Red Wings 3, Penguins 2

Great game by the Pens. They left everything on the ice. They came up just short against a team that they can learn a few things from. Great effort, and they left everything they had on the ice.

Congratulations to the Red Wings.

First period:

Franzen ran into Fleury in the opening minutes. No call. Looks like Babcock's whining worked.

Sykora had a golden chance early when the puck squirted to him right in front of Osgood. He was almost too close, and he couldn't beat Ozzie.

Sydor took a really weak interference call. Watson put his arm up really late, putting the Wings on the power play.

On the power play, Scuds had two chances to get the puck out. On the first one, he had room to carry the puck and on the second one he tried to wrap it around but it hit Holmstrom.

The Red Wings took advantage. Zetterberg drew a man to him and passed across to Rafalski. Brian shot the puck to the net with Holmstrom right in front of Fleury. The puck hit off of Gill and went right behind Fleury. Crappy goal. 1-0 Wings.

The Wings finally took a charging call (Drake), putting the Pens on the power play.

Early on in the power play, Draper took an absolutely cheap shot with two hands to the back of the head of Gonchar, putting him into the boards. Two man advantage for the Pens.

For the next 90 seconds, the Pens put several good scoring chances together. There were several chances on shots from the point with rebounds available, but no dice. Would have been nice to see more screens in front of Osgood.

After the penalties expired, the Pens took another penalty when Hall's stick appeared to catch Lidstrom. In looking at the replay, I'm not sure Hall got him... but the Wings were back on the power play.

The Wings weren't as successful this time, and the Pens did a good job smothering after shots.

Orpik was hit in the ear with Franzen's stick late in the period. No call.

The NBC broadcast was crappier than usual. There were two times when action started back up, but the replay hadn't ended yet. One particularly notorious case was on Rafalski's goal - the replay showed nearly the entire power play. I think everyone knew when they started it that they didn't have time to get the whole thing in. How did they not know that.

Oh, and NBC? Rob Scuderi is NOT Brooks Orpik.

All told, not a bad period. The ice seems really bad, which is unfortunate. The Pens are hanging in there.

Second period:

Early in the second, the Pens execute the stretch pass for one of the few times in the series. It led directly to a power play when Malone was slashed after a pass from Gino.

The Pens generated some great pressure again on the power play, but couldn't beat Osgood. Even though they didn't score, you could feel some pressure building.

The pressure continued on the next shift with the Pens able to establish some cycling in the offensive zone with the puck. No goal, but more pressure.

The Pens nearly had another stretch pass to Crosby. I don't know if that's open more or they're trying it more, but it seemed to be working.

Samuelsson shot the puck from the right point. Fleury gave up a bad rebound, and Filppula put it between the pads of Fleury. Bad goal for Fleury, and bad coverage to allow Filppula to get an open chance at the rebound. 2-0 Wings.

Crosby, Hossa and Dupuis continued their work as the Pens best offensive line, generating a few great chances in even strength action. Still no goals. Still generating pressure. They need to keep this up and keep coming.

Shortly after that, there was another great chance, this time by Roberts. Osgood barely made the save.

Datsyuk took a penalty on a hit on Jordan Staal.

Power play = Malkin Laser Beam = Penguins goal. FINALLY! 2-1 Wings.

Roberts took a high stick penalty. Wings went back on the power play. HUGE kill for the Pens coming up.

The Pens killed the power play with not too much difficulty.

After the Wings power play, Hossa, Crosby and Malkin generated some great pressure. No shots, but great puck possession. Things seemed to be building for the third period.

The Pens had seen on Monday a special presentation of "How to Storm Back at Home". Hopefully they took some notes, because they would need to put the plan into action.

Third period:

Nothing doing early in the third. Malone had the best chance on a high hard shot that missed the net just a bit high.

Zetterberg came into the offensive zone and got a shot off that Fleury stopped. The puck dropped right behind him, and no one but one of the Zebras saw it. Fleury fell backwards and knocked the puck in off of his butt. Talk about bad luck. 3-1 Wings.

Malkin, Crosby and Hossa again had a great chance. Hossa shot it high and a bit wide.

Fleury was keeping the Pens in the game at this point. The Wings were still carrying the play for the most part, and Fleury was making several big saves.

The Wings took a late penalty with under two minutes left. Fleury was pulled and the Pens went to work.

Crosby won the faceoff and the Pens went to work. Gonchar shot it from the point and Hossa deflected it brillantly. 3-2 Wings.

Less than 90 seconds remaining and Fleury was off the ice. They got the shot from the point by Gonchar, but it was deflected up into the mesh. Timeout Detroit.

One last chance for Crosby, who just barely missed on the backhand off the glove of Osgood. Hossa made a great effort that would have been too late had it gone in.

Terrific effort by the Pens. They have nothing to be ashamed of.