Close but no Cup yet
Niklas Kronwall made a play he’s probably made hundreds of times for the Red Wings; the puck was sitting in front of his net like a grenade, ready to cause all sorts of damage. He swatted it towards the boards to eliminate that threat but something that almost never happens put the Wings in a 2-0 hole: the puck went into his own net. We’re talking about fractions of one percent as far as how often a fluke like that happens.
The team fought back valiantly to score three straight goals, and Brian Rafalski’s tally resulted in him taking an ecstatic hop that would have been a fitting celebration for a goal that at the time stood as the game-winner and the Cup clincher. If the Red Wings could keep the Pens off the board for the final 10:37 they would have gone on to win the series.
After the Pens pulled Marc-Andre Fleury they set up shop in Detroit’s end of the ice. With just under 45 seconds to play the Mule received a pass and attempted to clear the zone. But Marian Hossa did a good job getting in Franzen’s way so he couldn’t get a clear that would have likely resulted in the game ending with regulation play. As a result the puck stayed in Detroit’s end of the ice. Moments later Max Talbot buried a rebound and sent the game to overtime.
The Wings carried play for much of the overtime periods, but the Pens were able to capitalize on a power play when Jiri Hudler was sent to the box for high-sticking. Pittsburgh lives to play and the Wings will have a chance for the fourth straight series to close the series out on the road. It won’t be easy at the Mellon but Detroit has won every series other than the Colorado series in six games.
As far as what Detroit needs to do I think Matt over at On the Wings nailed it in yesterday’s game post:
Be the storm. Megan pointed out to me the other day that we’re always talking about how the Wings will need to weather the storm at the start of games. She made a good point: why can’t the Wings be the storm? If the Wings come out flying tonight and are able to carry it through the game, it will be very hard for the Pens to stop them.
When Detroit skates hard and plays more north-south hockey and goes less east-west with the d-to-d passing they have had success. When they’ve been able to get in on the forecheck they’ve forced turnovers and generated good scoring chances. Overall I feel good about how Detroit has played in this series. I picked the Wings in 7 but if they can come out and play at a high level right from the opening faceoff they are going to be in good shape.
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