It looks like the teams in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs are experiencing an dizzying kind of déjà-vu. The Detroit Red Wings, the Stanley Cup defending champions, are once again facing last year’s playoff finalists, the Pittsburgh Penguins. This year’s playoffs, however, may promise an outcome very different from last season’s.

History often repeats itself, but it is uncommon to see it repeat itself quite so literally. The Pittsburgh Penguins are again challenging the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup in the final round of the playoffs. The series has thus far proved a carbon copy of last year’s; the Penguins were trounced in the first two games of the series only to reclaim Game 3, 4-2.

The Detroit Red Wings came back for Game 5 after losing their previous two road games to the Pittsburgh Penguins, clinching a 3-2 series lead with a 5-0 shutout victory. The Wings need only claim one more game to win the series, marking their second consecutive Stanley Cup and their fifth in the last twelve years.

The tables were turned in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals, as Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby hoisted the Stanley Cup onto his young shoulders. The Penguins managed a 2-1 victory in Game 7 of their series against the Detroit Red Wings, a win that brought them the Stanley Cup for the first time in over 15 years.