Thoughts on Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals
Posted by Scott on May 27, 2008
Well the final horn has sounded, and The Wings complete their second straight shutout of the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0. Unlike Game 1, the Red Wings played a lot more in control from the start instead of starting slowly. The first goal was on a point shot by Brad Stuart that went in off of Marc-Andre Fleury’s stick just under 7 minutes into the game. Then at the 11:18 mark of the first period Tomas Holmstrom got his stick on a Henrik Zetterberg shot that had trickled through Fleury’s pads to tap it into the net behind the goaltender to put the Wings up 2-0. From that point on, the game got more chippy with hard hits and other assorted collisions.
The Penguins continued their habit of taking a penalty at the end or beginning of a period in both the second and third periods. But for a majority of this game the Penguins had trouble getting much sustained pressure in the Detroit end, and when they did, there was usually a Red Wing to get the puck out of their zone, or prevent the Penguins from getting any rebounds and second shots. The line changes that Michel Therrien went to before this game seemed to give his team more life, but in the end the results were the same.
In the third period Valteri Filppula scored what the announcers were considering a highlight reel goal dekeing Fleury and getting the heel of his stick on the puck to shoot it past Fleury while being pulled to the ice by Kris Letang of the Penguins. From there the Wings were in puck possession mode as they ran the clock down to the final buzzer. The only real excitement coming when Chris Osgood got his arm out a little bit as Petr Sykora was circling behind the net forcing him to run into Osgood. The front angle shot it appeared that Sykora went into Osgood on his own, it was an overhead shot that showed that Osgood moved slightly to draw the call. From there we had what turned into a full on scrum, of which the highlight was Gary Roberts and Pavel Datsyuk throwing punches at each other. The nervousness of that was that Johan Franzen was on the ice during the scrum, and like most Detroit fans I was hoping that he’d come out of the game unscathed, especially after Gary Roberts gave him a bit of a glove to the face during the second period, but that appeared to be more of perhaps him getting a little in the eye, he was out for his next shift no problem.
With the 3-0 final score, Chris Osgood is the first goaltender to post back to back shutouts in the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals since Martin Brodeur in 2003 against Anaheim (coached by Wings coach Mike Babcock). Osgood passed Terry Sawchuk for most playoff shutouts by a Red Wings goalie, and added to his team record total of playoff wins by a Wings goalie.
We must not forget the 3 questions I ended the last game with and how they were answered.
1. Which ‘old man’ will be in the lineup first? Gary Roberts or Chris Chelios.
A. Gary Roberts. I haven’t heard an update on the condition of Chelios, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he will see some action before the end of this series.
2. How will Pittsburgh bounce back from trailing a series this postseason for the first time?
A. They played harder, and there was a lot more sustained effort, but the Wings were the better team for a second straight game.
3. What is up with Brian Engblom’s mullet?
A. It’s pretty simple. He’s caught between the Melrose slickback mullet, and the “Look everyone, I’ve got good hair” mullet. In the end, it just looks like a ragtag mullet.
Here are tonight’s 3 questions
With Michel Therrien’s insinuation that the Red Wings are committing obstruction every minute that the game is at even strength, when will the referees make their first obstruction call?
Which will happen first, the Penguins with their crowd behind them score first, or will the Red Wings continue with their constant pressure and force the Penguins into a mistake leading to the Wings scoring first?
Who will be the best player for the Penguins in game 3. Marc-Andre Fleury for a 3rd straight game, or will the real Evgeni Malkin show up at home?
Since everyone does these, I’ll go ahead and join in.
Three stars of the game.
3. Valteri Filppula – Scored a ‘pretty’ goal in the 3rd period to cement the game away, assisted on Brad Stuart’s goal in the first period that opened the scoring.
2. Brad Stuart – Scored the first goal of the game, and assisted on Filppula’s goal in the third. Led the Wings with 5 hits on the night.
1. Chris Osgood – Stopped all 22 Pittsburgh shots en route to his second straight shutout in the Finals. Currently on a streak of 137+ minutes since the last goal he allowed in game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
