Honoring my favorite Penguin - Sergei Gonchar

I kept telling everyone when it didn't look like the Penguins would make the playoffs "Wait till Sergei comes back," He did and they did, This then is the story of my favorite Penguin and the best Damm Defenseman in the NHL.

During the first game of the 2008–09 pre-season, Gonchar was hit into the boards by David Kočí in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, dislocating his shoulder. It was reported that he would miss 4-6 months after opting for arthroscopic surgery. With the Penguins struggling to make the playoffs, Gonchar returned to play his first game of the season for the February 14 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after being sidelined for 21 weeks. He played in the final 25 games of the regular season and tallied 19 points, helping the Penguins into the 2009 playoffs as the fourth seed. However, playing in game four of the Conference Semi-Finals against the Washington Capitals, Gonchar suffered a knee injury after receiving a knee-on-knee hit from Alexander Ovechkin. Despite being initially expected to be out for several weeks and possibly the remainder of the playoffs, Gonchar returned for game seven of the series. Gonchar and the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup in seven games, facing the Detroit Red Wings for the second consecutive year. After winning, he revealed he had been playing with a partially torn medial collateral ligament, due to the earlier hit from Alexander Ovechkin in the second round