Be Like Tike

Sunday, May 25th, 2008 by Adam Wagner

Red Wings dominate Penguins

It was obvious from the very beginning of the game. The Red Wings just skated faster and seemingly played harder than the Penguins, finally making that roster that everyone has been calling so mature seem inexperienced. The two most important players for Detroit were ex-Penguin Mikael Samuelsson, who scored two goals, and goalie Chris Osgood who threw a shutout in Detroit’s 4-0 win.

The first period was scoreless, but Detroit came one instant replay away from taking the early lead, as Nicklas Lidstrom fired a puck into the back of the net, but Tomas Holmstrom was found to have interfered with Marc-Andre Fleury on the play, as the blade of Holmstrom’s stick was between Fleury’s leg, preventing him from making a play on the puck. The non-goal clearly gave the Red Wings momentum, but it is worth noting that the refs are paying careful attention to Holmstrom around the net. Last night may not have been the last time we see a goalie’s interference call on him this series.

The more surprising Red Wing forward, though, was almost certainly Samuellson, who scored the first two goals of the game, one in the second period and one in the third. Samuellson’s first goal came on a wraparound after he picked off a Jarko Ruutu pass in the neutral zone. The second came after Fleury tried to clear the puck, resulting in a bouncy pass that Evgeni Malkin watched bounce right to Samuellson who promptly threw it by Fleury. Samuellson has always been a streaky player, some would remember him as being one of the leading scorers for about a month when the NHL reemerged from the lockout, and he may be hitting one of his hot streaks at just the right time.

The short-handed goal of Dan Cleary and the power play goal of Henrik Zetterberg in the third period were just further icing on the cake for the Red Wings, who iced the game to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The most important failure by the Penguins, maybe even more so than Fleury’s subpar play, was that of the power play. By going 0-for-4 in the first period, the Penguins lost their opportunity to build momentum by scoring the first goal, but instead shifted the momentum to the Red Wings who were able to kill all four penalties, proving that the power play is a time where one team has a chance to gain momentum, but the team killing the penalty has the same opportunity. The Penguins can’t afford to go 0-for-4 in one period ever, but to do so in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is just choking. (Of course, the Red Wings’ stifling defense and the excellent play by Osgood deserve credit as well, but the Finals are about being a greater team than the other one.)

The Penguins, however, have had a habit of choking at times during the season and they always seem to bounce back in a big way. They did it against New York in the conference semi-finals and they did it against Ottawa after surrendering the season finale to Philadelphia. Hopefully they can do it again.

Also, the Penguins can’t have expected to go into Joe Louis Arena and take two, just because the Red Wings are just a great hockey team and you aren’t going to beat them there two in a row.