretty much the same same lineup that won the Cup last year plus Marian Hossa. To call the Finals a challenge would be an understatement.

Through the first three games, the script read like last season, the Pens dropped games one and two in Detroit and won in Pittsburgh. The script changed, however, in game four when the Penguins won.

The new-found optimism of the Penguins was shattered in Detroit when the Red Wings slapped the Penguins around the ice in a 5-0 embarrassment.

The big, bad Red Wings machine had shown who was boss. The parade was planned, the Cup was shined up. Game six was merely a formality, much like the series. Wings goalie Chris Osgood said, "I don't think about the Penguins."

Maybe he should have.

Everything that the Penguins had faced up to this point: the free agency losses, the injuries, the bad play, the coaching change, and the comeback in Washington, prepared them for this moment. They would have to look back on all of their collective experience, pull themselves up by the boot straps and go to work.

The Penguins won game six at home 2-1. But they were not out of Hell just yet. They still had to win in Detroit, where the Wings were 11-1.

Each team went full on through the first two periods. Captain Sidney Crosby was injured in the first period and left the ice. Penguins winger Max Talbot scored twice in the second to give the Pens a 2-0 lead.

The third period looked as if Detroit was on a 20-minute powerplay. The Penguins would retrieve the puck and get it to center and have just enough time to regroup before Detroit was attacking again. Eventually the inevitable happened: Detroit's Jonathan Ericson slipped a shot past Fleury to cut the lead in half.

In all the Wings managed eight shots on goal.

The Penguins? One.

The final 6.5 seconds began with a Detroit face-off win. A shot from the point bounced off of Fleury, through the throng of bodies in front of the net and out to a waiting Nicklas Lidstrom. The 39-year-old defenseman and future hall-of-famer had a yawning net to put the puck in and tie the game. The game, the series, the Cup was right there on his stick. Every kid who has ever picked up a hockey stick dreams of this moment, dreams of being the game seven hero.

So do goaltenders.

Fleury flung himself in the direction of the shot, blocked it and then fell on top of it.

That was it. The game was over. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup.

They won it on the road in a game seven.

They won it as the underdog in a building where Detroit was unbeatable.

It has been said a million times already so one more won't hurt: the last team to win a game seven on the road for a championship was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

The last NHL team to do it was the 1971 Montreal Canadiens. That same Canadiens team was the last to do it with a coach that was replaced during the season by a rookie.

To call this win anything than what it is, monumental, would not do it justice.

The Stanley Cup is back in Pittsburgh. After 17 years, it's back.

Welcome back, old friend.

Lemieux's pool has missed you.