Offense takes back seat to hard hitting in opener

Sunday, May 31, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

DETROIT -- Niklas Kronwall, the hockey equivalent of a surface-to-hairline missle, had Evgeni Malkin measured for some serious mayhem early in the third period of last night's typically frantic Game 1.

DETROIT - MAY 30: Kris Letang(notes) #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins collides with Kirk Maltby(notes) #18 of the Detroit Red Wings during Game 1 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on May 30, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Malkin was flying along the boards in neutral ice, his head lowered, and his immediate future seemingly headed for unconsciousness. Kronwall locked on him and swooped toward coordinates high on Geno's white sweater. In the last millisecond before they collided, Malkin lifted his chin and lowered his shoulder, mitigating the impact by 70 percent or more.

Had he not looked up, the result would have made Kronwall's hit at the same spot on the ice against Chicago's Martin Havlat last week look like a moonlight kiss. Havlat was unconscious before he hit the ice. Malkin escaped to play in tonight's Game 2.

And so it was that the least anticipated development of this opening chapter was the quickness with which both teams turned the ice surface into Detroit Rock City.

Brad Stuart rocked Ruslan Fedotenko. Brooks Orpik freight-trained Marian "I wanted to have the best chance to win the Stanley Cup and I felt Detroit is that team" Hossa. Stuart plastered Kris Letang against the window.

But most tellingly, Sidney Crosby took every opportunity to bang Henrik Zetterberg, who skated away with the Conn Smythe Trophy in this matchup last spring.

Crosby, widely considered a pretty boy by many of his Motown detractors -- they don't call him Cindy Crosby for nothing -- spun Zetterberg to the ice with a perfectly placed shoulder near the red line late in the first and the Penguins generally took their cue from the Captain all night.

"There is no revenge factor," Crosby had said after yesterday's morning skate. "It's a new year. It's a new opportunity. If we were playing anyone else we'd still feel the same way. We're four wins from the Stanley Cup. I don't think there's any extra motivation needed."

It was not as though the Wings had forgotten the four thunderous hits Orpik delivered on one shift in Game 3 at Mellon Arena last year, but when teams of pretty much unparalleled skill spend as much of Game 1 smacking the snot out of each other, it signals that we might be in for more violence than anyone predicted.

Crosby, again the prominent example, had three times as many hits (3) as shots after two periods. Perhaps you'd like to see the opposite.

How big was Fedotenko's backhander in the 19th minute of last night's first period?

Seeing as how it erased a 1-0 Red Wings lead with the first intermission dead ahead, it was huge on its own merit, but downright ginormous, egantic if you prefer, when you understand that Detroit has not lost in these Stanley Cup playoffs when leading after one.

Same with after two.

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom(notes), from Sweden, collides with Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby(notes) during the first period of Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup finals hockey series in Detroit, Saturday, May 30, 2009.

Had it not been for Stuart's ridiculous bank shot off the rear boards and the rear stitches of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's right pad five minutes earlier, the Wings would have trailed after one, and in a curious statistical inversion, they have not won in these Stanley Cup playoffs when trailing after one.

Same with after two.

Both first-period goals came off defensive end turnovers, Detroit's thanks to Hal Gill's inability to clear, Pittsburgh's courtesy of an even worse clearing attempt by Stuart that was intercepted by Geno Malkin. Malkin whistled at the net, where Chris Osgood appeared to control it, but it leaked in front of him after a long second. Osgood and Fedotenko got to the loose disc at the same moment, jarring it farther from the goalmouth, from where Fedotenko swatted it to the net.

But even as the Penguins were hitting every red shirt in cross traffic, the Wings kept hitting inanimate objects to their stunning benefit.

Johan Franzen, who doesn't need any help putting the puck in the net (The Mule has 24 goals in his last 33 post-season games), got just the right kind of kiss from the rear boards behind Fleury to put a second consecutive bank-shot goal in the final minute of the second period.

That goal had all the earmarks of a serious deflater, as it came after a Penguins timeout and at the end of a period in which Pittsburgh had dominated play and outshot the Wings 13-11.

But that was nothing compared to the airborne puck Justin Abdelkader settled next to Jordan Staal, who simply could not find it on his radar, and wristed past Fleury for a 3-1 lead less than three minutes into the final period.

There's a big gap this morning, between Penguin frustration and Penguin discouragement. The Penguins skated stride for stride with the Wings, banged with them muscle for muscle. They just lost the always unpredictable goofy goal factor.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283. More articles by this author
First published on May 31, 2009 at 12:03 am