DETROIT, Mich – There was a time this season when no one knew if Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood still had game. After a brief respite in January to gather himself Osgood returned in full force and no one knows what the result of this game would have been with another goaltender in the Detroit net.
Hardly touted as a top goaltender throughout his career Osgood continues to build his legendary playoff legend much like Pink Floyd; brick-by-brick. Game 1 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals will go down as another one of those nights as Osgood kept his club in the game until they could pull away from Pittsburgh.
Osgood’s finest moments came early in the second period with the teams tied at one goal apiece. Seconds into the period Osgood made not one, but two outstanding saves on a sequence started by the Penguins Sidney Crosby.
Crosby took the puck behind the net and fed teammate Chris Kunitz for a point-blank attempt. Osgood managed to stop the shot, but he dropped the puck onto the stick of Bill Guerin. Guerin was thinking goal but he was left looking to the sky in frustration after the Detroit goaltender robbed his bid.
“We had an opportunity, for sure. We could have put them back on their heels a bit,” said Crosby. “I think we got 13 shots in the second and third. So we found a way to generate some good scoring opportunities. We tried to stick with things. But certainly if we would have buried a couple there, we would have put ourselves in a better position.”
Chris Osgood. Photo courtesy of NH.
As if that was not enough, Osgood came up huge minutes later when he made a glove hand save on a clear breakaway by NHL leading scorer Evgeni Malkin. Malkin stripped, some might say tripped, the puck away from Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall at the Pittsburgh blue line and bore down on Osgood. Malkin picked his spot and fired, but Osgood was able to get enough on the shot to keep it out of the net.
“I think the goalie is the most important player every night. It’s hockey. It’s like that every year. I thought Ozzie did a good job for us,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. “I didn’t think we were very good through the neutral zone tonight (and) turned over way too many pucks. In the end, that catches up to you. Ozzie made some real critical saves.”
One thing is for certain and that is Marc-Andre Fleury has to be better for the Penguins or this series between the two teams will end up the same way last year’s did with Detroit skating the Cup. Of the three goals Detroit scored only one was directed directly towards the goal. Detroit scored one goal when it caromed of the end board and another score was kicked in by Fleury himself.
The game started literally with a bang as both teams attempted to set the physical tone of the series. The play went end-to-end and virtually every player on the ice attempted to finish their checks and dole out punishment at every turn.
Detroit nearly went ahead early in the period when a Henrik Zetterberg shot clanged off the post to the left of Fleury. The Red Wings did go ahead after a couple of turnovers by the Penguins in their own zone led to a Brad Stuart shot that missed the net. However, the puck bounced off the rinks notoriously lively end boards and went into the goal off Fleury’s right leg. Detroit (and Stuart) returned the favor when the defenders poor clearing pass was stolen off the boards by Malkin. Malkin quickly fired a hard slap shot at Osgood who could not control the rebound. Pittsburgh’s Ruslan Fedotenko saw the opportunity and pushed the puck away from Osgood who was trying to trap it. Fedotenko collected the puck and went to his backhand to knot the score.
Pittsburgh owned the majority of the pressure in the second period, but Osgood held the key to his cage. While the Penguins could not score they were at least limiting Detroit’s chances until the Red Wings broke through late.
With just over a minute remaining in the frame the Red Wings put pressure on the Penguins. Pittsburgh iced the puck and then coach Dan Bylsma called a time out to give his winded defenders a chance to recover physically. The strategy was sound, but the Penguins execution was not. Pittsburgh lost the ensuing face off and eventually the Red Wings worked the puck to Johan Franzen who flicked the puck into the crease area. While the puck was in the air Fleury swung his left leg back and essentially kicked the puck into the goal.
“(It was) a situation where, you know, we were out for a long shift. We had not only our forwards but our “D” especially,” said Bylsma. “We’re tired in that situation. At times you need that timeout to give your guys an extra breath. You know, 20 seconds, 30 seconds to re-gather themselves and get ready. And then he (Babcock) got fresh guys on the ice as well. So you have to deal with that situation. It was a timeout where I felt we needed to take, and we’d do it again.”
Finally it would be Detroit’s fourth line which would put the finishing touches on the game. After the game Babcock divulged his strategy which had rookie Justin Abdelkader sitting on the bench even when his line went on the ice in certain situations. Pittsburgh dresses 11 forwards and uses either Crosby or Malkin on a double-shift to equalize their lines.
“Well, they’re (Pittsburgh) a hard group for the fourth line because they don’t play a fourth line. So when you’ve got Crosby and Malkin coming all the time, I basically told “Abby” in the first period he might not play one shift. Just be ready,” said Babcock. “We were able to get him out there for five minutes. What we’d do is play Zetterberg or (Valtteri) Filppula with a fourth line like they did. In the end, that line did a really good job for us. (They) got us useful minutes and wear and tear on their D.”
With the score still tightly bound the two clubs each had their chances to change the score, but finally it would be Detroit’s Abdelkader who would do so. The Red Wings Ville Leino beat Pittsburgh defenseman Mark Eaton behind the goal and got the puck to Abdelkader. Abdelkader then took one shot which Fleury saved and then the puck went high into the air. The Red Wings rookie caught the puck, dropped it to his feet and batted the puck in for his first NHL goal. All and all not bad for a spare part.
Notes
Pittsburgh had a record of 30-8-4 under Bylsma prior to the Game 1 loss…Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk was unable to skate in this game and he is doubtful for Game 2. Kris Draper and Tomas Kopecky were the other regulars out of the lineup for the Red Wings. Conversely the Penguins were completely healthy and all their scratches were by coach’s decision…With the win Osgood’s record in the playoffs since last year is 27-8. Coming into Game 1 Osgood’s goals against average during the time frame was 1.79…Crosby had a six-game point streak snapped…Detroit has won 24 consecutive games in which they took a lead into the third period, they are 10-0 during this playoff season…Osgood has 73 career playoff wins which is good enough for eighth place all-time…Detroit has now won nine consecutive Game 1’s…The Red Wings won 71% of the face-offs in Game 1…Franzen’s goal was his 24th in his last 33 playoff games…Abdelkader and Leino played in all of Grand Rapids (AHL) playoff games this year before they were given their chances in the Detroit lineup…Game 2 of the series takes place tomorrow night. It is the second game of a three games in four night stretch. Just like the minor leagues… Teams winning Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the championship in 54 of 69 seasons (78%) since the NHL introduced the best-of-seven format in 1939… Detroit’s experience shows in their hardware count advantage over Pittsburgh. Detroit has 21 players who have a combined 40 Stanley Cup rings while the Penguins have 5 players who own 5 Stanley Cup rings…With the heavy schedule age, size and health may be key factors as the series advances and the Penguins have the advantage in each of those categories. Among players who have appeared in at least one playoff game in 2009, the Red Wings’ average age is 33.4 while the Penguins’ average of 29.0. As far as size goes the Penguins measure in at 6’1″ and 203 pounds; the Red Wings average 6’0″ and 196 lbs. As mentioned before, Detroit has three regulars sidelined while the Penguins are able to dress every player on its roster.
Contract tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
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