Crosby, Pens See Shadow in Game 2

May 31, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Sidney Crosby and the Pens tried. But again, they saw their shadow- coming up short in Game Two falling by an identical 3-1 score to the Red Wings at The Joe.

A year later, they’re in the same exact predicament trailing the defending champs 0-2 with the next pair shifting to more friendly Mellon Arena. Will they be able to respond better this time? That’s the big question which won’t be answered till Tuesday night when the TV coverage shifts to Versus for Games 3 and 4.

In the first game, they got no breaks. Tonight, the Pens got the lead for the first time in the rematch when Evgeni Malkin got to a loose puck and fired a shot through a maze that went off Brad Stuart and in for a power play goal at 16:50 of the first. Crosby, who had a brutal Game 1 in the faceoff circle cameback strong winning 10 of 15 including the draw which led to Malkin’s second of the series. The puck eventually came to Bill Guerin, who worked it to Kris Letang. Then Geno got to the loose change and fired his 13th in.

The Pens were up a goal and playing well following a sluggish start that saw Detroit get the game’s first seven shots. By the end of the first, they led 11-7 and most notably on the scoreboard. Nothing seems to deter the defending champs. Certainly, not being behind was going to affect them.

They came out stronger in the second and were rewarded with the tying goal when rookie defenseman Jonathan Ericsson snuck a point shot through Marc-Andre Fleury at 4:21. It was eerily reminiscent of Johan Franzen’s winner Saturday when the Pens iced the puck and were forced to keep the same players out.  This time, dominant territorial play by Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg led to another icing. Pitt coach Dan Bylsma didn’t call timeout while Mike Babcock sent a fresh five out for the faceoff. Rookie Darren Helm won it and Jiri Hudler worked the puck to an open Ericsson who quickly fired it home for his third of the playoffs.

The clubs remained deadlocked for over six minutes until a big play by Hossa led to the game-winner. With the Pens looking to clear the zone, the one-time Pen appeared to break a Pen’s stick keeping the play going. No penalty was detected. Making matters worse, Brett Lebda made a great hustle play at the point to push the puck to Hossa, who then fired a sharp angle shot on Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury couldn’t control the rebound with Tomas Holmstrom creating chaos in front. While that was going on, Valtteri Filppula got to the loose puck and flipped a backhand from a near impossible angle in making it two goals in 6:06. Just like that, the Wings led.

One other notable on the play was that a frustrated Malkin had just come from the penalty box and went for a big hit instead of taking the man. It’s never bad to be physical against a defending champ but you have to pick your spots. That was a poor choice.

Trailing 2-1, the Pens hardly gave up instead throwing the kitchen sink at the Wings’ D and especially Chris Osgood, who was both brilliant again and lucky. During one instance, the Cup veteran watched his best friend prevent Guerin from tying it off a brilliant Crosby feed behind the net. Jordan Staal also had another good opportunity but was turned aside by Ozzie.

The Wings didn’t exactly sit back getting 16 shots to the Pens’ nine in the stanza. They came awfully close to going up a pair with both Zetterberg and Franzen narrowly missing during a dominant shift. The action continued to be fast and furious with Ruslan Fedotenko missing one wide late. There also was a good get together between Malkin and a Wing with four seconds left.

In the third, the Pens continued to come searching for the equalizer. Crosby, who was fairly quiet in Game 1 played better. He had two great chances to tie it when off a great Guerin feed, he came out with the puck around the net firing one off the right goalpost. This time, the puck went across the goal line and came back to Sid. He tried to stuff it home but with Osgood having no idea where it was, a diving Zetterberg saved a goal. It went to video review but both veteran refs Bill McCreary and Marc Joannette got it right because the puck never crossed the line. In fact, NBC’s replays didn’t even find where it was. My guess is it somehow got stuck under Osgood. If it wound up that Zett covered it up in the crease, it would’ve been a penalty shot. But that wasn’t what was ruled. I was a little surprised nobody wondered about that on air. Especially Pierre McGuire.

Fortunate to still be ahead, the Wings again got a boost from unlikely source Justin Abdelkader. In Game One, the rookie scored the insurance marker at 2:46 of the third by getting to a loose puck that Staal lost in the air. This time, he scored the big third goal at 2:47 with an amazing individual effort. Coming out of his end, Abdelkader went 1-on-2 against the Pens’ best tandem Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi. Instead of giving the puck up, he went wide creating space before a bouncing puck was fired high past a stunned Fleury from 45 feet out. It was a crusher. As Ed Olczyk said, no way that can go in. Of course, he shouldn’t have been allowed to gain easy access and get the shot. But the goalie has to stop that. Holmstrom and Hossa netted their second assists of the night.

For a second consecutive game, the Pens spent the rest of the third chasing the score. Despite controlling the play outshooting the home club 12-3, they couldn’t get one past Osgood, who was superb stopping 31 shots a second time in a row. In two games thus far, he’s turned aside 62 of 64 while Fleury’s permitted six on 56. There’s the difference in the series.

The Pens again sent Fleury to the bench for an extra skater but never came close to making it interesting because of how sharp Osgood was. That included a nice stop from in tight on Malkin with a scrum in front. During it, Max Talbot shoved the Detroit netminder down drawing the ire of the Red Wings. Eventually, Malkin sought out Crosby tormentor Zetterberg instigating a fight. The fired up Russian got in a couple of shots pulling last year’s Conn Smythe winner’s jersey over his head. Eventually, Zett came back with a couple of his own with Malkin’s jersey also coming off leading to some more chaos.

This was cool stuff. Great intensity from Malkin, who last year was invisible. So far, he’s been his team’s best player. The Pens were flustered but the message was sent that they’re not going to go down easily. Figure Game 3 to have some extra edge. Too bad it’s not on NBC. Well, at least they got Conan.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Justin Abdelkader, Det (goal at 2:47 3rd, 2nd of series, SOG, 6 hits, takeaway, 4-2 draws, +1 in 12 shifts-8:55)

2nd Star-Marian Hossa, Det (2 assists, 5 SOG, 4 takeaways, +1 in 18:15)

1st Star-Chris Osgood, Det (31 saves incl. 21 final 2 periods, stopped 62 of 64 in series)