Better... but... - 6-1-09

Before we begin this morning, let's just pause and examine the absurity that it's June and we're still playing hockey.

...

There.

Obviously, the only thing that matters after the first two games of this series is the fact that Detroit has a 2-0 lead. But this is not the same 2-0 lead the Red Wings enjoyed last season. They've had a much tougher fight on their hands this year. Most of the numbers indicate that. A look at the first two games of the 2008 Stanley Cup final versus the first two contests of this years' series:

2008		2009
7	Red Wings’ Goals	6
0	Penguins’ Goals	2
70	Red Wings’ Total Shots	56
41	Penguins’ Total Shots	64
66	Red Wings’ Faceoff Wins	63
60	Penguins’ Faceoffs Wins	43
1-14 (7.1 %)	Red Wings’ Power Play	0-for-3 (0.0 %)
0-for-8 (0.0%)	Penguins’ Power Play	1-3 (33.3 %)
1:39:56	Red Wings’ Time With Lead	0:55:28
0:00:00	Penguins’ Time With Lead	0:07:31

Again, the only numbers that really matter are 2 and 0, but things are a lot tighter than they were last year.

(Photo: Paul Sancya/Associated Press)