By Jim Kelley,
SPORTSNET.CA
PITTSBURGH — Two players thought to have fallen out of contention for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP may have battled back into contention, but the always consistent Nick Lidstrom appears to be poised to move past both.
Johan Franzen of Detroit hasn’t been anywhere near the scoring machine he was prior to missing the Dallas series with concussion problems, but he still leads all playoff scorers in goals (13) and it’s fair to argue the Red Wings wouldn’t have gotten this far without him.
Touched, or shall we say torched, for seven goals in the first two games in Detroit, Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has played his way back into hunt with two strong showings at home.
Fleury was a difference maker in Game 3, winning 3-2, but really saving a must-win game for the Penguins with several stellar stops in the third period and keeping the Red Wings off the board in the final minutes of play when the Pens had to kill a late-game power play.
That win was his 19th straight at the Mellon Arena and nine of those have come in the playoffs (prior to Saturday night).
His goals-against average (1.93) is second only to Detroit’s Chris Osgood and series watchers would argue somewhat strenuously that Pittsburgh’s defence is hardly the equal of Detroit’s, what with Fleury having faced 492 shots to Osgood’s 353 throughout the playoffs.
He didn’t fare quite so well in Game 4, where he was strong through most of the contest, but hurt his team’s chances giving up what proved to be the game-winning goal. It would be difficult to see Fleury breaking through now. Nothing short of an-all-World performance by him in Game 5 AND a Cup victory for Pittsburgh would upend what appears to be a battle among several players in Detroit.
Playing brilliant defence and scoring the first goal of the game for Detroit, Lidstrom seems to be moving toward a commanding position, especially if the Pens continue to keep Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk off the scoring sheet.
The Red Wings captain negated Pittsburgh’s first goal with a blast from the left point that got his team back in the game and he played in excess of 28 minutes in anchoring the defence.
