The only lineup change for either team in the Stanley Cup final will be the return of Detroit Red Wings winger Tomas Holmstrom, although the Pittsburgh Penguins did make one minor addition for Monday's game.
Defenceman Alex Goligoski was called up from the Penguins' farm team just in case Kris Letang ran into travel problems.
Letang went to Shippagan, N.B., on Sunday to pay his respects to the family of his best friend, Luc Bourdon. Bourdon, a defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks, was killed last week in a motorcycle accident. Bourdon's funeral is also on Monday, so Letang attended the visitation on Sunday and planned to return to Detroit on Monday afternoon.
If Letang does not return on time, it will not affect the Penguins' starting lineup because he was replaced by Darryl Sydor in the last two games. Penguins head coach Michel Therrien said he called up Goligoski to make sure he had enough defenceman in case anyone fell ill or was injured.
"I think it's the right thing to do, even though it's the Stanley Cup final," Therrien said of Letang's departure. "We called up Goligoski just in case something happened. We didn't want to take the risk that if something happened at the morning skate or [Monday] afternoon, we didn't want to get caught with six defencemen only."
Holmstrom announced his return to the lineup as soon as he saw the size of the scrum around his stall in the Wings' dressing room. He yelled across the room that he was playing and then bolted for the medical room, which is off-limits to the media.
Wings head coach Mike Babcock said he did not see any way he could have kept the hard-nosed Holmstrom out of the lineup. The Swedish winger suffered a hamstring injury in the third game and was aching to get back in ever since.
"If Homer's leg was broken, he would be playing anyway," Babcock said. "That's just the way it is. He's playing and he'll find a way to be a real good contributor for us."
One thing there is no room for in the Wings lineup is sentiment. Chris Chelios will not be put into the game just so he can be on the ice for a third Stanley Cup win. The 46-year-old defenceman has not played since the conference final and will be on the sidelines again.
"We're just going to do everything we can to win," Babcock said, although he insisted Chelios plays a role with the Red Wings in preparing for the game.
