PITTSBURGH, Pa – Coming into the series the talk was the Pittsburgh Penguins were the new, improved version after losing the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals to the Detroit Red Wings. For the first couple games of this series that all it was, just talk. Now for the first time the Penguins have actually improved upon last season thanks to a 4-2 win in Game 4. Last year the Penguins lost Game 4 and the Red Wings went home with a 3-1 lead. Now Game 5 will decide who will have a game to lose and which team will not.
Even though the win was decisive, early in the second period it appeared it might end differently. With seconds remaining in a penalty to Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh defender Brooks Orpik was called for tripping. At the time Pittsburgh was staring at a 2-1 Detroit lead and a five-on-three situation to kill and it looked as if they had set themselves up for disaster.
Little did they know at the time they had set themselves up for a series-tying win. The tide began to turn on the second Detroit power play when Malkin broke in on a partial shorthanded breakaway. A strong backcheck by Red Wings forward Johan Franzen voided the attempt, but amazingly Jordan Staal had another breakaway on the same kill. This time the breakaway bore fruit as a determined Staal outmuscled Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski and knocked the puck past netminder Chris Osgood to tie the contest.
“Well, it certainly changed the complexion of the game,” saidPittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. “They had the two power plays. There would have been a chance to go up 3-1. And Jordan with speed up the ice, makes a strong move to the net like he can with his big body and scores a great goal for us, energizes our team. But also the building that kind of got us rolling from there in the second.”
The game would not stay tied for long as the Penguins exploded for two more goals to cap a three goal in 5:37 stretch to pull ahead. Pittsburgh dynamic duo Malkin and Sidney Crosby teamed up on a two-on-one with Crosby getting the honors for his league-leading 15th goal. Then Crosby was the middle-man on a tic-tac-toe play as he set up Tyler Kennedy for a tap in from the paint to the right of Osgood. The Penguins could have had even more in the middle frame if not for an Osgood save on a Malkin breakaway as time expired.
“ We turned the puck over a lot. I thought they were on us right away early and I thought we weathered that. We came back, we’re up 2-1, and we’re playing really well,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock.
“I thought our power play sucked the life out of us tonight. The shorthanded goal and nothing happened on it and they got energy, and they were on top of us. Then we turned the puck over, I would say in the next five minutes. I mean, enough for a whole game, and two of them really critical. Obviously, that ended up costing us.”
Had Detroit been able to score even once on their power play attempts it could have been a much different story. The clubs traded first period goals with Malkin opening the scoring with a stuff shot off a back-board carom. Darren Helm knotted the score for the Red Wings when he picked off a Rob Scuderi clearing attempt, skated a step and then wristed a shot under the crossbar on Marc-Andre Fleury’s short-side. The Red Wings actually took the lead when Brad Stuart fired a puck through a screen early in the second period. Detroit was then given the back-to-back power play chances, but they were unable to capitalize and were never able to recover.
Now the teams head back to Detroit. Pittsburgh still needs to win a game in Detroit, ironically something they did last year to stave off elimination. If they cannot do so they cannot win. The question will be if the older Red Wings have spent all their fuel as they attempt to win two more hockey games this year.
“We need to get rested. We skated yesterday, because that’s what we wanted to do. We thought it was a good idea to flush,” said Babcock. “We’re obviously not doing that tomorrow because it didn’t work. That’s how scientific that decision is being made. Then we’ll get back to getting prepared for the next game. And obviously, just like tonight’s game was huge, the next game’s absolutely huge for us.”
Notes
With two points Malkin sits at 35 points this playoff season. It is the highest total registered since Wayne Gretzky piled up 40 points during Los Angeles’ run and Toronto’s Doug Gilmour had 35 in 1993. Malkin has multiple points in 12 games this season the highest since Mario Lemieux had 14 such games during the 1992 playoffs. Crosby’s points tonight gave him 31 for the tournament. Crosby and Malkin became the first set of teammates to register 30 points in one playoff since Mark Messier and Brian Leetch accomplished the feat for the 1984 New York Rangers…Kris Draper was able to play for the first time in the series for the Red Wings while Pavel Datsyuk continues to sit on the sideline due to injury. Justin Abdelkader was the odd man out in order to allow Draper to skate…The home teams are 4-0 at home for just the third time since 1978.
Contract tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
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