Red Wings at Penguins - Second Period - 01-31-10
SECOND PERIOD
19:45: "LET'S GO PENS! LET'S GO PENS!"
19:24: Staal picks up a loose puck in the neutral zone, gains the blue line on the left wing, fights off his personal road cone Brian Rafalski, swoops behind the net and whips a wraparound attempt through the crease. What an effort by Staal. Brian Rafalski might want to avoid matchups with Staal.
17:44: Here's all-time race for you. Bill Guerin, 39, beats Nicklas Lidstrom, 39, for a potential ic
17:13: Crosby digs out a loose puck behind the cage and dishes it to
16:58: Kennedy dishes a pass to Letang at the top of the slot. Letang hammers a slapper wide to the right of Howard.
17:07: Eaton's really getting involved on offense today. This time he snaps off a wrister from the left half wall. Howard eats it up.
16:24: Brad May is in front of the cage and dishes a backhanded feed to Miller in the slot. Miller snaps off a one-timer that clears the net.
14:46: Dupuis gets a backhander on net. There's a scramble for the rebound but Howard is able to cover.
14:03: Staal has a collison down low. He gets up slowly and lumbers to the bench. Staal appears to have a cut on his face. No call.
13:32: Malkin is nabbed for tripping Rafalski. Staal, Cooke, Eaton and McKee take the ice.
13:16: Rafalski blasts a slapper from the left half wall. CLear is in front on a nice screen but Fleury is able to fight it off.
12:22: Bertuzzi snaps off a wrster fomr hteright circle that appears to get deflected juuuust wide.
12:08: Kronwall moves a pass to Williams at theleft half wall. Williams blasts a one-timer that's off the mark.
11:32: Malkin's penalty is killed. Solid effort by the Penguins' penalty killers. Detroit really didn't generate much.
11:22: Malkin comes out of the box that creats a two-on-one with Crosby against Lidstrom. Lidstrom plays it perfectly and forces Malkin to take a low percentage wrister which Howard fights off. That's why Lidstrom is the best at his position and that's why he wins the Norris Trophy. Good luck seeing Mike Green ever doing that.
10:52: Crosby sneaks in from the left wing and flicks a backhander on net. Howard knocks it dead and covers to freeze play.
9:30: Cooke steps up and cranks a lose puck above the left circle on net. Howard fights it off.
8:48: Cooke snaps off a wrster from left circle. It deflects behind the net. Crosby is on the left of the cage and quickly backhands it towards teh cage. Howard is able to scramble to his left and keep it out.
7:09: Crosby fights off Filppula to the right of the cage and pushes a backhander at the net. Fedotneko is in front and grabs the loose puck putting a little wrister on net while fighting off a check. Howard is able to cover the puck as Guerin crashes in.
5:38: Off a delay penalty, Patrick Eaves whips a wrister on net from the right side of the cage. Fleury fights it off. Play is halted. Eaton is called for holding Helm behind the cage. Orpik, GOnchar, Adams and Staal take the ice.
4:44: Listrom tees up from the top of the slot and blasts a slapper wide to the right of the cage.
4:14: Rafalski cranks a one-timer from the right point that Dupuis gets with the shaft of his stick and deflects into the corner.
3:34: Just as the Eaton penalty is killed, Orpik snaps off a wrster from the left point that Howard deflects out of play. Heck of an effort by the Penguins there to kill that penalty.
3:14: And that brought som much needed life to this game. From the left wing, Goligoski snaps a centering pass through traffic to Crosby cutting throug the crease. Crosby takes the pass on his forehand, makes a dazzling cut just in frontof Howard who is way out of his crease, moves to his backhand and plunks the puck into the wide open cage. What a move by Crosby.He totally jammed up Howard there. And what a pass by Goligoski. He had to get that through a few sticks in order to hook up with Crosby. Goligoski and Malkin get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. NBC takes about 21 minutes to show a replay. Detroit fans start calling Crosby a crybaby. Penguins 1-0.
1:59: Attendance is announed as 17,105. It is the 145th consecutive sell out.
1:25: Cleary snaps off a wrister from above the left circle. Fleury makes the save but has a little trouble with it.
0:00: End of period. As play ends, Orpik and Eave mix it up. Orpik seemed to be the aggressor in that battle as he popped Eaves in the face with a punch. No call. Penguins 1, Red Wings 0.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Things were looking a lot like the first period there until Crosby's goal. There was plenty of skating and more than a few scoring chances but it was still kind of bland.
-Howard continues to be the best player of this game. If not for him, the Penguins have a few more goals here.
-The penalty killers continue to dominate special teams here. There's very little of note on the power play for either team.
-We're not really seeing much chemistry with the new line combinations.
-The Red Wings have very little going on offensively. They're gonna have to keep the Penguins at one goal if they hope to win this.
-This has been the easiest two perios Fleury has had in a while.
-The Penguins are dominating shots, 29-11.
-The Red Wings only had five shots in the second.
-Crosby and Letang lead the game with five each.
-Kronwall and Zetterberg each lead Detroit with five.
-Rafalski leads the game with 18:14 of ice time.
-Gonchar leads the Penguins with 16:24.
-The Red Wings are dominating faceoffs, 21-13 (62 percent).
-Zetterberg is 7 for 8 (88 percent).
-Crosby is 8 for 13 (62 percent).
-Letang and Brad Stuart each lead the game with two blocked shots.
-In case you were wondering, Brent Johnson and his drivers license photo are on the cover of IceTime:
-In retrospect, we should've used this as our best Red WIngs related YouTube video in the pregame post: