Penguins and Red Wings Look to Live Up to Spotlight in Game Four

After a three day layoff the puck will drop tonight on Game Four of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Should the Penguins triumph at home again, they will lock the series up at two apiece after being down 2-0. If the Wings can pick up the road victory they'll set themselves up to play for the Cup Monday night at home in Detriot's Joe Louis Arena.

After the one-sided loss of Game One by the Penguins, more than a few were running around calling game two a "must win" game for Pittsburgh. And while I laughed off calling any game two a must win game, after they once again were trounced pretty handily, Game three in Pittsburgh was looking pretty important. But when it came time, the Penguins did what they had to do. They won at home. If any Red Wings fans thought this series was over when the Wings took the first two, and started planning parades or something, they were vastly mistaken.

Game three was more the Penguins style of game, and home ice proved to be huge. And while the sellout crowd was absolutely riotous, spurring on the sensational play of Gary Roberts and in particular an incredible shift by Brooks Orpik, it was the last change that proved to be the Penguins greatest advantage. It's no secret that line match-ups have been a huge plot line in this series, and when Michel Therrien is able to respond to any teams line changes, the Penguins are nearly unbeatable. Likewise when the Wing's Mike Babcock is able to respond the other teams line changes, he can throw out a defensive match-up that can shut down just about anyone.

Though while the last change has been an important storyline in the series, perhaps the loudest story around those close to the game is the greatly increased amount of exposure this year's Cup is receiving. Across the boards ratings are up, and in some spots, up big. In a prime time duel that saw the Wings road game going head to head with the Detroit Pistons NBA Conference Finals road game, the Red Wings walked away winning in a big way. Detriot Neilson ratings saw the hockey game beating the basketball game 18.2 to 15.9.

The Cup series between Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins and the dominant Detroit Red Wings has the NHL looking to parlay the increased attention into reasserting themselves as one of the top sports in the US. And overall, mainstream media seems to be playing along. ESPN, long criticized by hockey fans for their decreasing coverage of the game following it's move to Versus, brought in none other than Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry to sit in on segments with Barry Melrose. As well, media credentials are up from 550 last season's finals to 700 this year. Which very well may be a shift in policy for many U.S-based newspapers that had refused to incur the cost of sending a writer to cover the Stanley Cup.

And while on the topic of the increased attention this finals has received, perhaps the greatest aspect of the third game of the series was the excitement it brought. The first two games in Detroit saw the Wings thoroughly dominant the Penguins scorers, and while the Red Wings defensive play may be an astonishing strategic feat, it is also about as exciting as tax season. Which is why those around the game are crossing their fingers hoping that regardless of the final on tonights game, and ultimately the series, the play lives up to the national spotlight the NHL has finally received.

Stanley Cup Game One: Detroit 4 - Penguins 0

Heading into Detroit for the first game in what's thought to be perhaps the most competitive Stanley Cup Finals since the New Jersey Devils took on the Red Wings in 1995, there was a slew of mutual appreciation from both parties. The two teams weren't very familiar with each other, having only played once in the past two years, but they had to respect what the other had done. In the aftermath of the Red Wings 4-0 victory, it's to be sure the Penguins have a much better idea of just why the Wings are to be respected.

After the long lay off, the Joe Louis Arena was buzzing for the puck to drop. A surprising number of Penguins fan secured tickets to the series opener, spotting the red crowd with black jerseys here and there. Enough Penguins fans to hear a slight "Ruu" cheer after Jarkko Ruutu laid now a huge shot block early in the game. But not one's to be outdone the Wings faithful rang down thunderous praises of "Ozzie" after early Penguins scoring chances were thwarted.

An early Red Wings goal was called off due to goaltender interference on Tomas Holmstrom. If you want to read the NHL rulebook word for word, Holmstrom interfered with Marc Andre Fleury by putting his stick in Fleury's equiptment prior to the shot. But if this guy's name is anything but Holmstrom it probably isn't called. That being said, I'm not sympathetic, he has been warned again and again. He's going to continue to do what he does best, but he can't be surprised when it lands him in the box for two.

If you want to point to one moment the Penguins could have stepped ahead, you have to look to the six-plus minutes on the power-play in the first period they came up empty on. The Wings shorthanded approach could not have been any better. They shut down the dynamic Penguins power-play by forcing the play to the perimeter, closing off in front of Osgood, and cutting down any cross ice passes.

Still scoreless in the 2nd period, I, along with about 15 thousand watching from the Mellon arena, and countless Penguins fans else where, let out an audible gasp when Brooks Orpik's stick was lifted in front of Fleury on an icing touch-up. Valtteri Filppula let a snap shot go off the hustle play, but Fleury came up with a big save to keep the Penguins in the scoreless game.

The zero-zero deadlock was broken with 7 minutes left in the 2nd period on Mikael Samuelsson's wrap around goal. It unfolded like it was in slow motion. The Penguins dumped the puck for a line change, but it was intercepted in the neutral zone. I screamed at my television as 48, Tyler Kennedy, and 11, Jordan Staal, continued to glide toward the bench for a change. The play broke the other way and before long the puck was behind the sprawling Fleury.

When the Samuelsson picked up his second of the game early in the 3rd, depositing a bad clear by Fleury in the net from close range, the Wings fell back into their suffocating defensive play. Detroit allowed only 3 shots in the period, despite the Penguins desperate play that opened the game up for 2 insurance markings. One shorthanded on the rush by Dan Cleary, and the other with only seconds left in the game by Henrik Zetterberg on the powerplay.

For the Penguins they are faced with a list of things they must address in time for game two on Monday night. First and foremost is scoring first. They can not allow the Red Wings to settle into that dominant defensive role that they do so well with the lead. The one thing I won't call game two, though, is a "must win" game for the Penguins. It's an over used phrase and a cliche. The Red Wings have grabbed the early lead, but even with the dominant play I don't think anyone's backing away from their predictions of a long series.

You only have to look to the other playoffs going on in the sporting world right now in the NBA to see how the Boston Celtics have survived despite poor play on the road. When it comes to the first four games of a series, winning on the road is a luxury that ends things quicker. The only must win game is a home game.

Game One Recaps

The Pens Blog is ready to set up and rally the troops, something they haven't had to do all playoffs long. Remember when Rudy was so pumped he slammed his head off that brick wall, that's how I feel after this Pensblog.

One the Wings breaks down the victory and the solid Detroit play. It's insightful, and he's no fool. He knows it takes four wins, not just one.

Going Five Hole's Sean Leahy knows the Penguins haven't faced adversity like this all playoffs long, but it just might be the wake up call to light a fire under them.

Game Two is in Detroit, Monday night at 8 pm EST on Versus.

Stanley Cup Final Prediction

I could very well just tell you I'm getting this preview of the Stanley Cup Finals in at the very last minute because it's such a tough series to call. And really, it is. Neither team has felt much resistance as they blew threw the first three rounds. The Penguins dropped one to the Rangers and one to the Flyers, and are sitting at 12-2. The Red Wings dropped two consecutive games in the first round against the Nashville Predators, but then turned to backup goaltender Chris Osgood, who strung together 9 straight victories. Fighting off elimination, the Dallas Stars took a couple from the Detroit, but the Wings went down to Dallas to seal up the Campbell Conference Trophy in a decisive 4-1 victory.

However, this preview is being mailed in last minute because I spent yesterday afternoon, probably not unlike many players from the 28 teams that won't be suiting up tonight, on the golf course hitting triple bogeys. Anything to distract me from counting down the hours until the puck drops.

Every way you turn in this match-up you run into numbers that tell you this is a heavy weight match. The Penguins haven't lost at home since February 24th. Remember February? The last time the Penguins lost at home the New York Giants were still glowing from their Super Bowl victory and Mitt Romney still thought he had a chance at becoming the 44rd President of the United States. I'm just saying, that's a long time.

But, you know, the Red Wings haven't done too poorly for themselves either. I vaguely remember something about them winning the Presidents Trophy as the top team in the NHL regular season. The closest team was 7 points back. And all of that was before Osgood came onto the scene full time and started stopping everything thrown his way.

I'm not going to repeat the "storylines" to you, because if you're reading some obscure hockey blog, then I don't need to tell you about Sidney Crosby. You know Evgeni Malkin and Marc Andre Fleury. The Penguins are young, and they are good. Likewise you know about Nicklas Lindstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, and Johan Franzen. Detroit is old, er... I mean experienced, but they are practically "Team World". This is clearly the match-up everyone wanted to see, the meeting of the titans.

So I suppose I need to wrap this up with some sort of prediction, albeit, completely skewed and biased. You could say this series is going either way and I wouldn't argue with you, but I'm picking my Penguins. It'll be a test heading into Detroit for games 1 and 2, but if they can split them they'll be poised to jump ahead with 3 and 4 heading back to the 'burgh. And just as a recap: I am biased. This could go either way. But, Pittsburgh Penguins become the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions in front of the home crowd in Game 6.

The Fix Is In

Lately it’s been the belief of more than a handful of opinionated hockey fans that the National Hockey League has conspired to land Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins as the Eastern representatives in this year’s Stanley Cup finals. Although, it’s a bit of a paradox, as most are also of the opinion that Gary Bettman could not successful run a lemonade stand, let alone one of the largest sports leagues in the world.

Facing these two conflicting outlooks, I’ve carefully weighed all the evidence at hand and have come to the most logically and reasonable conclusion. Secretly Gary Bettman must be an evil genius who has concocted an elaborate scheme with a single goal in mind, getting the names of Sidney Crosby and the rest of the 2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins etched on the Stanley Cup. His facade as an ignorant basketball fan that couldn’t set up a game of Mouse Trap, is just that, a cover. And behind it he’s put this wicked plan into action.

I can see him now, in his office high above the city of New York, sitting in a large leather chair. If my early research into the realm of evil geniuses is to be trusted, we can safely assume he has a large cat sitting on his lap, and he’s probably petting it as he manically laughs. From here he instructs the on-ice officials to give all the calls to the Penguins.

The only question is just how long this has been going on. Of course he fixed the 2005 Draft Lottery in the Penguins favor. That’s a given. And of course the 2004-05 NHL lockout was just all part of this scheme to send Crosby to Pittsburgh. But how far back does it really go? Are you a Hartford fan who lost their precious Whalers to North Carolina? Guess what? All to get the Penguins into the 2008 Stanley Cup. The attendance problems, leaving ESPN, Mighty Ducks 3, the canceling of Arrested Development. Yeah … to get the Penguins to the Cup. For the love of Buster Bluth, just how deep does this go?

Sure, with everyone so hot on the trail the past couple weeks Bettman has had to cool it off a bit. Throw a couple curveballs. He called for the War Room to disallow Crosby’s goal against the Flyers in the Semi-Finals, but I can see straight through that. What to the untrained eye may appear as stellar play of Evgeni Malkin and shutdown goaltending of Marc Andre Fleury is clear to me. I’ve got Bettman pegged behind the scenes playing puppet master. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes.

Penguins Advance to Cup Final With Only 2 Losses

With the Penguins wrapping up the Eastern Conference Finals with a dominant 6-0 shutout of the Flyers, the Penguins become the 5th team to reach the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with only two playoff losses.

The Ducks accomplished it in 2003, the Wings pulled it off in 1995, as did the Hawks in 1992. The Oilers did it in back to back years 1987-1988. The Penguins are the first team to accomplish it from the Eastern Conference.

Assuming the Red Wings bring home the Campbell Conference Trophy tonight, the two teams will meet with the lowest combined losses sine the 1995 between the Devils and Red Wings.