The Red Wings put the Penguins on the brink of elimination with a masterful performance in shut-down execution, intensity and desire.
PITTSBURGH -- It didn’t seem like much of a game- or series-turning point when the Pittsburgh Penguins threw the puck up along the boards in a routine clearing pass early in the third period.
Sure it was a tight game, 1-1 and in fairness, the Red Wings were starting to build some momentum. But still it was a routine play, chip it up, get it out, get the pressure off goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the puck into the neutral zone where the offence could go to work.
Brad Stuart had a different idea.
The Detroit defenceman, a trade deadline-day pickup and the last piece of the defensive puzzle that general manager Ken Holland had so carefully put together earlier this season, moved along the Pittsburgh blue line, cut the clearing pass off and fired it back into the zone. Jiri Hudler, the second-line centre for the Wings was a little late exiting the zone, but the tardiness worked in his favour. He grabbed the shoot-in and lifted a rising backhand shot past a surprised Fleury on the short side and the puck somehow squeezed between the goalie and the post.
A great goal, well, not exactly, but a great play by Stuart and one that decided the game, 2-1, and may have irrevocably determined the outcome of this series.
Fitting that it came because of a heady play by a defenceman.
Grabbing the lead and then surviving a five-on-three advantage with just under eight minutes left to play, the Wings used their defensive ability to doggedly fashion a three-games-to-one lead in the series. They can win the Cup outright Monday night in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, a place where they’ve lost just one playoff game this season.
That’s no small accomplishment given that the Penguins hadn’t lost a playoff game at home this season (nine wins prior to this one) and Fleury hadn’t lost a game in the Mellon Arena in his previous 19 starts.
In hockey terms it was a "killer" goal, one from which the Penguins tried to come back, but the Red Wings, knowing its importance, refused to let that happen.
"We talked after the first period how we played OK, but didn’t win enough battles," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. He said his veteran players rose to the occasion after that. "We didn’t compete hard enough in the first and then we competed harder and harder as the game went on."
The Wings were especially relentless after Hudler’s goal. Even when the Pens had the five-on-three for 1:27 the Wings played with more energy and intensity than even the most desperate Penguin. They immediately went to short, intense shifts. They were tenacious in their own zone, throwing their bodies in front of any player and seemingly every shot. In a building full of screaming Penguins fans they made themselves heard above the din, shouting out words of encouragement, screaming out tactical decisions, urging themselves to commit mentally and physically to do whatever was necessary to preserve the lead and the win.
It was a performance for the ages, a master’s level program in shut-down execution, intensity and desire.
"I thought we really competed hard on the five-on-three and we have a veteran team," Babcock said. Giving credit to Darren McCarty who constantly barked out encouragement from the bench he said, "I think when you have veterans like that, it helps you get through situations like that."
The Penguins raised their intensity as well, but try as they might, they couldn’t overcome the veteran poise and execution that the Red Wings put forth.
"We missed two times trying to get the puck out," Pens coach Michel Therrien said of the plays that led to the game-winning goal. "(Detroit) is a good team and they find a way to win. Their fourth line scored the winning goal. So what are you going to say."
Perhaps plenty to all the Penguins who haven’t been able to get a puck past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood, but what will bother the Penguins the most in this game will be what has haunted them in all three of their losses. They didn’t capitalize on their chances, blowing their power-play opportunities and failing to get Osgood out of his comfort zone. Perhaps most importantly, Therrien failed to get Crosby out on the ice often enough. The Penguins’ best player only got 6:46 in the first period and though he finished with 22:39 for the game, much of it was desperation time in the third. Whatever the reason for that, it was a factor in the outcome of the game.
Give credit to the Red Wings however. Their defensive stand was every bit as good (and in many ways more difficult) than their two performances in Detroit where they twice shut out the Penguins with their smothering defence and controlled puck-possession game that has been their trademark for years and the hallmark of Babcock’s tenure with the team.
"It was tough not to get that (tying) goal," Therrien said afterward. "That was very hard to take. He (Henrik Zetterberg) did a very good job.
Zetterberg was especially good on Crosby when Crosby had a good scoring chance on the five-on-three, but Stuart, Lidstrom, Zetterberg and just about everyone else in the Red and White played every bit as tough. The Penguins, well, they played well, but match them up against what the Red Wings did you could never say they played the same.
In the end, that cost them a game and, maybe, if this plays out to form, the Cup.
