May 31 2009
THIRD PERIOD
18:21: Crosby comes around the back of the net with the puck. He shoots to the far side. It his the far post and bounces off and skids along the goal line behind Osgood. Crosby appears to get it back and shoots to the far side again. Zetterberg is on his stomach in the crease and appears to keep it out. Officials review the play. It's impossible to tell if that puck crossed the goal line. The review confirms the non-goal call. More bad bounces for the Penguins. Did Zetterberg get away with covering the puck again?
17:13: That might've done it. Justin Abdelkader moves into the offensive zone with the puck against Gill and Scuderi. Each Penguins' defenseman gets a piece of hte puck and tip it away momentarily from Abdelkader. Abdelkader cuts across the crease and managers to maintain possession despite the poke checks from Gill and Scuderi. He then whips a wild wrister at to the far side that Fleury just isn't prepared for. It beats him far on the glove side. He didn't even seem to make a play for the puck there. Ouch. Not a good goal to give up even if he was screened. The goal was unassisted. Watch Detroit choke the life out of the rest of this game. Holmstrom and Hossa get assists. Red Wings 3, Penguins 1.
16:18: "FLerrrrrr..... Eeeee..... Flerrrrr.... Eeeeee....."
15:10: Stuart cranks a slapper from the right point that gets deflected wide.
14:55: "FLerrrrrr..... Eeeee..... Flerrrrr.... Eeeeee....."
14:11: Guerin cracks Darren Helm with a big hit at center ice. Helm looses his stick, regains it and skates to the bench.
13:29: Zetterberg takes a tumble over Scuderi in the neutral zone.
11:27: "LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!! (clap, clap, clap) LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!! (clap, clap, clap)"
9:20: Lidstrom distributes a pass to Helm on the left wing, Helm moves into the offensive zone and cranks a slapper that appears to get deflected wide.
9:06: Dupuis controls the puck behind the Detroit net and dishes a feed to Satan who cracks a shot wide.
8:35: Gill holds up Hossa who is chasing a puck in the corner. No call. Remember the "new" NHL?
7:13: Hossa moves behind the Penguins' net, comes around the left side and backhands a shot at the net. Fleury fights it off.
6:32: Crosby moves into the offensive zone with speed, dekes by a defender and snaps off a wrister to the far side that Osgood stick his left foot out and boots away. Huge save by Osgood.
6:18: "Ozzzzzz-EEEEEE! Ozzzzz-EEEEEE!"
4:29: Dupuis is dropped behind the Detroit net by Lidstrom while battling for a puck.
3:29: Crosby jumps on a loose puck along the boards and swats a rising wrister on net. Osgood hops up to fight it off.
2:38: Dupuis moves up the right wing and as he enters the zone he attempts to dump the puck in. Lidstrom is there and just makes one of those little poke checks that only so many defensemen in the league can make. Dupuis gets the puck back and ends up offsides.
1:56: Franzen steals a puck near the Penguins' blue line, dumps it in and skates to his bench.
1:39: Fleury is pulled for an extra attacker.
1:30: Off a cycle, Fedotenko dishes a puck into the crease. Osgood is up against the crease and holds it out. Malkin is there battling for the rebound but Osgood covers it.
1:04: Franzen whips the puck down ice wide of the cage.
0:18: Malkin snaps off a wrister from the right faceoff circle. Osgood hangs on for the save. Talbot jabs him with a stick. Osgood falls over as if he were shot by a sniper. A few Red Wings jump Talbot. Kunitz jumps in. Malkin goes after Zetterberg. Malkin is really frustrated and he just boils over dropping the gloves. Zetterberg is an unwilling participant but he battles with Malkin. Malkin slips and falls, gets up and tries to fight Zetterberg some more. An official stands between them holding them at arms length. While that's going on, there's another fight going on in the crease with Osgood in the middle of it. After everyone is separated, A whole mess of penalties are doled out. Malkin gets a boot. Detroit ends up with a two-man advantage. Malkin got five minutes for fighting, an instigator and a 10-minute misconduct. Talbot got two minutes for slashing. Zetterberg gets a fighting major as well. How crazy was that to see two of the best players in the world fight? It'll be interesting to see if the NHL doles out an supplementary discipline after that. We doubt the league will take action, but an instigator in the final five minutes is a no-no.
0:00: End of game. Red Wings 3, Penguins 1.
POSTGAME
-Amazing how one bouce can impact the outcome of a game. If Sidney Crosby scores that goal that hit off the post and was eventually covered by Zetterberg early in the third, this is a tie game and all bets are off. Instead, Detroit came right back and got a goal by Abdelkader that essentially sealed the win for them.
-Regarding that goal by Adbelkader, we didn't have a great look on it to see if there was a screen, but Marc-Andre Fleury needs to make that save. Chris Osgood is stealing goals at times for his teammates and giving them momentum. Fleury is not.
-We're not saying Fleury played awful by any means, but he's just not playing to the standard Osgood is setting this series. He's made a few saves that were tough, but how many of his saves having you saying, "Wow!" to yourself? Osgood has made saves fitting that description in our book.
-If there's any hope to the Penguins being down 2-0 in this series, it's that they have arrived at this point much differently than they did last year. In the first two games of last year's Cup final, they were completely outplayed. So far in this series, the gap between them and Detroit isn't that wide. They've controlled play at point throughout each game. The Red Wings have just cashed in more of their chances and have been aided by a few lucky bounces. This series is far from over.
-As we've said more than enough, playing from behind on Detroit is a death sentence.
-It might be lip service, but Mike Babcock seems to have a similar opinion:
"I've been impressed with how hard they've played right throughout their lineup. They've put a lot of heat on us at times. Tonight they hit two posts. Crosby hit a post, Guerin hit a post, Crosby hit a post east-west behind the net. That's the way hockey is. You've got to keep working hard."
-Evgeni Malkin will not be suspended for picking up that instigator penalty at the end of play. This is a statement from the NHL regarding the incident:
"DETROIT (May 31, 2009) -- National Hockey League Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell issued the following statement regarding the instigator penalty assessed to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin at 19:41 of the third period of tonight’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final:
Rule 47.22 states: "A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes or at any time in overtime shall be suspended for one game, pending a review of the incident. The director of hockey operations will review every such incident and may rescind the suspension based on a number of criteria. The criteria for the review shall include, but not be limited to, the score, previous incidents, etc..."
Following that review, Campbell said: "None of the criteria in this rule applied in this situation. Suspensions are applied under this rule when a team attempts to send a message in the last five minutes by having a player instigate a fight. A suspension could also be applied when a player seeks retribution for a prior incident. Neither was the case here and therefore the one game suspension is rescinded."
NHL Hockey Operations also determined that Malkin should have been assessed a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down. "
-Technically Malkin had been suspended for roughly an hour after the game until Campbell made his ruling.
-Again, Sidney Crosby needs to produce. He's getting his chances. He getting shots on net. He's creating chances for his teammates. But something offensively is needed out of Crosby. The Penguins got to final this season because he was scoring at a pace that rivaled some of the greats of the game. The Penguins will not win the Cup without Crosby producing offensively.
-That said, just like last year, he's going against one of the best defensive forwards in the league in Henrik Zetterberg and just like last year, Zetterberg is winning the battle early.
-Its just amazing to seed Detroit operate with a two-goal lead. That saying that a two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey does not apply to this team. It just sets up a wall at the neutral zone, disrupts passing lanes, and makes it nearly impossible for an opposing team to break through. The coaching throughout this organization is amazing.
-The scary part thing about the Red Wings is that they've limited they haven't played with Pavel Datsyuk, an MVP candidate for five games. If you take Malkin or Crosby off the Penguins, they might fall apart.
-Hal Gill with a pretty strong opinion on his team:
"I think we've proven that tonight I think we outplayed them. Last year we got outplayed pretty badly. And we have to go back home thinking of what are we going to do? Right now, I think we know what to do. We've just got to keep sticking to it, and things are going to go our way."
-The Penguins need something from their role players. Detroit's getting goals from Abdelkader. A score from someone like Tyler Kennedy or Craig Adams would be helpful towards the Penguins' cause.
-Is it us, or has Sergei Gonchar been rather quiet for two games?
-Hossa had the steal (and possible slash on Dupuis) that led to the winning goal by Filppula, but he really hasn't been as large of a factor as one would have thought. He's playing good defense, he had two assists, but you would think a player of his caliber would offer a little bit more.
-It didn't cost the Penguins the game, but the officiating has been awful in this series. Both teams have gotten away with quite a bit.
-The Penguins once again led in shots, 32-26.
-Malkin led the game with six.
-Hossa led the Red Wings with five.
-Can't blame the faceoffs for the Penguins tonight. They led, 27-24 (53 percent).
-Talbot was 6-for-8 (75 percent).
-Abdelkader was 4-for-6 (67 percent).
-Stuart led the game with 24:44.
-He's obviously healthy enough to play, but if he were really 100 percent, we have to imagine Nicklas Lidstrom would have much more than 23:20.
-Gonchar led the Penguins with 23:14.
-Rafalski led the game with three blocked shots.
-Gill, Scuderi, Orpik, Gonchar and Lidstrom each had two.
-Today's obligatory mention of the last team to win the Stanley Cup despite being down 2-0 in a series was the 1971 Montreal Canadiens who came back to beat the Chicago Blackhawks.
-Bill Guerin moved past George Ferguson and Sergei Zubov on for 29th place on the franchise's career scoring list. All three have 15 points, but Guerin (seven) has more goals than Ferguson (four) and Zubov (one).
-Game summary.
-Event summary.
-Highlights.
May 31 2009
SECOND PERIOD
19:30: Kennedy circles around from the corner and whips a
wrister from the right faceoff circle. Osgood is able to hang on
despite having Jordan Staal wrestling in front for position.
18:34: More Therrien-esque hijinks from Bylsma as he has Staal, Dupuis and Guerin on a line for a faceoff.
18:02: Fleury covers up a puck that trickles in from the
point. Kirk Maltby skates in and gets dumped in front by Brooks Orpik.
Orpik then looses his balance and falls on Maltby.
17:15: We're not sure what's going on near the Zamboni
entrance, but most of the folks in the second to the right of it are
wearing blue t-shirts.
16:49: Fedotenko works a puck around the boards to talbot.
Talbot dishes a nice little feed to Malkin in the slot. Malkin snaps
off a wrister that Osgood juuust gets a piece of. We're not sure Osgood
saw that, but it was a nice save.
16:22: Hossa snaps off a wrister from the right wing wh
15:42: With Detroit causing all kinds of havoc in front, Letang whips the puck around the boards just to get it out.
15:39: TIe game. This was going to happen eventually. Off a
facoeff win by Helm, Ericsson gets the puck and hammers a slapper from
the left point. Helm is right in front unaccounted for and screens
Fleury. The puck beats Fleury on the glove side. Someone has to take
care of Helm there. Jiri Hudler and Helm get assists. Penguins 1, Red Wings 1.
14:46: Detroit is dominating this period. Zetterberg takes a
pass from the right wing and moves in alone down the slot. He goes to
the backhand and is denied by Fleury's glove hand. Huge save. The Red
Wings are playing with way too much speed and space.
12:05: Malkin challneges Ericsson one-on-one on the right wing but can't beat the defenseman.
11:45: Malkin sis called for interference as he battled with
Ericsson on the boards. Ericsson just kind of takes a tumble. Kind of a
weak call given what has been let go so far in this series. After play
is halted, Orpik and Holmstrom give each other the business in front of
Fleury. No call. Rob Scuderi, Gill, Cooke and Staal are on for the
penalty kill.
11:20: A shot by Zetterberg gets blocked in front and
10:26: Scuderi blocks a pass on the boards and tips it up to Talbot who tosses it up ice so his team can change lines.
9:31: Another dirty goal gives Detroit the leads. After stealing the puck off Dupuis (who might've had his stick slashed)
Hossa snaps off a wrister from the left wing. Fleury makes the save.
The rebound squeeze through the crease. Holmstrom is right there
getting mauled by Malkin and Gill. As Fleury is trapped the puck comes
over to the other side where Valtteri Filppula backhands it from a
tough angle along the goal line to the left of the cage. Nice shot by
Filppula. Detroit just earning goals through hard work. Holmstrom and
Hossa get assists. Red Wings 2-1.
8:53: Osgood holds out the puck after a mad scramble in his crease. Once again, NBC doesn't offer a replay. "Ozzz-EEEEE! Ozzzz-EEEE!!"
7:50: A puck slides out to Letang at the right point. He
moves in with it, hesitates then shoots. It appears to be deflected
high. Letang need to release that sooner.
7:13: NBC SHOWED A REPLAY!!!! Cooke dropped Zetterberg with a hit in the corner.
6:43: Cleary works his way up the left wing. Gill hounds him
the whole way up the ice. Cleary shoots but Gill appears to district
him enough to send the shot wide.
5:46: Malkin swats a shot from the right wing. Talbot is in front but the puck gets deflected wide.
5:09: Malkin gets popped by Justin Abdelkader inside the
Detroit blue line. Malkin stands him up and Abdelkader appears to break
his stick.
4:48: We didn't really get a good look at this when it
initally happened, but Crosby dished a feed from behind the Detroit net
to Guerin to the left of it. Guerin snaps off a shot to the far side
that hits the post.
4:41: Crosby zips a pass from the left wing into the slot for
Guerin who appears to put it wide. Osgood might've gotten a piece of
the pass and disrupted the shot.
4:05: Kennedy works the puck around the boards, moves into
the right faceoff circle and whips a rising wrister. Osgood traps it
against his chest and makes the save.
3:45: Helm coasts up the left wing and tosses a wrister on net. Fleury eats it up.
2:15: Staal tries to chase a puck into the offensive zone but is held up by Kronwall. No call. Staal then trips up Kronwall. No call.
1:07: Brian Rafalski fires a slapper from the right point that Fleury knocks down despite a screen.
0:43: Cleary moves down the right wing and and pushes a
puck into the crease. It comeso out into the slot where a Detroit
player jumps on it. His shot is deflected by a Pittsburgh stick.
0:23: Fleury just robbed someone on a nice feed in the
left faceoff circle. Fleury just punched his blocker up in the air to
knock it away. He might've gotten awa
0:09: Filppula cranks a slapper from the left wing that well over the cage.
0:02: Off another faceoff win by Detroit, Lidstrom launches a slapper from the left point that Fleury directs away with his blocker.
0:00: End of period. Red Wings 2, Penguins 1.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Detroit dominated that period for the most part. Other than a few chances by the Penguins, Detroit dominated that period.
-The Penguins look like they're back on their heels way too much and they're just allowing Detroit to control the flow of the game.
-A goal by Detroit might ice this game. They got a third goal lead early in the third period of Game 1 and just clamped down on the Penguins' offense and choked the life out of the game.
-The Red Wings are 10-0 in the playoffs when they lead after two periods.
-Detroit had a 23-20 lead in shots.
-Brooks Orpik of all people leads the game with four shots.
-Lidstrom, Cleary, Zetterberg and Hossa each lead Detroit with three.
-The Penguins actually have a 21-18 lead in faceoffs (54 percent).
-Crosby is 9 for 12 (69 percent).
-Abdelkader is 4 for 6 (67 percent).
-Rafalski leads the game with 15:53 of ice time.
-Eaton leads the penguins with 13:59.
-Letang is right behind him with 13:57.
-Gill, Scuderi and Orpik each lead the game with two blocked shots.
-Click here for the third period.
May 31 2009
FIRST PERIOD
17:27: After a slow first two and a half minutes, Mark Eaton touches up a puck behind his net for icing.
16:58: Fleury gets a little daring with the puck behind his net and has it stolen by a Red Wing. Thankfully for the Penguins, nothing comes of it.
16:18: Pascal Dupuis's first action of the final sees him drop Nicklas Lidstrom outside the Penguins' blue line as the legendary defenseman airmails a puck in on net. Fleury makes the save.
14:27: A slapper by Tomas Holmstrom from the left wing is blocked wide of the cage.
13:57: Henrik Zetterberg rushes behind the Penguins' net and gets a few chances on a wraparound attempt. Fleury denies them both. Detroit has six shots already while the Penguins have none.
12:26: Jonathan Ericsson whips a wrister at the cage from the left point. It hits a body in front.
12:00: Kunitz is on the right wing about the take a pass but
Lidstrom is just hovering around him. As the pass is coming to Kunitz,
Lidstrom snaps his stick out and pokes the puck away with the speed of
a snake striking its prey. It's a little play that won't show up in the
scoresheet, but it's just amazing to someone like Lidstrom who can read
the timing of a play like that and break it up.
10:30: Orpik snaps off a shot from the right point. Osgood knocks it down and covers to freeze play.
9:10: While trying to get by Kris Letang for a puck behind the Penguins' net, Justin Abdelkader appears to hit Letang in the face with a stick. No call.
8:52: Darren Helm tries to hit Evgeni Malkin on the boards. Helm just kind of falls over when he makes contact.
8:16: Kunitz cracks a slapper from the left wing. Osgood punches it away with his blocker.
7:58: Hal Gill runs into his good buddy Holmstrom at the red line and gives him a shove to the ice.
6:24: Ruslan Fedotenko gets between Niklas Kronwall and Zetterberg in the slot with the puck, he gets a clean shot for moment and appears initially to shoot it wide. A replay shows Osgood actually getting a piece of it.
5:49: Kunitz pikcs up a puck near the right wing, moves into the left faceoff circle and rips a wrister. Osgood is in perfect position to eat it up.
4:58: Tyler Kennedy forces a turnover and that leads to a scoring chance. Kennedy pressures a Red Wings player in the corner and steals the puck off him. Jordan Staal picks it up, cycles along the boards and dishes a feed into the slot which Detroit breaks up.
4:02: Fedotenko whips a puck on net from the left wing.
3:52: Malkin is working his way around the boards with the puck. Kronwall cross checks Maxime Talbot from behind near the play. Two minutes for Kronwall. Crosby
3:45: Gonchar hammers a slapper from the top of the slot. Its a body in front.
3:10: That was going to go in eventually. After Malkin blasts a one-timer from the right wing, it hits a body in front. A mad scramble ensues with Guerin and others battling for the puck. Malkin jumps in and pushes it on net. It rattles around some more before it goes in with the possible assistance of Brad Stuart. What an ugly dirty goal. The Penguins really needed that. That gives them an early lead and jump starts their power play which was shut out last night. Malkin gets credit for the goal, Letang and Guerin get assists. Penguins fans celebrate. Penguins 1-0.
0:33: Craig Adams shuffles a puck on net that Osgood steers away with ease.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 1, Red Wings 0.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-That period looked like the first two games of last year's final for the first 15 minutes or so. Then the Penguins got that power play and cashed in. It'll be interesting to see how they play with a lead on the road in Mo-Town.
-The Penguins were hesitant for the most part that period and not nearly as aggressive as they were in the the first period of Game 1. They did not play the body as much as they did in Game 1.
-Malkin's goal gives him 30 points of the postseason. He's the first player to hit the 30-point mark since Joe Sakic had 34 with Colorado in 1996.
-The Penguins have an 11-7 lead in shots.
-Kunitz, Fedotenko and Malkin each lead the game with two shots.
-Detroit has a 9-7 lead in faceoffs (56 percent).
-Crosby has made a big-time improvement from last night. He's 4 for 5 (80 percent).
-Helm is 2-for-3 (67 percent).
-Stuart leads the game with 8:57 of ice time.
-Letang leads the Penguins with 6:50.
-No one has more than one blocked shot.
-We'll give this to Red Wings fans. They're more creative and timely than Washington fans:
-Click here for the second period.
May 31 2009
PREGAME
-Greetings from a simply beautiful day here in Detroit. Yes, such a thing exists.
-This is the waterfront on the back side of Joe Louis Arena. There are some ugly places in Detroit. This is not one of them:
-The Arena:
-Some Yinzers planning an invasion of Windsor:
-A Mario Lemieux fan:
-Once again, there are Penguins fans here:
-The ice:
-Those sheets on the ice are banners which were dropped from the rafters prior to the start of Game 1 with words like "Grit" and "Sacrifice."
-These are some photos we neglected to run from Game 1. From Julie Rubinstein, who came in from Chicago:
-Lee and Ian Cunningham were in town as well:
-The lone Zamboni:
-One of the cool things about this old barn is the seats. This is the last row of seats in the building:
-Above that white ceiling is all the luxury suites. There basically is no separation from the last row to the first row in this building. Really, really cool.
-Outside, a Jaromir Jagr jersey:
-We spotted these two in Rick Tocchet and Phil Bourque jerseys last week at Mellon Arena:
-The towels being given out:
-This ride is everywhere:
-Another pretty sharp Stanley Cup replica:
-CBC filmed this really awesome skit where Don Cherry "invaded" Detroit from Windsor. Bascially, all they did was dock a United State Coast Guard boat along the riverwalk on the back of Joe Louis Arena, have Cherry board it with a few young ladies, go out on the river about half way, turn around and deboard. The boat with a member of the USCG backing the Red Wings:
-Cherry walking out:
-Cherry boarding:
-The board backing out:
-Going out half way:
-Approaching:
-Docking:
-Conquering Detroit:
-What a suit:
-What did the NHL's American broadcast partner do for a pregame presentation? They filmed the steps.... wow...
-Some more sights around the arena. Some fans offer a critique of Marian Hossa's choice of teams:
-A Steve Yzerman Team Canada jersey:
-Former Red Wings and Penguins goaltender Jim Rutherford would not be happy with this jersey foul:
-This Curtis Joseph Maple Leafs jersey is not a foul on account of the Maple Leafs-Detroit rivalry:
-This Senators jersey foul is just stupid:
-We're all for the supporting the Penguins via Team Canada jerseys, but given the opponent, you could stick with a regular old Penguins jersey:
-Larry Murphy:
(By the way, Murphy sat next to us in the press area in the third period and spilled a Coke on his laptop. Just thought you'd like to know.)
-We have to admit, this is a pretty sharp hat:
-Soooo... if this guy leaves the building... the Penguins will win the game?
-Adam Banks is represented:
-Gordie Howe is signing autographs in the concourse:
-Kevin Stevens:
-Darius Kasparaitis:
-No wonder the officating stunk last night:
-Dan Bylsma is going away from the seven defensemen arrangement and has inserted Pascal Dupuis into the line up in place of Philippe Boucher. The Penguins' scratches are Chris Minard, Alex Goligoski, Petr Sykora, Jeff Taffe, Eric Godard, Dustin Jeffrey, Philippe Boucher, Ben Lovejoy and John Curry.
-Detroit's scratches are Pavel Datsyuk, Derek Meech, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty, Kris Draper, Aaron Downey, Jakub Kindl, Tomas Kopecky and Jimmy Howard.
-Marc-Andre FLeury an dChris Osgood are the starting goaltenders.
-The national anthem:
-Click here for the first period.
May 31 2009
A random sighting in the media parking lot next to Joe Louis Arena at 12:30 a.m.:
Miroslav Satan must still have some fans in the Queen City.
May 31 2009
Detroit forward Johan Franzen pulled into a three-way tie with Evgeni Malkin and Carolina's Jussi Jokinen for the playoff lead with his third game-winning goal. Since the start of the 2007 playoffs, no one has scored more winning goals than Franzen:
| Player, team(s) |
Goals |
| Johan Franzen, Red Wings |
10 |
Evgeni Malkin, Penguins
|
6 |
| Chris Drury, Sabres/Rangers |
5 |
| Henrik Zetterberg, Red Wings |
5 |
| Daniel Alfredsson, Senators |
4 |
| Daniel Briere, Sabres/Flyers |
4 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings |
4 |
| Mike Modano, Stars |
4 |
| Scott Niedermayer, Ducks |
4 |
| Mikael Samuelsson, Red Wings |
4 |
| Teemu Selanne, Ducks |
4 |
(Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)
May 31 2009
Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk will miss tonight's Game 2 due to a foot injury. He has not played since he was injured while blocking a shot in Game 2 of the Western Conference final. Additionally, forward Kris Draper will not dress. He has been hobbled by a groin injury throughout the playoffs.
EN Says: Again, there's never a way to really replace anyone like Datsyuk, but the Red Wings find ways to overcome things like this.
(Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
May 31 2009
This was the CBC's intro to Game 1:
That intro alone contained more quality, more thought, more effort than all of NBC's broadcasts in the four-plus years the Peacock has had the NHL.
May 31 2009
PREGAME
-Hey, guess we we are:
-Detroit Rock City. It's really surreal for us to be here. We've
never lied about the fact that we're not beat writers. We do a lot of
this out of fun. We're very much still fans. And road trips are still
something we get a charge out of. So coming back to this grand old
hockey barn less than a year later is something we're ridiculously
lucky to do.
-Lots of sights like this on the ride up:
-Lots of sights like this outside JLA:
-There are plenty of extra air conditioning units out JLA as well:
-Windsor:
(We so wish we had a passport right now.)
-Annnnnd a press credential!!!!!
-To say the least, they're still getting some last minute preparations in order:
-We've already gotten more ice time than Chris Chelios will this entire series:
-Better late than never, Mike Lange's goal calls from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final:
-Kudos to Gareth Langley for the heads up.
-Mario Lemieux is holding a press conference at 6:45 p.m. What should we ask? Serious suggestions only. Nothing like... "When you firing Yeo n'at?"
-Lemieux's press conference wasn't anything special other than the
fact that he actually spoke. He said Sidney Crosby is better than he
was at 21.
-As we showed you last year, the names of every one of Detroit's
Stanley Cup winning rosters are painted on the walls down below in Joe
Louis Arena:
-The names of the 2008 team are down by the Red Wings' locker room
and that area is off limits before a game. We'll get it later so you
can curse at it.
-Joe Louis Arena:
-The banners here are still the coolest thing about this place:
-Some sights around the arena:
-We're suspending jersey fouls in regards to Steelers jerseys for the game:
-They've caught the Winter Classic fever up here too:
-Mark Recchi:
-The long-lost Roberto Clemente jersey:
-Jarkko Ruutu's exploits in the 2008 Winter Classic are still appreciated by one person:
-An interesting combo of jerseys:
-Some Marian Hossa... fans:
-More Penguins fans:
-Ron Francis has a fan here:
-There's at least one reader of The PensBlog here:
-Terrible Ted Lindsay is in the house:
-Some people just don't like change:
-A pretty sweet replica of the Stanley Cup:
-Barf:
-Say... do you think the Panthers would re-do that one trade....:
-Our favorite all-time Red Wing, Sergei Fedorov:
-The Malkins are here and they're sitting among the regular fans once again:
-Warm ups:
-The Penguins' scratches are Chris Minard, Alex Goligoski, Pascal
Dupuis, Petr Sykora, Jeff Taffe, Eric Godard, Dustin Jeffrey, Ben
Lovejoy and John Curry.
-Detroit has scratched Pavel Datsyuk, Derek Meech, Chris Chelios,
Darren McCarty, Kris Draper, Aaron Downey, Jakub Kindl, Tomas Kopecky
and Jimmy Howard.
-Marc-Andre Fleury and Chris Osgood are your starting goaltenders.
-It just got hot in here:
-And it just got seafoody in here:
-The team's take the ice. We're happy to report Marc-Andre Fleury
stayed on his skates while running out onto the ice. They're off to a
better start.
-The national anthem:
-Tons of Penguins fans here. We're not going to guess at a
percentage, but there's far more black, white and blue jerseys here
than any of the games we saw in person in Washington.
-Lindsay and Gordie Howe drop the ceremonial first pucks:
FIRST PERIOD
20:00: At 8:22 p.m., EDT, the 2009 Stanley Cup final begins.
19:24: You'll need to keep the "Hossa, Conklin, Samuelsson,
etc. was a Penguin" count at home yourself. We don't really have access
to the audio of a broadcast.
18:47: Osgood gets tested early and he responds. A puck gets
shot in at the net from the point. It hits off the end boards and
bounces out to Maxime Talbot on the goal line. He punches the rebound
on net. Osgood eats it up. A small scrum ensues.
17:00: As Crosby goes to the bench to end a shift, the puck
16:41: Fleury responds to his first real test. A Red Wings
player drives a puck on net. Fleury knocks it down and covers. NBC
couldn't be bothered to show a replay of the shot so we can't really
tell you who shot it. Sorry.
16:29: Brad Stuart runs into Ruslan Fedotenko along the wall.
Fedotenko ducked out of the hit and avoided most of it. Brook Orpik
comes over and exchanges his thoughts on Bartter Syndrome with Stuart. We think.
14:30: Tomas Holmstrom and Talbot mix it up in the corner. Holmstrom gets away with a tackle. Talbot gets away with a trip.
13:42: Jordan Staal steals ap uck behind the Detroit net and
dishes a feed to Miroslav Satan coming in. Satan can't quite get a puck
on the net.
12:49: Chris Kunitz works his way into the slot and chips a shot at net. Osgood kneels to his right and directs the puck away.
11:55: As he's backchecking Fedotenko in the neutral zone,
Hossa looks away and gets blasted by Brooks Orpik. Yeesh.... Hossa goes
to the bench hunched over in a little bit of discomfort. Penguins fans
in attendance stand and applaud. We're not sure Orpik didn't get away
with a little bit of interference on that hit. Either way, what a check.
11:08: "LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!! (clap, clap, clap) LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!! (clap, clap, clap)"
10:47: "LET'S GO PENS! LET'S GO PENS!"
10:13: Matt Cooke gives Dan Cleary a little bit of a shove into Detroit's bench.
9:41: Malkin controls the puck behind the net, drags it out
front and attempts to set up a wrist shot. Just as he seems like he's
going to *** back, he looses the puck. He had a clean shot too
8:45: From the left wing, Staal chips a puck into the slot.
Tyler Kennedy is there but the timing is wrong and Kennedy crashes
right into the net without touching the puck.
8:01: Crosby just popped his nemesis from last year, Zetteberg, with a heck of a shoulder check in the neutral zone.
7:50: Kris Letang gets dropped by Stuart along the boards at
the right point in Detroit's zone. As Letang is getting up, Stuart pops
him in the head with a fist or forearm. The officials are letting just
about everything go so far in this game.
7:37: Play is halted and a few shoves are exchanged. Unlike last year, these teams aren't wasting any time getting physical.
7:05: Hossa must be fine as he's played two shifts since his run in with Orpik.
6:22: A rough start for the Penguins here. Hal Gill flicks a
puck up the boards from near the net. Stuart stops it and tosses it at
the cage. It's off the mark and hits the end boards. It takes a
fortunate bounce and hits off the back of Fleury's right leg and
squeezes itself into the net. Lucky goal but Detroit will take it. The
boards are supposed to be lively here so Stuart might have had
something like that in mind when he took that shot. The goal is
unassisted. Red Wings 1-0.
3:49: Malkin works his way down the right wing with Niklas Krownall defending him. Malkin whips a backhander that's off the mark.
3:22: Letang and Kirk Maltby basically Roman-Greco wrestle
each other in the right faceoff circle near Fleury. Letang drops
Maltby. Maltby gets up and slashes Letang. An official is standing all
of 15 feet away and doesn't even think about lifing an arm. Wow.
2:24: Johan Franzen rips a wrister from the right wing just wide.
1:23: Stuart gets lucky then he gets unlucky. He loses
control of the puck. Malkin is there to take it right off him. Malkin
rips a hard heavy shot on Osgood. Osgood makes the save but gives up a
poor rebound. Fedotenko is there to collect it and rips it by a
stretched-out Osgood's glove hand. Awful, awful, awful goal for Detroit
to give up. Stuart can't turn that puck over to a player like Malkin
and Osgood needs to make a clean save. Kudos to the Penguins for
converting that mistake. Malkin gets the only assist. Stuart and Osgood
should share one. More than few happy Penguins fans are celebrating. Penguins 1, Red Wings 1.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 1, Red Wings 1.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-Pretty solid period of hockey all around. Really physical.
-Mistakes led to each of the goals. Hal Gill could've done a better
job getting the puck out of the zone on Stuart's goal, which was aided
by a really lucky bounce.
-Obviously, Stuart and Osgood can't be that careless with the puck when Malkin's in their zone.
-So far, so good for Fleury. He's been tested a few times and he was only beat once on a lucky goal.
-The Penguins have really initiated the contact tonight. Last year,
they seemed a little hesitant and almost waited for things to pick up.
This year, they are taking it to the Red Wings.
-Detroit has an 11-7 lead in shots.
-No one has more than one for either team.
-Somethings don't change. Detroit has a 9-4 lead in faceoffs (69 percent).
-Darren Helm is 5-for-5 (100 percent).
-Crosby is 3-for-5 (60 percent).
-Jordan Staal is 0-for-5.
-What injury? Nicklas Lidstrom leads the game with 8:09 of ice time.
-Zetterberg is right behind him with 8:03.
-Crosby leads the Penguins with 7:26.
-We are happy to report that the wireless here is working fine and
dandy. Last year, it crashed and the NHL's IT guy was running around
with hs hands up screaming, "IT'S DOWN! IT'S DOWN!"
SECOND PERIOD
19:00ish: Malkin steals a puck in the defensive zone and
seems to have a two-on-two in the works with Fedotenko. Before he can
gain too much speed in the neutral zone, Hossa dives and makes a
wonderful poke check to knock the puck off Malkin's blade.
17:23: From the right point, Philippe Boucher half-chips a one-timer. Osgood makes the save but gives up another iffy rebound.
16:36: Malkin steals a puck off Niklas Kronwall at the
Penguins' blue line. Kronwall falls down and that sets Malkin free on a
breakaway. Malkin races in, approaches net and goes forehand. Osgood
gets a piece of it with his glove and makes a huge clutch save. That
makes ammends for the rebound on Fedotenko's goal. That said, an MVP
candidate needs to bury that.
16:06: Darren Helm gets a step on Letang on the outside on the left wing. Letang dives and knocks the puck off Helm's blade. Nice play.
15:22: We guess they're only calling penalties if the
evidence is obvious. Talbot chases after a puck in the corner. Brett
Lebda lumberjacks his stick and snaps it in half. That's two mintues
for slashing. Malkin, Gonchar, Letang, Crosby and Bill Guerin are on
for the power play.
14:24: Hossa steals the puck and drives it into the Penguins' zone killing some time.
13:48: Gonchar fires a one-timer from the right point. It
hits something in front and trickles just wide. A Penguins player is
there on the back door and has a chance at a garbage goal but can't
seem to get a handle on the puck. We'd tell you more but once again,
NBC fails to offer a replay. Instead they show that lame Sound of the
Game feature with Justin Abdelkader.
13:20: Osgood covers a puck played in from the neutral zone. Lebda's penalty is killed. "Ozzzz-EEEEE! Ozzzz-EEEE!"
12:55: Mikael Samuelson puts a hand on Staal in the corner.
Staal tumbles over. Officials call Samuelsson for holding. That's
definitely holding, but we're not sure Staal didn't try to buy the call
there. Crosby, Malkin, Guerin, Letang and Gonchar are on for the power
play.
11:55: Detroit clears teh puck down ice for the third time this power play.
11:08: Gonchar has trouble with the puck at the left point and allows it to cross the blue line.
10:55: Samuelsson's penalty is killed. Awful effort by the Penguins' there. They can't waste these chances.
10:30: "LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!!! (clap, clap, clap) LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!!! (clap, clap, clap)"
8:58: Malkin comes rusing into the offensive zone. Cooke seemed to be a step offsides. Officials are not having a good game.
8:09: Fleury reaches out and covers a puck played in. A small
scrum breaks out in the crease. We negated to mention this earlier, but
yes, there was an octopus tossed to the ice before the game.
7:50: Dan Bylsma appears to have pulled a Michel Therrien and
has switched the lines. Malkin and Crosby did a shift with Cooke.
Kennedy and Staal were teamed with Kunitz. Now, Malkin is with
Fedotenko and Satan.
6:50ish: Malkin dishes a feed into the slot for Satan, Satan
moves to his backhand and seems to have Osgood beaten, but he loses
control of the puck.
6:29: Crosby moves into the offensive zone, fakes a slapper,
does a spin move near Rafalski and backhands the puck. Osgood makes the
save.
6:16: Craig Adams is called for hooking Hossa along the boards. Gill, Scuderi, Staal and Cooke are on fro the kill.
5:19: Brooks Orpik backhands a puck down ice from behind his net.
4:55: Rafalski has a little trouble handling the puck and allows it to leave the offensive zone.
4:29: Rafalski drives a slapper at the cage from the right
point. Fleury makes the save despitehaving... guess who... Tomas
Holmstrom in front. Officials halt play. Matt Cooke comes in and
punches Holmstrom in the face. No call.
4:16: Adams' penalty is killed.
3:56: Fleury makes a save in tight. Again, no replay from NBC. A pretty big scrum breaks out.
3:03: Kunitz controls the puck in the corner, circles around
and dishes a feed to Gill at the left point. Gill fires a one-timer his
big pool skimmer. Osgood makes the save despite some serious traffic in
front.
1:58: Gill gets away with a bit of ah old on his buddy HOlmstrom along the boards.
1:37: Kronwall puts a slapper from the right point just over the cage.
1:14: Bylsma makes an interesting decision and calls timeout.
Maybe he wants to organize everyone to come to his room tonight in
order to watch "City Hall:"
-We think.
0:57: Not sure what that time out accomplished, but
apparently Bylsma didn't teach his team the importance of getting th
epuck out of the zone late in a period. Rafalski drives a slapper on
net from the right point. It gets deflected wide. Franzen is at the
side of the cage and is able to backhand it into the creae. It hits off
Fleury's leg and bounces into the net. It's a garbage goal, but the Red
Wings really worked hard for it. The Penguins just failed to get the
puck out of their zone. Rafalski and Zetterberg get assists. Red Wings 2, Penguins 1.
0:00: End of period. Red Wings 2, Penguins 1.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Another solid all around period. The Red Wings got a little bit of
a lucky goal through hard work. The Penguins had a few nice chances,
such as Malkin's breakaway, and failed to convert.
-The second was a little less physical than the first. Maybe that's because officials started calling some things.
-Amazing how ordinary the Penguins' power play looks when it's playing a team with a real defense huh?
-Detroit has a 22-20 edge in shots.
-Guerin, Malkin, Valtteri Filppula and Hossa each have three.
-Detroit is dominating in faceoffs, 26-10 (70 percent).
-Helm is 8-for-10 (80 percent).
-Crosby is 6-for-13 (46 percent).
-Lidstrom leads the game with 15:15 of ice time.
-Crosby is right behind him with 15:07.
-Kris Letang leads the game with three blocked shots.
THIRD PERIOD
19:31: Seems like Bylsma has returned the line combinations back to normal. Guerin, Kunitz and Crosby are together again.
18:40: Kronwall tries to line up Malkin at the Penguins blue
line, leaves his feet to deliver the hit and totally misses. He lands
butt-first into the boards and is shaken up a bit. He recovers to his
feet and is limping a bit.
17:44: Helm gets behind, moves in on net and simply looses control of the puck. Fleury steers it away.
17:14: Detroit's third liners come through. Ville Leino gets
the puck behind the net, fights off Mark Eaton and dishes a pass to
Justin Abdelkader to the left of the net. Abdelkader snaps a wrister
off that seems to hit the near post. It pops up in the air. Staal is
there battling with Abdelkader but doesn't know where the puck is.
Abdelkader knocks the puck down and strikes a wrister that flutters
over Fleury on the stick side. More hard work producing dirty goals.
Leino gets the only goal. Red Wings 3-1.
16:30: Letang gets a pass in the slot and drives a big slapper
on net. Osgood is in perfect position and eats it up with Staal
hounding him for a rebound.
15:54: Osgood comes up with another save. This one was a
little luck though. Chris Kunitz throws a wrister at net from the left
wing. Crosby is there and swats the puck off the post. The puck
flutters up in the air and comes to a rest on Osgood's back. Zetterberg
and Lidstrom jump on him and cover the puck. Kunitz jumps in and a
scrum develops.
13:21: Dan Cleary pumps a slapper on net from the right wing. Fleury fights it off.
13:09: "LET'S GO PENS! LET'S GO PENS!"
12:48: "LET'S-GO RED-WINGS! (clap, clap, clap) LET'S-GO RED-WINGS! (clap, clap, clap)"
10:26: Cooke gets a pass int he slot and directs his shot wide.
10:02: Crosby swats a puck wide of the net from the crease again.
9:01: Samuelsson drives a slapper from the Penguins' blue line. Fleury makes the save and distributes to a teammate.
8:21: Leino whips a wrister from the left wing. Fleury pushes it away.
7:38: Cleary gets to a loose puck in his slot and chips it
down ice for icing. Detroit has been getting to most of the loose pucks
this period. Mike Babcock calls time out to organize a night everyone
can come over to watch "Sugar and Spice:"
-We think.
6:01: The Penguins ice the puck. Faceoff in their zone.
5:45: Leino controls the puck behind the Penguins net, comes
around and throws a wraparound attempt on net. No dice. The Penguins
have very little going on offensively.
4:49: The Penguins can't even get past their own blue line
with the puck. Cleary knocks the puck away from Malkin who then knocks
down Cleary to regain it.
4:06: Detroit is just controlling play. They almost punche in
a chance with Fleury scrambling around like chicken with his head cut
off in the crease.
1:58: Fleury is pulled for an extra attacker.
1:44: Hossa emerges from a pack in Detroit's defensive zone
and moves up ice with the puck. he shoots at the empty cage but a
Penguins defender gets a piece of it.
1:20: Detroit just controlled the puck in the Penguins' zone for 20 seconds. Their puck possession is just amazing.
0:18: A Detroit player chips a puck up ice and takes an
icing. It was worth it. He sent it down ice at such a slow pace it
killed several seconds.
0:00: End of game. Detroit puts the puck down ice once more. Sergei Gonchar collects it and brings it up ice to end the game. Red Wings 3, Penguins 1.
POSTGAME
-That
was a pretty even game for about 42 minutes. Then Abdelkader's goal put
Detroit up by a goal and allowed them to choke the life out of this
game. The Penguins threws a bunch at them early and even controlled the
game at points, but when you get down by a handful of goals on this
team, it's almost a death sentence.
-Each team made mistakes.
Neither was perfect. But Detroit found a way to capitalize on the
Penguins foul ups (bad pun sorry) while the Penguins only were only
really able to cash once chance in. Detroit didn't play a perfect game
and the Penguins let them off the hook. Conversely, the Red Wings
didn't let the Penguins off the hook.
-How key was Osgood's save on Malkin? If the Penguins' score there,
this game has a completely different flow. Instead, each team kind of
felt each other out in the second period and Detroit cashed in another
dirty goal late in the second.
-Osgood rose to the occasion tonight. He made several tough saves
and looked like a guy who knows what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.
-The Penguins need more out of Sidney Crosby. He produced some
chances, but he was nothing like the player who dominated the first
three rounds of these playoffs.
-Amazing how when Sidney Crosby is limited, Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz are too huh?
-The Penguins' defense can't allow the Red Wings' offense as much
liberty as it had near the front of hte cage. Detroit's final two goals
were off slightly lucky bounces, but they earned chances to score those
goals by simply working hard in front of the net.
-Overall all, the Penguins defense was rather ordinary. Brooks Orpik
had a few nice hits, Letang and other had a few nice individual nice
defensive plays but they had tons of trouble just bringing the puck up
ice.
-All in all, the Penguins played much better in this Game 1 than
they did in last year's Game 1. If they get a little better luck with
some of those bounces, we might be looking at 1-1 game heading into
overtime.
-Darren Helm might've been the best player on the ice tonight. He
didn't record a point, but he dominated in the faceoff circle, was
phyisical and played amazing defense. We know Detroit has amazing
depth, but how do they keep this guy in the AHL during the regular
season.
-Speaking of faceoff dominance, even without Kris Draper and Pavel
Datsyuk, the Red Wings ripped the Penguins in the faceoff circle. They
won 39 and lost 17 (71 percent).
-Helm was 11 for 15 (73 percent).
-Zetterberg was 15 for 20 (75 percent).
-Malkin was 4-for-9 (44 percent).
-The Penguins actually outshot Detroit, 32-30.
-Bill Guerin led the game with five.
-Dan Cleary, Valterri Filppul and Marian Hossa each had three.
-The only Detroit skater without a shot was Niklas Kronwall.
-Niklas Lidstrom led the game with 24:07 of ice time.
-Gonchar led the Penguins with 23:21.
-Kris Letang led the game with five blocked shots.
-Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski and Kronwall each had two.
-Justin Abdelkader's goal was his first career playoff goal.
-Osgood won his 72nd career playoff game. That moved him past Jacques Plante for eighth place all time in on the career playoff wins list.
-Malkin took over the playoff scoring race from Crosby. He now has 29 points while Crosby has 28.
-Fedotenko's goal moved him into the top 40 on the franchise's career scoring list.
-Franzen tied Malkin and Carolina's Jussi Jokinen for the playoff lead in game-winning goals with three.
-Since 2007, Franzen leads the league with nine game-winning goals in the playoffs. Malkin is second with three.
-A little bit of breaking news here Former Penguins and Red Wings goaltender Hank Bassen died. He was in net for the Penguins first game in 1967, a 2-1 loss to Montreal. He was 76.
-We didn't really get a chance to see it, but apparently Crosby had
a bit of a run in with Kirk Maltby late. Crosby even admitted to
slashing him:
"Yeah,
he was doing what he always does. You know, he was giving guys lip
service and things like that. And you know, I two handed him on top of
the foot there as we were skating by. So he felt like it was necessary
to keep talking after the game, and I thought I'd whack him and that
was it."
-Game summary.
-Event summary.
-Highlights.
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