NHL News Break

This game was close the whole way with Detroit looking great at the end but the Detroit attack was unable to overcome Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Pittsburgh Defenseman Brooks Orpik layed out as many Red Wings as he could and Sidney Crosby scored two goals for the Pens. Crosby was able to get going but Evgeni Malkin was held scoreless again on only three shots on goal.

This game did not disappoint as it featured a few shots that hit the crossbar with Fleury the beneficiary of those hits and Detroit goalie Chris Osgood making a great glove save that almost flopped over him and into the net.

After Crosby’s two goals, Johan Franzen did his best Allen Iverson impression splitting two defenders before going high on Fleury at the last second where Fleury did not have a chance at saving the shot. Pittsburgh’s Adam Hall then did his best 1993 NBA Finals Scottie Pippen impression shooting from behind the net and bouncing the puck off of Chris Osgood’s back that bounced back into goal.

Game four should continue the great series with both teams playing at their highest levels.

Detroit took game two of the series beating Pittsburgh three to zero. Pittsburgh finally was able to more than 10 shots off in a period with eleven in the third period of game two. Pittsburgh managed only 12 shots total in the first two periods. Meanwhile, Detroit shot 34 times with goalie Chris Osgood and the great defense of Detroit getting the shutout victory for the second straight game. Detroit’s defense was led by Brad Stuart who scored a goal in the first period and had an assist in the third period. Niklas Kronwall was on the ice for all three of Detroit’s goals and continues to have a great postseason. Kronwall’s monster check on Pittsburgh’s Ryan Malone resulted in a broken nose. Malone was able to play and racked up eight penalty minutes. Pittsburgh was able to come alive a bit in the third period racking up 48 penalty minutes and getting more shots off. Johan Franzen assisted on Valtteri Filppula’s third period goal and should now factor into the series more heavily. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was held without a shot and has been inconsistent since the Eastern Conference Championship series against the Flyers.

Chris Osgood got the victory for the Detroit Red Wings in game one of the Stanley Cup Championship series stopping all 19 shots that he faced including a dandy of a glove save grab on an awkard shot that hit off Sidney Crosby and almost bounced in the net.

Going into the third period Detroit was winning one to zero when they stepped their game up and took care of business in the third period with Mikael Samuelsson scoring the first two goals of the game followed by a short-handed goal by Daniel Cleary and a power play goal by Henrik Zetterberg.

Detroit played physical hockey and their defense was able to win the game by seriously wounding the Penguins attack. Defensemen Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom played 24 and 25 minutes while holding Pittsburgh to four shots in the second period and three shots in the third period. Detoit Defenseman Niklas Kronwall rocked the Penguins Ryan Malone and was plus-3 in the game. Kronwall is now plus-10 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and has 16 penalty minutes and 12 assists.

Look for Pittsburgh Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to bounce back in Game two after shaking off the jitters of his first Stanley Cup Championship game. In order for that to happen the Penguins are going to have to get Evgeni Malkin into the scoring and shoot more than just seven shots in the last two periods in order to take the pressure of Fleury and Defensemen Gonchar and Orpik.

The Stanley Cup series is shaped up to be a dandy of a series with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin candidates for earning the Conn Smythe Trophy for the best player throughout the playoffs. Crosby leads the Pens with 21 playoff points while Malkin has been able to feed off Crosby’s leadership to score 9 goals this playoffs. Crosby did not even touch the Eastern Conference championship trophy in lieu of gripping the cup of Lord Stanley.

The Penguins are going to have to beat the Red Wings and their mighty duo of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. The Red Wings should be getting their leading playoff goal scorer Johan Franzen back after suffering concussion like symptoms that has forced him out of action since May 8. Franzen’s game is tight. After having a tough February, Franzen came back in March to score 14 goals in 13 March games. In addition, before getting hurt, Franzen had a slow series versus Nashville, but bounced back in the Colorado series with two hat-tricks in the series and nine total goals in four games. After missing all but one game in which he scored a goal versus Dallas, Franzen is poised to do what he does best and score goals.

The Red Wings will be facing a very good defensive Penguins team. Led behind defensive superstar Sergei Gonchar, the Pens have a great compliment with his linemate Brooks Orpik who enables Gonchar to take more offensive chances. The result has been that Gonchar has been an assist machine for the Penguins. With ten playoff assists and a power play goal, Gonchar’s hotness is coming at the best time. Gonchar has gone on similar streaks throughout the season, however, Gonchar is plus 4 in the playoffs so it should be interesting to see if the NHL’s best defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom will be able to end Gonchar’s hot streak.

The Red Wings Defense is serious and its going to make for a great Stanley Cup Championship. Led by the perennial Norris Trophy winner Lidstrom, he plays alongside the offensive minded Brian Rafalski. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Rafalski joined the Wings this season after playing his entire career for the New Jersey Devils, and this season with the Wings matched his career high 55-point season he had last year with the Devils while scoring a career high 13 goals. The Red Wings defensemen have been led in points by Niklas Kronwall with 12 points, but after scoring 2 points in game 1 versus the Stars, Kronwall had two assists in the final five games of the Western Conference Championship series.

The great defense of Detroit will have a daunting task of shutting down the young and fast Penguins. In addition to their young superstars in Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins have a great cast around the two with Czech superstar Marian Hossa. Hossa has 9 goals and 10 assists this playoff series and could be the X-factor that Johan Franzen is for the Red Wings. Pittsburgh Left-Winger Ryan Malone has also had a great post-season with 15 goals and 17 penalty minutes. Thus, the questions will be can the Pens and Fleury stop the mighty defensive led attack of the Red Wings, and can the Wings defense stop the high powered machine of the Penguins offense?

When these two teams faced eachother in the infant stages of the season, games three and four in early September the Wings won both games. The first game was a 1-0 game won on a Chris Chelios overtime goal. The game however, lacked Crosby, Malkin, and Zetterberg. Game two was won 5-2 by Detroit. The game also featured a 2 goal 2 assist night by Zetterberg, with Malkin scoring and Crosby scoring two assists. Look for the superstars to shine in the Stanley Cup Championship.

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Dallas Stars on Monday four to one to take the series in six games. The Red Wings were led behind their Swedish superstar Henrik Zetterberg who assisted on Pavel Datsyuk goal in the first period before scoring a shorthanded goal in the second period. Zetterberg has been great this post-season while going plus-15 on the plus/minus. Chris Osgood gave up one power play goal in the third period stopping 28 of the 29 shots he faced.

Dallas Left-Winger Brendan Morrow who led the Stars throughout the Playoffs with nine goals and 22 penalty minutes was held scoreless in the final two games of the series after scoring in 6 consecutive games. Morrow injured his leg in the San Jose series and also had been playing with a small tear in his shoulder from game three against the Red Wings.

The Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup behind the stellar play of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The young 23 yr. old wall stopped all 21 shots he faced in the 6-0 victory over the Flyers, taking the series in 5 games. Fleury has been spectacular since coming back from an injury in late Feb. and was on a 4 game winning streak prior to getting hurt. After Feb. 28, Fleury won 21 of 27 games, while only losing 4 of those games. He had 4 shutouts in that 3 month span. Through 14 playoff games Marc Andre-Fleury has a 1.70 GAA and a 0.938 save % headed into the Finals.

The other two stars of game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals were Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa. Malone scored twice on the power play while Hossa assisted on both of those goals while scoring a goal and getting his third assist on the final goal of the night by Pascal Dupuis.

The Philadelphia Flyers behind Martin Biron and Daniel Briere were unable to overcome the injuries to their defense. Both Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn were significantly missing throughout the playoff series although Timonen was able to play in game 5 after missing the prior games in the series with a blood clot in his foot.

Pittsburgh is heading into the Stanley Cup Finals looking strong in game 5 with Evgeni Malkin scoring a goal in the first period while Sidney Crosby assisted twice.