Jim Kelley

Jim Kelley writes regularly on the NHL for Sportsnet.ca and can be heard on Primetime Sports on the FAN590.

What was supposed to be a dream Stanley Cup final matchup is turning into a familiar nightmare for the state of Pennsylvania.

Hard to believe, but the much hyped "dream" final between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins (hype I contributed to I might add) now has the smell of another "dream" matchup: Detroit vs. Philadelphia, 1997.

Remember that one? The Wings vs. Eric Lindros and the Flyers? The good people of the state of Pennsylvania still do. They remember it as a totally one-sided nightmare. The Red Wings won in a four-game sweep and after the first two games, the only thing unresolved was how many games it would take the Red Wings to close the Flyers out.

The Flyers were tabbed by Terry Murray, their coach at the time, as having choked. It was a legacy they still haven’t fully lived down.

I’m not ready to put the Penguins in the same embalming fluid as those Flyers just yet, but losing 3-0 Monday evening in the Joe Louis Arena has to make you wonder. The Penguins are going home down two games to none and they’ve yet to score a goal against the Wings. They haven’t lost a playoff game at the Mellon Arena in the playoffs this spring (8-0), but after watching them come up empty through the first two games in Detroit, it’s clear the Red Wings are the better team; a far better team.

If you looked at just the final scores, you would likely credit Detroit goalie Chris Osgood for that. In shutting out the Penguins for the second time in as many games, he extended his playoff leading goals-against average and save percentage to the point where one might need an electron microscope to see the infinitesimally small numbers.

But Osgood ("I just play the games and look for the wins") is only been a part of the Detroit story. The difference makers so far have been Detroit’s overall speed, its experienced and exquisite team defence, and its smart and opportunistic ability to create turnovers and score off the transition game.

Motor city should make cars as efficient as the Red Wings. If they did, the gas crisis and the North American auto industry problems would be resolved faster than you can say "what size is your ring finger."

Let’s do the analysis in assembly-line fashion.

- Osgood: he hasn’t had to make many saves, difficult or otherwise, but he is clearly in the collective minds of the Penguins. The Pens likely think now that they can’t beat him simply because they have to work so hard just to get the puck to him and once there, they can’t even get their shots away let alone test the veteran netminder. That’s a remarkable turn of events given that the Penguins came to this series as the most successful offence in the game today. But the shutdown style of Detroit’s team defence -- and it starts with them winning seemingly every faceoff -- works in Osgood’s favour.

- Detroit’s overall team speed: This is difficult to explain, but the so-called "old" Wings have all the energy in the game. Part of that comes from the fact the Penguins have gone down a goal or two early in both games. But most of it is because the Red Wings channel their energy in smart bursts, winning the faceoffs, making a stretch pass and then getting behind the now clearly exposed Pittsburgh defence. The unit is simply too slow to keep up with the Wings and the Wings make it appear even worse than it is because they keep rolling lines in short shifts while the Pens keep trying to generate something out of their star players (Crosby, Malkin and the like) none of whom (with the exception of Crosby) seem to have anything left in their legs.

- Experience: playoff experience is something you can’t teach, it has to be learned and the Red Wings simply have it in mega doses while the Penguins do not. Note it’s the Penguins who are taking all the from-behind and retaliatory penalties. The Wings initiate a lot of the physical play, but they almost never retaliate. Hence the foolish in-the-crease penalty (one of several he took in the game) from Ryan Malone, a penalty that was not only needless, but set up the Wings for the spirit-crushing third goal of the game, a brilliant solo effort by Valtteri Filppula, that left the Penguins without answers and without hope.

- Transition Game: the Wings are so good at getting the puck off the draw and getting it into the zone that you often see them attacking Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (the best Pittsburgh player on the ice) with what appears to be a two- and sometimes three-man advantage. Simply put the Penguins aren’t reacting fast enough, they seem to be immobilized by the lost draws and by the time they react the Red Wings have moved past them with smart and effective passes giving them the man advantage, sometimes more than a man advantage. It’s not just off the faceoffs either. The Red Wings break up plays smartly and when they do, they go on the offensive faster than the Penguins can react. It’s stunningly beautiful to watch and stunningly effective for the Red Wings who even when they don’t score keep the puck away from the Penguins for long periods of time.

Lest we give the Red Wings too much credit, the odour of defeat in this game and, apparently in the series, is due in large part to the Penguins unwillingness or inability to compete. Evgeni Malkin has gone from contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy to nonexistent in this series. Same can be said of Malone, Peter Sykora and Jordan Staal. Crosby has created most of the chances the Penguins have had, but he’s been smothered by what amounts to a five-man defence largely because no one else is creating any chances or even causing the Detroit defence to feel any pressure. It was so obvious in the latter stages of the third period that the Penguins were reduced to trying to create some physical play via cheap shots and blows to the head of certain Detroit players, a strategy that the Red Wings laughed off so often they ended up leaving the Penguins not only frustrated but embarrassed.

It was so bad even Pittsburgh coach Michael Therrien was reduced to complaining about obstruction and perhaps some embellishments by Osgood.

"They’re good at it (the obstruction)," he said. "They’re really good at it."

As if that somehow would obscure the Pens inability to create anything in the way of true scoring chances.

In the end, it was more than a second consecutive shutout, it was an exercise in utter domination.

One the Wings intend to carry over to Pittsburgh.

"We’re built to play well on the road," said Osgood. "We’re not going to be intimidated there."

Either the Penguins find a way to do that or the "dream" series will become a nightmare of such monumental proportions for the Penguins that even the Flyers of a decade ago will finally begin to feel some relief.