Cup Crazy

Charlie Klein

It seems that in such unpredictable times there is only one thing that a sporting man may rely upon these days, the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings took Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The Red Wings were the beneficiaries of the notoriously fast boards at the Joe Louis Arena, receiving two goals that resulted from the utilization of pucks bouncing off the boards. The Red Wings took the first lead of the game in the first period when a shot by Brad Stuart that missed the net caromed right back to Fleury, bounced off of his leg and into the net. The Red Wings celebrated as if it had not been one of the more fortuitous goals scored in these playoffs.

The Penguins showed tremendous resolve in not allowing such a shocking goal kill their momentum as they got a bounce of their own. Center Evgeni Malkin fired a hard shot on net which Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood could only glove down into the path of Ruslan Fedotenko, who put in the easy rebound to tie the game up at one apiece. From that point on it seemed like the Penguins were bound to be the owners of the next lead in the game, but it was simply not to be. Chris Osgood had another fantastic game in net and helped kill off two Penguins powerplays during which the Penguins had many chances to score.

With a minute remaining in the second period, it looked as though there would be no resolution to the stalemate. Both teams had chances to break the deadlock but through either the brilliance of the oppposition goalie or by their own mistakes were unable to put the biscuit in the cage. That all changed two seconds later when Johan Franzen scored his 11th goal of the playoffs by firing a shot off the back of Fleury's leg and into the net. While surely it was not the prettiest goal that Franzen has ever scored, it did the trick. The Red Wings had taken the lead, one they were not to forfeit the rest of the game.

The boys in the red sweaters added another goal to put the game out of reach 2:48 into the third period on a great piece of individual effort by Red Wings newbie Justin Abdelkader. The newest Red Wing's first shot was deflected up into the air, but it was only a trifle for him as he gloved it down and fired top shelf (upper 90 for you soccer folk) over a sprawled out Fleury to give the Wings a 3-1 lead. NBC commentators noted that it seems whenever one puts a Red Wings sweater on a player, he just seems to become a much better player.

The Penguins did have further chances to score but were unable to convert. The Pittsburgh outfit were unable to benefit from the fast boards at the Joe thanks to Osgood's experience playing them. Osgood made 31 saves on the night, just another great playoff performance from a goalie who already has so many of them. “The goalie is the most important player every night,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “It’s hockey."

Game 2 is tonight in Detroit on NBC at 8pm eastern.