Red Wings Dominant In 4-0 Game 1 Victory Over Penguins
Posted May 24, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
“Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie.”
The chants filled Joe Louis Arena as Chris Osgood’s outstanding goaltending, two unassisted goals by Mikael Samuelsson and fierce forechecking combined to give the Detroit Red Wings a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening game of the NHL’s championship series Saturday night.
Late goals by Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg padded the final score.
Teams winning Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final have gone on to win the championship in 53 of 68 seasons, or 78 per cent of the time, since the best-of-seven format was introduced in 1939.
Game 2 is Monday.
With Sidney Crosby participating in his first Stanley Cup final, the series took on special significance the moment the 20-year-old Penguins captain from Cole Harbour, N.S., stepped onto the ice to start the opener. He was looking at Henrik Zetterberg when he took the opening faceoff as Detroit coach Mike Babcock opted to go strength against strength. Babcock had Kris Draper checking second-line Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin.
Osgood and Marc-Andre Fleury exchanged enormous save after enormous save through the scoreless first period.
Detroit captain Nick Lidstrom put a puck behind Fleury in the 16th minute, but referee Dan O’Halloran ruled it was no goal and penalized Tomas Holmstrom for goaltender interference. Holmstrom had delivered a weak slash to Fleury’s legs as the goalie glided out to the top of his crease. It was minor contact but, by strict application of the rules, an infraction.
An incensed Babcock yelled at the referees from the Wings bench.
Holmstrom’s insistence on screening and pestering goalies, which cost Detroit a goal in the previous series, has made him a marked man in the eyes of referees and he has to understand that if he as much as touches a goalie he’s putting himself and his team in jeopardy of having more goals waived off.
It was the fourth consecutive Detroit penalty, but Osgood wasn’t letting anything in.
Draper flipped a shot off a post in the second minute of the second period.
Both teams continued to get scoring chances, and Osgood and Fleury kept zeros on the scoreboard. Osgood robbed Pascal Dupuis then Fleury frustrated Valtteri Filppula.
Samuelsson broke through to end the stalemate. The Swede gathered in a loose puck in the neutral zone and dashed into the Pittsburgh end. He went wide around Rob Scuderi, continued on behind the net and buried the puck on a wraparound at 13:01. It happened so fast that Fleury didn’t have time to get his left leg down and across the crease in time.
After being outshot 12-11 by the Penguins in the opening period, the Red Wings took control in the second and outshot Crosby and Co. 16-4. The fact all three penalties assessed were against Pittsburgh was partially responsible — that and Detroit forechecking that forced the Penguins into errors and thwarted breakout attempts time after time.
Samuelsson scored again 2:16 into the third period. Fleury slid the puck to Scuderi, who couldn’t handle it just off to the right side of Fleury’s crease. Malkin got the bouncing puck, but Draper through a check into him that separated him from the puck. Samuelsson got it and slid it past the helpless Fleury.
After scoring two goals in his first 16 playoff games this spring, the six-foot-two Swede had two in one night.
The Red Wings allowed the Penguins only one shot on Osgood through the first 10 minutes of the third period. Osgood then got a leg pad down just in time to thwart Crosby, and Marian Hossa ripped a shot off a post as the Penguins showed a little life.
The Red Wings were 11-0 when leading after two periods entering this one. Make that 12-0.
The final shots tally was 36-19 in Detroit’s favour.
For Detroit fans, this was top-quality entertainment. For Pittsburgh fans, it was a night of frustration.
This is the first time Pittsburgh has trailed in a series this post-season.
Cleary scored shorthanded, and Zetterberg added a power-play marker in the final minutes.
Photo Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
