Penguins Win, Treat Fans to Game Seven
The Pittsburgh Penguins answered the call Tuesday night to force game seven on Friday in Detroit. Pittsburgh used a lot of energy to dominate the entire first period and second putting up two goals before Detroit could get on the board. A few interesting notes about Tuesday’s game are as follows: Sidney Crosby only played 17 minutes while Tyler Kennedy played 19; neither Malkin nor Crosby figured in on the score sheet; the players (excluding goaltenders) who had the best game were probably Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy, Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi; and last but not least Chris Osgood played a great game and the Penguins still won. Marc-Andre Fleury huge because he kept Detroit out of the net toward the end of the game which was exactly how Pittsburgh needed him to play after yielding five goals in game five. No save was any bigger than the breakaway save on Dan Cleary which probably would have put the Penguins behind the eight ball in terms of momentum.
On the other end were the Detroit Red Wings who were outplayed for most of the night but all-in-all did not play a bad game. Detroit was able to completely shut Malkin and Crosby out –at least kept them both off the score sheet—which most people ahead of time would have said that Detroit completing such a task would result in them hoisting the Stanley Cup. Chris Osgood also played a very solid game—as previously mentioned—a performance good enough for a victory on most nights. The unfortunate thing for Detroit was that they probably set out that night saying they would make the role players for the Penguins beat them on this night and Pittsburgh did just that. It’s unlikely that the Red Wings will panic as a result but it definitely gives them something to think about going into game seven.
It’s probably too early to make do any serious predictions about game seven just yet. With that in mind it’s probably safe to say that the sports world will be very excited in anticipation of this game. There are storylines aplenty as there have been all series long, and if nothing else the Penguins have garnered more respect from the Red Wings than they had before the series started. All of the stats will be thrown out the window once the puck drops on Friday night and it should be quite a treat for everyone from the diehard hockey fan to the casual fan of sport. Let the hype begin as Pittsburgh and Detroit prepare for a one game playoff for the Stanley Cup!
