Sunday, June 7, 2009

Datsyuk Returns and Leads Detroit to Within One Win of Back-To-Back Championships





Datsyuk Returns and Leads Det to Within One Win of Back-to Back Championships.

Quick note. Sorry for no blog on Game 4 that Pittsburgh won 4-2. This was because of my computer problems that I have been having. To recap Game 4 Quickly the Penguins tied the series at 2 and had 3 very nice goals scored in the second period. One a a pretty rush by Jordan Staal, one on a nice two on one feed from Malkin to Crosby and the other on a tic tac toe feed between Crosby and Tyler Kennedy.

On to last nights game. The Detroit Red Wings played the best game of the series in dominating the Penguins at Joe Louis Arena 5-0. They were led by Pavel Datsyuk (2 Assists) in his first game back since May 22. Herik Zetteberg also had a nice game with a goal and an assist in Detroit's dominant victory. The first period was pretty evenly played where Pittsburgh actually outshot Det 10-8 but the Wings drew first blood. Dan Cleary scored about halfway through the first to make it 1-0 Wings on a nice feed from Datsuyk. This was a goal that Marc-Andre Fleury has to save it Pittsburgh still wants to have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Cleary was creative however in using defenseman Hal Gill as a screen by shooting the puck between Gill's legs that Fleury picked up late. Fleury was good the rest of the first by saving Franzen on a nice backhander in the period and he also stopped Zetteberg on a nice chance.

Detroit totally dominated the second by scoring 4 goals and tying a NHL record of 3 power play goals in a period in a Stanley Cup Final. Valleteri Fillipula made it 2-0 Wings when he beat Fleury with a backhander that was set up nicely by Marian Hossa. Nick Kronwall made it 3-0 at 6:44 when he cut out from the behind the goal line to out front and beat Fleury with a wrist shot over his glove hand. The second of the power play goals was by Brian Rafalski to make it 4-0. He was set up nicely by Datsyuk and wristed a shot just inside the left post of Fleury. Fleury was screened by the underrated Thomas Holmstrom who is as good as it gets at screening a goaling in the NHL. Henrik Zetterberg beat Fleury with a high wrist shot over the glove to tie the recored. Zetterberg was fed a nice pass by Jiri Hudler that caught Fleury by surprise. This was a totally dominating period by the Wings. I am not a huge fan of Detroit but I do respect how talented and good they are season after season. The Wings outshot Pittsburgh 15-6 in this period. This goal got Marc-Andre Fleury the hook from the game and Matthieu Garon some playing time during the blowout portion of this game.

The third period was just lets get through it without any injuries for either team. It was not too eventful except for the last two minutes when Malkin, Cooke and Talbot all got 10 minutes misconducts at this time. The only Detriot player that received a misconduct was Brett Lebda a seldom used defenseman. The third period shots were 6 each. The Penguins if they want to have any chance at forcing a Game 7 must play much smarter than they did in the second period of Game 5. When you are going up against the Defending Stanley Cup Champions you must not give them any chances with the extra man or try ti limit them to only in dire circumstances, such as a breakaway or a great scoring chance. The Red Wings only have to play the same as Game 5 and they will repeat as Champs. I have a gut feeling that Game 6 will be a much closer game and hopefully more entertaining for all of us NHL fans out there.

So Penguin fans be loud for Game 6. Get behind your team and be as boisterous as the Detroit crowd was for Game 5. I really want to see a Game 7 because there is nothing better in Sports in my humble opinion of a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final game. Thank you all for reading this, I really appreciate it.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Malkin's 3 Assists Lead Pitt to Game 3 Victory






Malkin's 3 Assists Lead Pittsburgh to Cut Detriot's Series Lead to 2-1

The Pittsburgh Penguins got the start they wanted again and this time it paid off. It was far from easy but the Penguins prevailed 4-2 over the Red Wings to cut Detroit's series lead to 2 games to 1. The Penguins got on the board first when Max Talbot scored from the middle of the circle to make it 1-0 at 4:48 of the first. This was Evegeni Malkin's first assist of his dominating night. Malkin joined WayneeGretzkyy and Mario Lemieux as the only NHL playerss to to get 12 plus goals and 20 plus assists in one NHL postseason. After this goal the Red Wings responded in a big way and controlled most of the first period. Less then 2 minutes after Talbot scored, Henrik Zetteberg between a fallen Fleury to tie the game at 1. Zetteberg is a power playoff performer year after year. He also plays a wonderful two-way game much to the pleasure of Coach Mike Babcock. A little less than 6 minutes later, Johan Franzen scored his 12th playoff goal to give Detroit a 2-1 lead in the game. Franzen was fed a deflected pass from Zetterberg and managed to flip the puck into the top left corner just over Marc-Andre Fleury's blocker. Only gifted goal scorers can put the puck top shelf like that and Franzen has proven to be that type of player. Dan Cleary also took a holding penalty at 14:46 of the first that led to Pittsburgh tying the score. Pitt has a powerful power play and Malkined a nice pass to Chris Letang that he kind of fumbled a bit above the right faceoff circle, he then corralled the puck and let go a slap shot that beat Chris Osgood to the stick side to tie the game at 2. This was a huge goal for Pitt because they could have lost their confidence being down in the first at home to the Wings who were in complete control of the period after Talbots first goal. Detroit outshot the Penguins 12-7 in the period.

The second period was all Detroit when they outshot the Penguins 14-4 and really could have taken control of this game. They did not because Fleury finally showed why he played so well during this playoff season. Fleury made a nice save on Zetteberg just about 2 minutes into the second with his right pad. Another huge moment in the game happened just about a minute later. Mikael Samuelsson had a clean breakaway on Fleury and did have him beat but he hit the right post with his snap shot. This was a huge break for Pitt as they were not generating much offense during this period. After Samuelsson hit the post, Nic Kronwall had another good chance that Fleury stopped. Doc Emerick and Ed Olyczk pointed out that the scoring chances in the period were 5-0 for Detroit. It did feel that they were going to take the lead but Fleury did stand tall.

The third period was a totally different one. Pittsburgh cameo out with guns a blazing when they realized that they really dodged a bullet with their uneven play in the second period. Chris Osgood make his first really good save of the third when Sidney Crosby had a glorious chance from the down near the right faceoff circle. Osgood denied him. If Pitt wants to fully come back and win this Series they need Crosby to start burying some of these chances. Pittsburgh got another break when Jonathan took an interference penalty about 10 minutes into the third period. During this power play, Malkin set up Sergei Gonchar with his 3 assist of the night. Gonchar blasted a shot from inside the blue line that beat Osgood clean to make it 3-2 Penguins. Crosby got the second assist on this goal for his first point of the Series. The Pens continued to carry the play, outshooting Det 10-3 in the third. Osgood was pulled for the extra attacker with about 1:10 left. Once this happened, Max Talbot scored his 2nd goal of the night and 6th of the playoffs into an empty net to make it 4-2.

The Penguins tonight showed why this is not going to be a short series. They overcame adversity and Fleury stepped up his game to give his team a chance to win, even when they were not at their best during the second period. All teams that make it this far have excellent goaltending and tonight it was proven on both sides. I still feel this Series will go at least 6 games and hopefully entertain us big time in the process. Thank you all for reading this, I appreciate it very much so.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Detroit Rolls to a 2-0 Lead in the Stanley Cup Final





Detroit Rolls to a 2-0 Lead in the Final

The Penguins got what they wanted. They scored first and seemed to be in complete control of the game but once the smoke cleared, the Red Wings again took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, just as they did in 2008. Evegeni Malkin put Pittsburgh up 1-0 with a power play goal 16:50 into the first period. This was a strange period because Detroit took the first 7 shots on net and were in control of the game until about the 10 minute mark. Darren Helm had the first good chance of the game that Marc-Andre Fleury stopped with a nice sliding save. N Kronwall took an ill advised cross-checking penalty to give Pittsburgh the advantage. Malkin took a shot from out just to the left of Osgood that he seemed to stop but it was deflected in past him by Brad Stuart. Pittsburgh had the better of the play for the rest of the period after opening the scoring.

The Penguins had the first really good chance to make it 2-0 but Chris Osgood denied them. Max Talbot set up Maklin for a glorious chance out in front. Osgood thus far in the playoffs is 14-4 with a 1.95 GAA and a save percentage of .930. He has been brilliant in this series so far. He sometimes is unjustly crititized by some (including myself). He has done a great job for the Red Wings last year and this year as well. The Red Wings finally got on the board on a slap shot from the point by Jonathan Ericsson. Helm put a nice screen on Fleury that allowed Ericssons shot to go in. Mikael Samuelson set up Henrik Zetterberg on a nice 2 on 1 but Fleury was up to the challenge and stopped Zettebergs backhander. Detriot took the lead 2-1 when Valterri Fillipula lifted a backhander off of the post over a fallen Fleury. Marian Hossa and Thomas Holmstrom did the dirty work on this goal. Holmstrom is a veteran of the Wings who is very underrated in my opinion. Year after year he is a 20 goal scorer who can always be tough to deal with.

The third period opened with Pittsburgh trying to tie the game when Sidney Crosby came out in front and hit the post to the right of Osgood. This was a turning point in the game because once this happened. The Penguins then sagged at their blue line. Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi let Justin Ablekader, the new hero for Detroit, to let go a long wrist shot from the top of the circle to the right of Fleury, beating him high to the glove hand. This made the score 3-1 and you just could feel with Detroits ability to play defense that this lead would be too much to overcome for the Penguins. Fleury as was pointed out by Ed Olyckz that this shot must be stopped. I agreed, if you want to win the Stanley Cup over a very very strong team like the Defending Champion Red Wings, you must make all the important saves to help your team win. Osgood has done that and thus far in the Finals, Fleury has not.
Pitt did outshoot Det 12-3 in the third period but Det led in the important one the scoreboard.

Tonights Game 3 in Pittsburgh is very important. If the Pens want to even make this a Series, they must win tonight. They will have the loud home crowd behind them. The Pens as has been pointed out by most of the media, must get Sidney Crosby some more ice time to get him going. Dan Bylsma can't worry about matchups now too much as you need to get your best players going to try to beat the powerful Wings. The Wings have scored 6 goals in two games and none of them have come from their superstars in Zetteberg, Datsuyk, Hossa or Lindstrom. If these stars get going the Penguins will be very hard pressed to win this Series. After watching the Penguins dismantle my Hurricanse in the Eastern Conference Finals, I am convinced that they will put up a better fight in tonights all important Game 3.
Thank you for reading this, I really appreciate it very much so.