| The Pittsburgh Penguins got that all
important first goal Saturday night, but that's all they got and
now the Detroit Red Wings are one win away from the Stanley Cup.
Jiri Hudler's goal early in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie
and gave the Red Wings a 2-1 win over the Penguins and a
commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
"We know as a team we haven't won anything yet,"
said Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom. "We
won three games. We have to win four to win
the Stanley Cup. But we know that in our
locker room, too."
The Penguins are now left with the task of
having to win three straight, including two in Detroit, to come
back and win the series.
"It's going to be really tough. But like I said
before, it's one of the toughest games to close," said
Pittsburgh forward Marian Hossa, who scored the Penguins' lone
goal. "And we're going to make it really tough for them to make
it. Right now we're just facing a tough situation and we just
have to go step‑by‑step."
Game 5 is Monday night at Joe Louis Arena in
Detroit, where the Red Wings won the first two games of the
series by a combined score of 7-0.
Hudler's game-winner Saturday night came at
2:26 of the third following a nice keep by Detroit defenseman
Brad Stuart, who beat two Penguins to the puck at the blue line
to get it towards the goal, where Hulder got it and backhanded
the puck past Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
"I ended up behind the net, forechecking,"
Hudler said of the game-winning goal. "The puck was bouncing,
and Stewie just kept it in the zone. I turned around right
before the puck came to me and tried to put it on the net. I
tried to go higher, because he’s (Fleury) great down low. It was
kind of lucky, but we’ll take it. It was a good shift for us.
I’m glad it went in."
The Penguins had a glorious chance to get the
equalizer when they got almost a minute-and-a-half of
five-on-three time with ten minutes left in the game, had some
good zone time but couldn't get the puck in the net.
"We missed the net a few times.
And there was a couple pucks laying on the crease we just
didn't put in," said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby. "I
think if we went back, we'd try to hit the net and generate more
from that. But we got set up there for a
while, and just couldn't put it in."
There was also some great work on the penalty
kill by Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, who raced to the to tie up
Crosby in front of the net at one point.
"I've
been telling people for three years how good Zetterberg is,"
said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "And so this isn't a surprise
to me. He's just a conscientious good two‑way player. So is
Datsyuk. But we have a lot of good players."
Said Therien: "[Zetterberg]
did a great job. But on a five‑on‑three, we needed better
execution."
The Penguins struck first when Hossa stuffed
the puck past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood for a power play goal
at 2:52 of the first period.
The Red Wings answered less than five minutes
later when Lidstrom scored on a blast from the left just seconds
after a Red Wings power play expired. |
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