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Zulewski Report
By Tom Zulewski June 10, 2009 |
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In game five tied at 2-2 the Pittsburgh Penguins were irritated and bothered after getting blown out by the hosts the Detroit Red Wings 5-0. The Pens love the home ice and after coming home on Tuesday night and edging out the Wings 2-1 at the Igloo the series is once again knotted up going back to Joe Louis Arena. The Penguins going back to Detroit for the third time in this series reverted back to their games one and two moments of frustration for game five and the question will be will they revert back to that in game seven in Detroit? In game five it was Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood who was like wall and got himself a shutout in the 5-0 win and it looked like the fifth ring in 12 years looked like it was 60 minutes away for the Wings but it was for not in game seven when the Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots out of 26 holding the World Champs to just one goal in that crucial game six. The Pens got just enough on offense when they got goals from Jordan Staal his fourth of the post season at 0:51 in the second period and at 5:35 in the third period from Tyler Kennedy for his fifth goal in the post season. The Red Wings odds are a lot stronger though for game seven as they open up the final game of the season with an 11-1 post season home record. This will be the biggest game in memory for both teams everything is riding on this one for the Pens who know the odds of trying to win a game seven in Detroit and the odds being a little better for Red Wings who are expected to control the final game for the cup. The only loss that the Red Wings suffered in post season at home was a three over time loss to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the second round who are still on the fist tee at the Orange County golf course. But for the series once Sid Crosby scored the goal in game four the momentum changed for the Pens and they picked up two wins at home to tie it up and with Kennedy delivering like he did and my thought was this series is going to change and that we were in for a war and it was when the Pens hit the ice the defense gave up ground to the much experienced and very skilled Red Wings who were stopped cold in the first and second periods by the fine goal tending of Fleury. However going into game seven the Wings are reassured knowing the fact that they've done so well in the playoffs that game seven will be very difficult for the Penguins in Joe Louis. So far if I had to pick a series MVP it's coming down to the Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg if the Wings can pull off the series. If the Pens pull this off I would give it to Evegeni Malkin whose battling and clawing so much so he was looking for a fight in game two and it almost cost him a game suspension. The two strengths of this series has been excellent starting with the Penguins execution which has been excellent, the Penguins did what they did with the power play including executing on a 3-5 situation in the short end in game four. You have to remember when you get a power play and special teams are executing well and it helps you. The second point is the limited numbers of penalties that have been called. When you have a limited number of penalties called you have to make the most of the opportunities when they come and Detroit had a key spot in game five and the Red Wings have all the momentum going into game seven. Former head coach and Director of player Development Scotty Bowman is still there in Detroit and he carries a legacy going into this Final he's been referred to as the Yoda of the team being all wise and having been in Detroit so long. I had a couple of occasions to deal with him some indirectly he was receptive to the media and never gave me a bad time. Tom Zulewski checks in for the Zulewski report each week on Sportstalk Radio |
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