The Pittsburgh Penguins know they are in the soup.

They know the brilliant dream season of 2007-08 will come to an abrupt end Monday night in Motor City should they lose Game 5 of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final. The Detroit Red Wings lead the series three games to one thanks to Saturday’s hard-fought 2-1 win in Pittsburgh.

In the battle between Steeltown and Hockeytown, the Hockeytowners are about to win, but if the Pens are looking for a way to catch fire, something a little more productive than the constant post-game whining about obstruction by coach Michel Therrien, then the Detroit media may have provided some of the spark.

That's because The Detroit Free Press is already discussing who should be the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. This is a no-no. The Pens are all but beaten and the last thing you want to do is give them motivation, the proverbial bulletin board material.

Certainly the odds are stacked against the Penguins, but to have an article discussing which Red Wing is most worthy of the Conn Smythe Trophy is surely a little presumptuous, no? That’s like Barack Obama discussing what colour tie he wants to wear to his inauguration, or Simon Cowell discussing whom he will thank in his Nobel prize acceptance speech.

Helene St. James is a heck of a reporter for the Freep, but if the Pens happen to come back to win this thing in seven games – hey, it could happen, even though it’s about as likely as democracy breaking out in Iraq – then it’s possible that the bulletin board fodder was the beginning of the end for the Red Wings.