Penguins Beat Red Wings, Finally Break Through!
Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins finally broke out of their offensive slump as they beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2. Maxime Talbot opened the game scoring 4 minutes and 48 seconds in the 1st period and closed the game’s scoring with an empty netter with less than a minute to go in the 3rd. In between those two goals was a pretty good hockey game. Evgeni Malkin came alive assisting on Pittsburgh’s first three goals giving him 33 points in 20 games, the most in the playoffs since Joe Sakic’s 34 in 22 games for Stanley Cup champion Colorado in 1996. The Pens finally solved Detroit netminder Chris Osgood who had been stellar in the series’ first two games giving up only two goals.
Detroit’s firepower came from two pretty reliable sources who have really stepped up their games with their teams injuries. Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen both scored and assisted on each others goals. Franzen’s goal was his 12th this postseason and 25th since the 2008 postseason. That tied him for the fifth-most in a two-postseason span. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit’s top scorer in the regular season and a candidate for league MVP has yet to step on the ice during this Stanley Cup series. Best case scenario is that he returns from his foot injury Thursday night. Sidney Crosby had an assist on Sergei Gonchar”s game winner in the 3rd period, his first point of the series. Crosby, the Penguins’ 21-year-old captain, again didn’t have a breakout game. But at least for one night, it didn’t matter as the Penguins finally began getting production from their secondary scorers. Zetterberg played another strong game, helping limit Crosby’s chances despite not being matched as regularly against him as Pittsburgh had the final line change due to home ice advantage.
With the win Pittsburgh now trails the Wings 2 games to 1 with game 4 to played on Thursday night. One thing is for sure, with the victory the Penguins will see Hockeytown U.S.A. once again. After that who knows, time will tell.
Jun 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 am
The Stanley Cup final series has come alive with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the 3rd game of the series and now is only down 2-1 in games.The 4th game again will be almost as important as Pittsburgh must win or it’s all but over with the 5th game being played in Detroit. Pittsburgh played with both Crosby and Malkin on the same shift and that proved to be a plus for them. Penalties played a big part of the game as Detroit went 1-2 and Pittsburgh scored 2 goals in 3 opportunities. There was no personal head hunting but there sure was lots of hard checks given out by both teams. The Penguins should be crowding the net on shots from the point. As of now Detroit goalie Chris Osgood has a clear view on all incoming shots. Quite the contrary with the Wings as they are in Marc-Andre Fleury’s face on all point shots screening him as well as waiting to pounce on the rebound.