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.
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