The defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, took it to the Penguins tonight. They outhit, outskated and outscored Pittsburgh's Penguins to the tune of a 3-1 beating. Chris Osgood was great between the red pipes- stopping 31 of 32 shots and was correctly named the #1 star of the night. Wings goals came from Stuart, Franzen and Abdelkader. It was nice to see a Michigan State Alum (Abdelkader) score the first playoff goal of his career- and to think it happened in the Cup finals. It was a big goal and gave the Wings a two goal lead... truly it was the gaol that broke the Steel City's back.
In spite of all the hype Marian Hossa stepped up and played a fine game. For the record, Hossa was fired up and led the team with 3 Shots on Goal. He missed an wide open empty net goal in the last two minutes- and I am sure he's kicking himself for missing that one. But he wasn't the only one who played a great game. So did Cindy Crysby's shadow, Henrik Zetterberg. Big Z was all over Crosby--- all game long. His big time defense and strong forechecking was critical to this victory.
Kudos to the Red Wings #4 line of Matlby, Lieno and Abdelkader. They ended up taking lots of shifts near the end of the game.. Their fresh legs and the fire in their bellies frustrated Pittsburgh to no end. The real value of the fourth lines extra minutes will most likely show up late in the game tomorrow night.
So hang on to your hockey pucks... game two begins in less than 24 hours. It's the first time since 1955 that game 1 and 2 will be played without a day off in between them. Detroit takes a one game to none lead in a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Finals.
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