Osgood Very Good in Game 1 Victory

Osgood Very Good In Red Wings Game 1 Win

The Penguins thought they were a different team than last year. That still may prove to be true but they still had the same result as last year. A Game 1 loss to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. If the Penguins do not want to have the same fate as last year, I do believe that tonights Game 2 is very important to them. They do not want to fall behind 2-0 to the Red Wings who take advantage of every mistake their opponent seems to make.

The game started pretty well for Pittsburgh as they had the first good chance of the game. As announcers Doc Emerick and Ed Olczyk said the board are very lively at Joe Louis Arena. Hal Gill took a shot that bounced off of the back boards right to Max Talbot. Talbot took a quick shot just inside the right circle that Osgood stopped. The first goal of the game was very fluky in nature and one that Marc-Andre Fleury would want to have back. Brad Stuart took a shot from the left point that deflected off of the back boards and hit the back of Fleury's right pad and went into the net. This gave Det the 1-0 lead they wanted. Just about 5 minutes later Malkin stole a clearing pass from Stuart that he shot on goal that Osgood could not control. He left the rebound out front that Ruslan Fedotenko took the puck away from Osgood who was trying to tie the puck up. He then backhanded it into an open net to tie the game. Fedotenko who won a Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004, is having a very good postseason scoring his 7th goal of the playoffs. Detroit outshot the Penguins 11-7 in the first.

The Penguins came out strong in the second period trying to get the lead. Evgeni Malkin got a clean breakaway about 3 minutes into the second period but Osgood denied him with his glove. Osgood sometimes has a reputation of letting in some soft goals but tonight was clearly on his game. Pitt early in the second really carried the play but Osgood was up to the task. About 10 minutes after his great stop on Malkin, Osgood denied Crosby on a nice spin-o-rama backhander to keep the game tied at 1. As the period wore on, it seemed that Det as they usually do was going get the next goal. Johan Franzen took a shot off off another backboard bounce that he shot in off of Fleury from a really sharp angle. This was another goal the Fleury would like to have had back. The Pens did outshoot the Wings 13-11 in the second but the Wings had the all important lead at 2-1.

In the third period, the next goal in a one goal game is usually very very important. Early in the period the Wings got the all important two goal lead. Justin Abdelkater took a shot that was deflected up in the on a save by Fleury. Jordan Staal who was defending did not know where the puck was but Abdelkater did gloved the puck down and shot the puck into the top left corner over Fleury. The Wings had not played a perfect game by their own admission but did have a 3-1 lead in the third period and with their great ability to play defense, shut down the Pens the rest of the night. Chris Letang had another good chance that Osgood snuffed out to keep the game at 3-1. The Pens had a very difficult time getting any more sustained pressure on Osgood for the last 10 minutes of the game. They did outshoot the Wings 12-8 in the third and 32-30 for the game but Osgood made the Wings lead stand up and to me was clearly the best player for Detroit. The Pens must bring their “A” game if they want to win Game 2 or they will be in jeopardy of going back to Pittsburgh in a 2-0 hole. We all know what happened last year when they lost the first 2 games at the Joe last season. Pitt had a very difficult time recovering and eventually lost in 6 games. Tonights game is critical for both teams and could be very telling on who will win this Series. The Pens are better than last years team but need to show the same tenacity they showed in winning their last 5 games before tonights Game 1 loss. I credit Det playing far from their best game and finding a way to win this game. Thanks for reading this, I really appreciate it.