Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Wings get it done in Game 1

I don’t read too much into the first game of a series, but I will say this was typical of the Detroit Red Wings in that they found a way to win the game. This was not a dominant perfomance, but they did a lot of things that added up to a win and they got a couple of good bounces too.

I thought the key to the game was the second period. Pittsburgh played well, had some good opportunities to break a 1-1 tie but when the horn sounded they were down 2-1 after 40 minutes. There was the save by Chris Osgood on the Evgeni Malkin breakaway early in the second period. Overall, it was another solid game for Osgood. The Red Wings’ penalty kill, which has not been very good in the playoffs, killed off back-to-back Pittsburgh power plays to keep it a 1-1 game. Then at the end of the period Johan Franzen gets to the rebound of a Brian Rafalski shot off the end boards puts it on net and it goes of Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net to make it a 2-1 game. Tough break for Fleury, who had the first Detroit goal bounce off the endboards and then off him in the first period.

No Pavel Datsyuk or Kris Draper for the Red Wings, but they get another great game from Darren Helm. And then Ville Leino sets Justin Abdelkader for the goal that makes it a 3-1 game early in the third period. Helm, Leino and Abdelkader were all in Grand Rapids for most of the season and now they are key players in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s a sign of just how deep the Red Wings are as an organization.

Game 2 is Sunday night, so it’s a quick turn around. I am not sure it’s a must-win for the Penguins, but I think they’d be in a lot better shape moving forward if they were 1-1 than down 0-2.

Here are the game highlights:

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