Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings
Welcome to the Joe Louis Arena where the Detroit Red Wings will play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. It was only 5 years ago that the Penguins were the worst team in the National Hockey league, but after winning the draft lottery two straight years, the Penguins acquired not one, but two franchise superstars in Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. These two have already drawn comparisons to Gretzky and Kurri from the great Oilers dynasty of the 80's. These two have finished at one and two in scoring in each of the last two years and probably will continue to that trend for many years to come. The Penguins have looked very dominant in these playoffs losing only two games in the first three rounds, sweeping the Flyers and Rangers, before defeating Evgeni Malkin and the Washington Capitals in six games. Tonight, Ovechkin and Crosby look to take the next step into stardom as they'll take on the NHL's best franchise since the early 90's, the Detroit Red Wings.
Detroit once again captured the Presidents Trophy in 2008, but stumbled out of the gate early in the playoffs. Starter Dominik Hasek was ineffective and the team turned to long time Wings goalie Chris Osgood. Since Osgood has taken over, the Wings have gone 10-2 and are looking to build to their legacy and capture their 4th Cup in 11 years. The Wings have a dynamic duo of their own with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Both of have been fantastic this postseason at not only scoring but shutting down the other teams' top line.
Key to victory for the Penguins: Open up space for Ovechkin and Hossa. Ovechkin is leading the league in playoff goals with 17 and Hossa has 10. The Wings defense will be swarming all around these two and limiting their scoring chances. The Penguins need to get these guys out in the open and have them blast away at Chris Osgood.
Key to victory for the Red Wings: Shutdown the Penguins top line. The Red Wings have the best defense in the league. If anyone can do it, its them. Detroit needs to be aware of who's on the ice at all times. They need to make sure Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg are out there everytime the Penguins big three are out there. The Penguins really haven't gotten much scoring from the other lines, so if the Wings can shutdown this line they have a very good chance of winning this series.
Game 1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit:
As the game starts off, the Penguins look nervous icing the puck twice in the first minute of play. As the game progresses, the Penguins look a little more comfortable. Crosby feeds Ovechkin and he one times it off the right post. Hossa gathers it quickly and fires to the goal, but its stopped by Osgood. The ring off the post appears to have woken up the Red Wings as they are controlling the play now. Rafalski makes a great head man pass up to Hudler and the Wings take off on a 2 on 1. Hudler passes it over to Clearly who rips it past Fleury and the Wings take a 1-0 lead! As they're announcing the goal, Rafalski fires one to the net, Fleury makes the save, but Hudler finds the rebound and backhands it past him for the 2-0 lead! Immediately after Holder scores Brooks Orpik clobbers him and a scrum ensues as the horn blasts for the goal. No penalty is called, but its not needed. The Red Wings dominate the period, out-shooting the Penguins 13-2.
To start out the second period, the Penguins come out of the locker room fast. On the first shift of the period, Crosby fires a shot, its stopped by Osgood, but Hossa picks up the rebound and buries it, cutting the lead in half, 2-1! The Penguins nearly tie it a minute later, but Ovechkin is robbed by Osgood by his glove hand. Pittsburgh has some momentum now, but the Wings get it back. Half way through the period, Niklas Kronwall destroys Ryan Malone along the boards with a great open ice hit. The crowd gets into it and the Wings are back on the attack. Fleury is under siege for the rest of the period, but doesn't crack and keep the Pens in the game.
The momentum from the second period carries over to the third. Zetterberg fires a shot, its stopped by Fleury, but Holmstrom jams it past the Penguin goalie before he can find it and the Wings regain a 2 goal lead, 3-1! The Wings continue their dominant play and Ruutu takes a shot at Franzen and is called for boarding. The Wings shell Fleury with shots, but he's up to the task. Less than a minute after the power play ends, Georges Laraque two hands Holmstrom who is slow to get up and heads to the locker room holding his wrist. Laraque is called for slashing to a chorus of boos from the Detroit fans. Ten seconds into the powerplay, Datsyuk fires a laser to the top corner, but its snagged out of the air by Fleury. The Penguins kill off the penalty, but really struggle to get things going on offense. Ovechkin and Crosby are swarmed by the Detroit defense and can't generate any offense. Zetterberg is shadowing Ovechkin and is having trouble getting off any shots. The final horn sounds and the Red Wings have won and are up 1-0 in the best of seven series.
Stars of the Game:
1. Jiri Hudler (1 goal, 1 assist, +2 )
2. Marc-Andre Fleury (41 saves)
3. Brian Rafalski (2 assists)
Other notables:
Sidney Crosby (1 assist, 1 shot)
Alexander Ovechkin (0 points, 2 shots)
Marian Hossa (1 goal, 3 shots)
Chris Osgood (13 saves)
Henrik Zetterberg (1 assist, 8 shots)
Pavel Datsyuk (0 points, 5 shots)
Penguins 1 - Red Wings 3 Detroit leads the series 1-0
Posted
May 07 2009, 07:00 AM
by
Nick Fruscello