....my flag is at half mast today - a single tear runs down my cheek...
WE LOST....ugh.
The puck came to Nicklas Lidstrom with two seconds left. No pressure. Make the shot, we go to overtime. He didn't make it.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, on the strength of two goals from Maxine Talbot, stunned the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup at Joe Louis Arena.
Star-divide
Make no mistake: the Penguins deserved to win this game. Their effort was incredible, making brilliant plays, and with Evgeni Malkin's Conn Smythe performance, there is no doubt that the right team skated away with the Cup.
Talbot spent the first period constantly skating past Red Wings defensemen, which set an ominous tone. In the second, he capitalized: after a sloppy play behind the net by Stewart, Talbot swiped the puck away to Malkin, who put the puck back to Talbot.
Osgood didn't stand a chance.
Talbot did it again nine minutes later: after Stuart tried to make something out of nothing in a pinch in the Wings end, it set up a two-on-one. Talbot skated in and beat Osgood wide, putting the puck up in the top right corner. The crowd was deflated.
Jonathan Ericsson's goal in the third gave the Red Wings a chance, but despite the wild finish, the Wings couldn't convert.
So now we reach the end. Banners will be raised next fall, but not the one banner that mattered.
But there are much larger issues coming out of this:
* The non-effort in the first two periods of Games 6 and 7.
* The lack of goals from Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, and Pavel Datsuyk: three leaders of this team.
* The shocking turnovers from a lot of players, including Chris Osgood.
* The boneheaded plays from Brad Stuart that set up both Pens goals.
* And, most of all: Marian Hossa's disappearing act.
No one escapes blame here. It is a bitter ending to a glorious season. One that should leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Don't worry tho guys - I STILL LOVE YOU.
GO WINGS *sniff* GO.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Red Wings Move Within A Win Of NHL Title!
Even on a wobbly foot, Pavel Datsyuk made the Detroit Red Wings their old dominant selves again.
Datsyuk set up two goals, threw a big early hit on Evgeni Malkin and ended the night plus-2 as the Red Wings used three power play goals to rout the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Saturday night.
"This guy's one of the best players in the world, offensive and defensively," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock of Datsyuk. " We've been able to have some success, but it's much harder without him.
"I've been impressed that our guys found a way. We bought time so he could come back."
The Red Wings lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 and can clinch their 12th Stanley Cup and repeat as NHL champions with a win in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Detroit beat the Penguins in six games in last year's final.
As the teams took to the ice, the crowd of 20,066 chanted Datsyuk's name, and he responded by giving new legs his previously tired-looking team.
Datsyuk, a Hart Trophy candidate as the league's most valuable player, missed the last seven games with a suspected broken foot and was clearly not at top speed, but despite taking a slash on his tender foot from Max Talbot late in the second frame, put in a respectable 17:38 of ice time.
"I felt good," said Datsyuk. "When I play more, I feel better."
Datsyuk wouldn't say exactly how much better he felt, however.
"I don't have a percentage. How much I have, I try to play with this."
Dan Cleary scored in the first period, Valtteri Filppula got one early in the second. Then came power-play goals from Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski and Henrik Zetterberg to chase Pittsburgh starter Marc-Andre Fleury after only 21 shots at the 15:40 mark of the second period. Mathieu Garon played the remainder of the game in goal for the Penguins.
"We realized the situation, how important this game was, and we played like it," said Cleary. "We played desperate and hard, we buried our chances, we didn't give them any life."
Chris Osgood made 22 saves - few of them on dangerous chances - for his second shutout of the playoffs.
After a pair of losses in Pittsburgh to even the series at 2-2, the Red Wings controlled Game 5.
And now they have two full days off to get over the fatigue that even Babcock admits was evident as the opening four games of the series were played over a six-game span.
A early sign that things were turning in Detroit's favour came as they held Pittsburgh's hitherto swarming power play without a shot or anything close to a scoring chance after Kronwall was sent off for tripping.
And as soon as they got the man advantage, a power play unit with only one goal in the first four games sprang to life.
"When you don't play well at all, you have nothing to do but improve, and we have to," said Pens star Sidney Crosby, who was made a non-factor in the game by the checking of Zetterberg. "The situation's pretty clear for us."
The rest of the game was dream night for the Detroit faithful, as a party atmosphere reigned in the seats and derisive chants were hurled at Fleury and frustrated Penguins stars Crosby and Malkin.
Datsyuk set up two goals, threw a big early hit on Evgeni Malkin and ended the night plus-2 as the Red Wings used three power play goals to rout the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Saturday night.
"This guy's one of the best players in the world, offensive and defensively," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock of Datsyuk. " We've been able to have some success, but it's much harder without him.
"I've been impressed that our guys found a way. We bought time so he could come back."
The Red Wings lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 and can clinch their 12th Stanley Cup and repeat as NHL champions with a win in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
Detroit beat the Penguins in six games in last year's final.
As the teams took to the ice, the crowd of 20,066 chanted Datsyuk's name, and he responded by giving new legs his previously tired-looking team.
Datsyuk, a Hart Trophy candidate as the league's most valuable player, missed the last seven games with a suspected broken foot and was clearly not at top speed, but despite taking a slash on his tender foot from Max Talbot late in the second frame, put in a respectable 17:38 of ice time.
"I felt good," said Datsyuk. "When I play more, I feel better."
Datsyuk wouldn't say exactly how much better he felt, however.
"I don't have a percentage. How much I have, I try to play with this."
Dan Cleary scored in the first period, Valtteri Filppula got one early in the second. Then came power-play goals from Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski and Henrik Zetterberg to chase Pittsburgh starter Marc-Andre Fleury after only 21 shots at the 15:40 mark of the second period. Mathieu Garon played the remainder of the game in goal for the Penguins.
"We realized the situation, how important this game was, and we played like it," said Cleary. "We played desperate and hard, we buried our chances, we didn't give them any life."
Chris Osgood made 22 saves - few of them on dangerous chances - for his second shutout of the playoffs.
After a pair of losses in Pittsburgh to even the series at 2-2, the Red Wings controlled Game 5.
And now they have two full days off to get over the fatigue that even Babcock admits was evident as the opening four games of the series were played over a six-game span.
A early sign that things were turning in Detroit's favour came as they held Pittsburgh's hitherto swarming power play without a shot or anything close to a scoring chance after Kronwall was sent off for tripping.
And as soon as they got the man advantage, a power play unit with only one goal in the first four games sprang to life.
"When you don't play well at all, you have nothing to do but improve, and we have to," said Pens star Sidney Crosby, who was made a non-factor in the game by the checking of Zetterberg. "The situation's pretty clear for us."
The rest of the game was dream night for the Detroit faithful, as a party atmosphere reigned in the seats and derisive chants were hurled at Fleury and frustrated Penguins stars Crosby and Malkin.
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