Penguins at Red Wings - Second Period - Game 1 - 5-30-09
SECOND PERIOD
19:00ish: Malkin steals a puck in the defensive zone and seems to have a two-on-two in the works with Fedotenko. Before he can gain too much speed in the neutral zone, Hossa dives and makes a wonderful poke check to knock the puck off Malkin's blade.
17:23: From the right point, Philippe Boucher half-chips a one-timer. Osgood makes the save but gives up another iffy rebound.
16:36: Malkin steals a puck off Niklas Kronwall at the Penguins' blue line. Kronwall falls down and that sets Malkin free on a breakaway. Malkin races in, approaches net and goes forehand. Osgood gets a piece of it with his glove and makes a huge clutch save. That makes ammends for the rebound on Fedotenko's goal. That said, an MVP candidate needs to bury that.
16:06: Darren Helm gets a step on Letang on the outside on the left wing. Letang dives and knocks the puck off Helm's blade. Nice play.
15:22: We guess they're only calling penalties if the evidence is obvious. Talbot chases after a puck in the corner. Brett Lebda lumberjacks his stick and snaps it in half. That's two mintues for slashing. Malkin, Gonchar, Letang, Crosby and Bill Guerin are on for the power play.
14:24: Hossa steals the puck and drives it into the Penguins' zone killing some time.
13:48: Gonchar fires a one-timer from the right point. It hits something in front and trickles just wide. A Penguins player is there on the back door and has a chance at a garbage goal but can't seem to get a handle on the puck. We'd tell you more but once again, NBC fails to offer a replay. Instead they show that lame Sound of the Game feature with Justin Abdelkader.
13:20: Osgood covers a puck played in from the neutral zone. Lebda's penalty is killed. "Ozzzz-EEEEE! Ozzzz-EEEE!"
12:55: Mikael Samuelson puts a hand on Staal in the corner. Staal tumbles over. Officials call Samuelsson for holding. That's definitely holding, but we're not sure Staal didn't try to buy the call there. Crosby, Malkin, Guerin, Letang and Gonchar are on for the power play.
11:55: Detroit clears teh puck down ice for the third time this power play.
11:08: Gonchar has trouble with the puck at the left point and allows it to cross the blue line.
10:55: Samuelsson's penalty is killed. Awful effort by the Penguins' there. They can't waste these chances.
10:30: "LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!!! (clap, clap, clap) LET'S-GO RED-WINGS!!!!! (clap, clap, clap)"
8:58: Malkin comes rusing into the offensive zone. Cooke seemed to be a step offsides. Officials are not having a good game.
8:09: Fleury reaches out and covers a puck played in. A small scrum breaks out in the crease. We negated to mention this earlier, but yes, there was an octopus tossed to the ice before the game.
7:50: Dan Bylsma appears to have pulled a Michel Therrien and has switched the lines. Malkin and Crosby did a shift with Cooke. Kennedy and Staal were teamed with Kunitz. Now, Malkin is with Fedotenko and Satan.
6:50ish: Malkin dishes a feed into the slot for Satan, Satan moves to his backhand and seems to have Osgood beaten, but he loses control of the puck.
6:29: Crosby moves into the offensive zone, fakes a slapper, does a spin move near Rafalski and backhands the puck. Osgood makes the save.
6:16: Craig Adams is called for hooking Hossa along the boards. Gill, Scuderi, Staal and Cooke are on fro the kill.
5:19: Brooks Orpik backhands a puck down ice from behind his net.
4:55: Rafalski has a little trouble handling the puck and allows it to leave the offensive zone.
4:29: Rafalski drives a slapper at the cage from the right point. Fleury makes the save despitehaving... guess who... Tomas Holmstrom in front. Officials halt play. Matt Cooke comes in and punches Holmstrom in the face. No call.
4:16: Adams' penalty is killed.
3:56: Fleury makes a save in tight. Again, no replay from NBC. A pretty big scrum breaks out.
3:03: Kunitz controls the puck in the corner, circles around and dishes a feed to Gill at the left point. Gill fires a one-timer his big pool skimmer. Osgood makes the save despite some serious traffic in front.
1:58: Gill gets away with a bit of ah old on his buddy HOlmstrom along the boards.
1:37: Kronwall puts a slapper from the right point just over the cage.
1:14: Bylsma makes an interesting decision and calls timeout. Maybe he wants to organize everyone to come to his room tonight in order to watch "City Hall:"
-We think.
0:57: Not sure what that time out accomplished, but apparently Bylsma didn't teach his team the importance of getting th epuck out of the zone late in a period. Rafalski drives a slapper on net from the right point. It gets deflected wide. Franzen is at the side of the cage and is able to backhand it into the creae. It hits off Fleury's leg and bounces into the net. It's a garbage goal, but the Red Wings really worked hard for it. The Penguins just failed to get the puck out of their zone. Rafalski and Zetterberg get assists. Red Wings 2, Penguins 1.
0:00: End of period. Red Wings 2, Penguins 1.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Another solid all around period. The Red Wings got a little bit of a lucky goal through hard work. The Penguins had a few nice chances, such as Malkin's breakaway, and failed to convert.
-The second was a little less physical than the first. Maybe that's because officials started calling some things.
-Amazing how ordinary the Penguins' power play looks when it's playing a team with a real defense huh?
-Detroit has a 22-20 edge in shots.
-Guerin, Malkin, Valtteri Filppula and Hossa each have three.
-Detroit is dominating in faceoffs, 26-10 (70 percent).
-Helm is 8-for-10 (80 percent).
-Crosby is 6-for-13 (46 percent).
-Lidstrom leads the game with 15:15 of ice time.
-Crosby is right behind him with 15:07.
-Kris Letang leads the game with three blocked shots.