Game #2 Photos: Wings 3, Penguins 0
I spent 11 hours of my 14.5 hours of working at the Joe on my feet so as soon as this post is uploaded, I am collapsing into my bed. When I get up, I’ll give my thoughts on the game. Here are my dad’s photos from the first period. Unfortunately, the NHL photo department told my dad that he could not take photos with his professional camera (with a lens under 80mm) thanks to a broadcast regulation preventing fans from doing so during the Stanley Cup Finals. Unless we can get something worked out, my dad won’t have any photos for BTJ or they won’t be half as nice as the ones from tonight for future Wings home games this postseason.
Crosby had six shots on net and won 57% of his face offs.
Zetterberg’s assist (shot) in the second period.
Franzen returned to action after missing six games due to concussion-like symptoms. Evgeni Malkin, on the other hand, went missing and has only registered one shot in two games.
Detroit born Kid Rock made an appearance at the game.
Franzen To Play In Game 2
Joe here. The Wings announced today that Joann Franzen was cleared by doctors to play in Game 2 and that Mike Babcock will put him in the lineup tonight. No word on how Babcock will shuffle lines to accommodate Franzen.
Obviously this is the last thing the Pens wanted to hear. Michel Therrien’s already started juggling lines, adding Gary Roberts and dropping Georges Laraque. Now they get the Wings’ best scorer in the playoffs back on the ice.
I’ll throw out one thing: it’s an embarrassment of riches problem, but why not, especially after the beating the Pens took in Game 1, let Franzen sit? It’s crazy talk, and you’re not going to see me digging up the pitchforks in protest, but I’m also a subscriber to the theory of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And after game 1, there ain’t a whole lot broke except the zebras’ belief that if Tomas Holmstrom is within 10 feet of the goal crease, it’s gotta be goaltender interference.
See you back here at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Game 2 Live Blog: Wings/Pens
Joe Hass here. Join me at this post at 8:00 p.m. ET for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Also, join me at 7:00 for the “Pittsburgh Penguins Offensive Line Super Lotto Jackpot Drawing.”*
* May not actually be taking place.
Follow along for all the fun after the jump.
SCF Game 1 sees 157% ratings increase
Last night’s victory was a 157% increase in ratings from last year’s first game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators. In addition, the 1.8 rating was the second highest rating for Versus and their best NHL rating. Only Lance Armstrong’s last Tour de France ride in 2001 did better (2.1). The 2.3 million people who tuned in was the highest for a SCF game on cable in six years. Interestingly enough, the Red Wings were in the SCF six years ago when that happened. Hmm…see a pattern?
Thoughts on Game #1
Before I get to my thoughts on Game #1, you can check out my statistical look at the game at WIM. For a more thorough look at what exactly went on in the game, be sure to read the live blog on BTJ last night courtesy of Joe.
It was a great game. Admittedly I saw only about half of it, but I did catch most of the first period. In that period, the Penguins appeared to grab control as the Wings kept heading to the penalty box resulting in almost four consecutive penalty kills. As a result, Chris Osgood had to make some key saves to keep Detroit in the game. For his play in the first combined with a shutout, Osgood was named the second star of the game.
With Johan Franzen not returning until Game #2 at the earliest, the Wings needed scoring from the likes of Zetterberg and Datsyuk as well as from their secondary scoring. Well, they got just that on top of great goaltending. Mikael Samuelsson scored twice including a wraparound beauty. Dan Cleary earned one and Zetterberg finished it up. Both Sammy and Cleary had not scored since the Colorado series so it was great to see someone else step up.
It’s exciting to see the Wings win the first game of the Finals and it’s so important that they keep home ice advantage. I particularly like that we had a solid game and won in a dominating fashion. While close wins can be quite thrilling, I prefer the big win. Makes me less stressed during the game.
On Friday during Media Day at Cobo Center, I had the pleasure to meet Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner and have run into him a few times since then as well. Yesterday before the game, I ran up to the concourse to briefly talk to Bill of Kukla’s Korner. It was nice to finally put some faces to names of bloggers, especially since their blogs are daily reads.
5/25 Quick Links
- Johan Franzen went all out in practice earlier today. He should return sometime this week, but he’s a maybe for Monday’s game.
General manager Ken Holland just told me that Johan Franzen will practice full out today and at Monday morning’s skate. His status will be determined after that, but the good news is Holland saying, “He will be in the lineup sometime this week.”
Game 2 is Monday. Game 3 is Wednesday and Game 4 is Saturday. Hopefully, Franzen will be on the ice for at least one of those games.
- Out of Bounds blogs about how challenging it must be for Steve Yzerman to be watching the game from the press box instead of on the ice making the big plays.
Steve Yzerman was that fidgety stuffed shirt last night. And I can only imagine what must be going through his mind right about now. Down below, the next captain, Nicklas Lidstrom, played his usual robotically brilliant game on the blueline – a predictably major reason why the Red Wings smothered and shutout the star-struck Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0, to move in front at the end of the first turn in these 2008 Finals. But I doubt that seeing how Lidstrom had things under control somehow lessened the angst Yzerman experienced last night.
- Former Wings and Penguins coach Scotty Bowman liked how current Wings head coach Mike Babcock handled Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The job the Red Wings did against Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was what most impressed the legendary Bowman.
“We were talking about it with Babcock, and he said what he wanted to do with Malkin was give him some offence with [Valterri] Filppula and [Jiri] Hudler, and then give him some checking with [Kris] Draper, [Dallas] Drake and [Mikael] Samuelsson,” Bowman said. “Give him some variety, you know? He had some good matchups tonight. Babcock did a good job in that one.”
- The Detroit Pistons lost last night at home to the Boston Celtics, 94-80. The Celtics won their first road game of the postseason and has a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals (and home court advantage once again).
- The Detroit Tigers dominated the Minnesota Twins with a convincing 19-3 victory. Amazingly, they have 63 runs in the last five games. Impressive.
Kronwall Quick Hits
And because the media seems to have finally fallen in love with BTJ favorite, Niklas Kronwall. Here are some quick links (appropriately titled quick hits) to articles about the “hitman.”
- Larry Wigge at NHL.com has a great article on Kronner including this interesting snippet:
One thing about Kronwall that’s different from his Swedish teammates — Kronwall was a first-round pick, while Lidstrom and Franzen were third-rounders, Henrik Zetterberg was a seventh-rounder, Tomas Holmstrom was a 10th-rounder and Mikael Samuelsson came to the Red Wings as a free agent. But Kronwall almost fits the same successful late-round skill-set player from Sweden that the others did.
“Back in 1999 when I was supposed to be drafted, my agents told me to hold off a year, that NHL teams would not be interested in a 165-pound defenseman, and if I was picked at all it would be in the seventh or eighth round,” he recalled. “I worked with a personal trainer and the next year I was 189 and I was a first-round pick by the team I wanted to play for all along.”
- Don Cherry commented on Kronwall during CBC’s first period intermission.
About Kronwall’s hit on Pens defenseman Ryan Malone during a first-period power play, Cherry said, “This is a power play, Malone never dreamed that he would stand up and hit him. Who would ever think a guy would stand up and hit on a power play like that? He’s not even looking because nobody does that accept Kronwall.”
Game #1 Photos: Wings 4, Penguins 0
It’s 3:20am and I’m a bit tired so these photos will have to hold you over until I wake up and post a game recap. Until then, you can view the rest of my dad’s photos from the game at the BTJ Flickr account and read Joe’s live blog of the game.
As expected, Sidney Crosby was the center of attention tonight.
Henrik Zetterberg beats Crosby in the face off circle. Hank won 53% of his face offs in Game #1.
Mikael Samuelsson’s second goal of the game.
More of Sid the Kid.
Nicklas Lidstrom’s goal is disallowed because of Tomas Holmstrom’s interference above.
Niklas Kronwall made his presence known throughout the game with his physical play.
Oh Don Cherry…
Game 1 Live Blog: Wings/Pens
Joe here. Join me back here at 8:00 P.M. ET for the live blog of the Pens/Wings game.
And if you’re debating, remember this: you still have one more round to watch the Pistons. There’s no more than seven more hockey games left.
Follow along after the jump.
SCF Prediction: Wings win in six games
Thus far, I am 9-5 in predicting the winning team in each of the 14 series this postseason. Not wonderful by any stretch of the imagination, but not awful either. With that disclaimer, here is my prediction for the Stanley Cup Finals.
Personally, I think this series could quite easily go either way because we have two very highly skilled teams going at each other for the right to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup over their head. Even so, I have to pick the Wings to win the Cup in six games.
Why?
1) Nicklas Lidstrom. I thought James Mirtle stated it simply enough why Lidstrom will be the key to this series so I’ll let him provide his reasoning:
It’s Nick Lidstrom.
If ever there was a boring superstar, it’s him. If ever there was a series branded as exciting and packed with edge-of-your-seat action as this one, he’s the man to make it predictable and refined. At 38 years old, Lidstrom remains the best player in the game, and in this series, my money’s on the fact he’ll dominate the 30 minutes of ice time he gets a night.
Let me run a few funny numbers here. After 16 games in the postseason, Lidstrom leads the NHL in shorthanded minutes played, a total of about 59 minutes, or 3:40 per game. That’s the equivalent of about 30 full-length minor penalties, and over that period, Detroit has allowed just four goals against at 4-on-5.
Shorthanded, with Lidstrom on the ice, they’ve scored five. Even down a man, they’re up a goal, at this point, averaging 5.42 goals scored per 60 minutes at 5-on-4 with their captain playing.
A small sample size, certainly, but a telling one, too.
2) Johan Franzen returns in Game #2 or #3 and keeps his offensive firepower coming. The Wings were able to still defeat the Stars without their top goal scorer in the postseason. In fact, Franzen still has the most goals (12) this postseason despite missing four games. But against the youthful Penguins, Detroit will need the presence of their big power forward on the second line. Two top lines with physical pests constantly in Fleury’s face.
“I’m not playing tomorrow. I’ll play when the doctor says I’m cleared,” Franzen said. “We’ll do another test tomorrow. He has to clear me, but I don’t know exactly what I have to do to get cleared. It’s day-to-day.”
As for the cause of his headaches, Franzen said: “I thought it was the altitude in Colorado at first, but it didn’t go away. Then I thought it was (teammate Kirk) Maltby giving me a headache, but it wasn’t that either. I had to go to the doctor after two weeks because I knew something wasn’t right.”
3) This goes along the lines of #2, but if we can put pressure on Fleury early and often, I like our chances. And I’m not just saying we pepper him with shots, but we need someone planted just outside the crease screening those shots and pouncing on the rebounds. Whether it’s Holmstrom, Franzen, or Cleary, we need to drive hard to the net and make it difficult for Fleury to see the shot coming and make him regret giving up a big rebound. Fleury has really made great strides over the past two seasons and he is a great goalie, but he is only 23 so let’s get to him early and often and make him feel the heat.
4) Dallas Drake. After 16 seasons in the NHL, Drake will finally have his shot at the Stanley Cup. During the regular season, he didn’t stand out and Wings fans didn’t really see what he brought to the team. But come playoff time, we have seen a transformed veteran. He is quite the physical and gritty forward and has created some great scoring opportunities. He even notched an assist and a goal in the series winning game against Dallas. His desire and determination to win the Cup for the first time in his career has really improved the quality of play and I think we will see some key hits and offensive touches from Drake.
5) Niklas Kronwall. The Penguins haven’t seen this kind of open-ice hitter, physical defenseman in their postseason series, nor do they have this type of player. Hopefully Kronwall’s presence will make the forwards think twice about what they do to make sure they don’t end up on the other end of a Kronner hit. Not only is he a physical defenseman (think a Scott Stevens style of play for those of you who have never seen Kronner play), but he has a nice offensive touch and actually leads all NHL defensemen in points (12 assists) this postseason.
6) Balanced play. What do I mean by that? Our forwards, particularly Selke finalists Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, are great two-way players. They can dazzle you with their stick work and goals, but they can also help shut down a top line or kill off a penalty. Our defensemen are key offensive contributors. Three of the top five offensive defensemen this postseason are Niklas Kronwall (12A), Brian Rafalski (2G, 8A), and Nicklas Lidstrom (2G, 8A). Four of the top five plus/minus players in the playoffs are Red Wings players - Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, and Lidstrom.
This match-up has the makings of a fantastic series and I can’t wait to see the Penguins face off against the Wings for the first time since the preseason. Joe Hass will be liveblogging tomorrow’s game so please stop by BTJ for the 8pm start. Go Wings!
Pete compares self to Robert Lang
Pete @ yzerman is god blogs for the first time in 20 days, which leads him to describe himself as the Robert Lang of Red Wings bloggers.
Me? I’m doing my best Robert Lang impresison. Productive at times, occasional hot streaks, but cold all too often, and a total disappearing act in the playoffs.
He went on to compare his fellow Wings bloggers to Red Wings players:
- IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman = Brendan Shanahan
- Matt Saler @ On the Wings = Nicklas Lidstrom
- Dave @ Gorilla Crouch = Niklas Kronwall
While I certainly agree with all of those comparisons (with the Lang similarity being the most amusing), I don’t really agree with Pete’s comparison of me, but I do appreciate the nice compliment.
Christy (A) at BTJ could be Datsyuk or Zetterberg - her work gets national attention, and is probably the star blogger of the Wings’ community. Her prose is magnificent, and her fanship undoubtable.