Pens/Wings Game 1 Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
May 31, 12:28 PM | Hype this story!
New year, same result
Pens better, still lose
No goaltending means no win
Might be over quick
Offense: C
They failed to generate many quality chances on Osbad. They had 32 shots, but most of these were not of high quality.
Defense: A
They did a great job defensively. They limited the Wings to virtually no high quality chances. Just like the Pens, almost everything the Wings got was to the outside.
Yeo Play: F
Just like the finals last year—nothing doing, even against a terrible Detroit penalty kill.
Penalty Kill: A
They easily killed the only Detroit power play.
Goaltending: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
The sad thing is, the Pens basically played the Wings to a draw. Play was pretty even all night, with neither team giving up much of anything. Osbad let in one bad goal. But the Wings won because Fleury let in two. Neither of Detroit’s first two goals had any business seeing the net. But Fleury, continuing his fine form from Game 6 last year, put them both in for Detroit. On the first one, you’d think that he’s played enough games in Detroit to know how lively the boards are. But apparently not. He went fishing for a puck shot wide, and it bounces in off him on the carom off the boards. Second one was similar. This time Franzen put it in from behind the goal line off Fleury. Let’s just say that this series is gonna be over real quick unless Fleury figures out how to outplay Osbad.
Overall: D
The Pens, save Fleury, played a much better Game 1 than they did last year. And it showed on the scoreboard. They cut the deficit in half, losing by two instead of four. They played a great road hockey game and the 18 skaters deserved better. But the 19th guy pretty much gave them no chance to win.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: D
He had a couple nice hits on Zetterberg, but was a zero offensively. He was trying to be too fancy on several occasions.
Geno: B
He made a nice play to set up the only goal. Other than that, all I can say is at least he was better than last year.
Ruslan Fedotenko: A
At least somebody on this team can score on Osbad in a Game 1.
Faceoffs: F
The Wings won 39 of 55 draws. You have to wonder if that is the biggest margin ever in a Cup Final game. And to think, that was without Draper and Datsyuk.
Regis McGuire: F
Oh, I have grown so sick of listening to this blowhard. For some reason, he feels the need to kiss the posterior of whoever is playing the Pens. Last night, he just gushed about the Wings all game long. The classic was when he said that Darren Helm, yes Darren Helm, would be lauded as a superstar in Detroit. Is he bitter because Shero hired Jason Botterill instead of him to be assistant GM? Or is he just so enamored with Detroit that he can’t help himself? If I was the Pens, I’d accuse him of spying for the Wings in an effort to get the more objective Darren Pang between the benches.
Marc-Andre Fleury: A
Hey, he didn’t fall coming out onto the ice. That’s at least something, right?
Luck: F
Detroit got lucky 31 times in this one.
Coach B.: F
For awhile there, I could have sworn it was The Genius behind the bench. I’m not sure if he ever had the same line combos out there after the first period. He panicked. He was too intent on trying to get matchups. Not a good way to introduce yourself to a national audience.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game
The Garage league strikes again. How on earth they can deign to call themselves a major sport, then go and assign hacks like Paul Devorski and Denis LaRue to the Final is a complete mystery to me. And these guys decided to go out and ruin Game 1 like they always do. They were in “let them play” mode, but somehow found a weak hook by Adams. Yet they missed Kronwall cross check Staal right in the back four times in a row. They missed Sid doing the same to Zetterberg. They missed Superstar Helm tackling then punching Talbot.
Monk Moment
Fleury magically making two pucks behind the goal line reappear behind him in the net.
Minard of the Game
Cooke inexplicably passed up a wide open shot to try to make a back pass on a breakout with Sid and Geno.
Free Candy
He nailed ***** with a big hit at center ice, briefly injuring him. Sadly, ***** was able to return to the game.
Icehole of the Game
*****, just because he is.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
Pens1967
May 31, 12:52 PM
I like to watch what coaches do, not what they say. Babcock felt it essential to dress a clearly limited Lidstrom and a coming of appendectomy Ericsson. Detroit did a great job of channeling the NJ Devils. Zetterberg was bascially taken out of the offense to shadow Crosby. That tells me the Wings think they are going to have to work very hard to defeat the Pens.
I actually like the Zetterberg/Crosby match. Sid made Zetterberg work his tail off covering him. That has got to wear on Zetterberg.
I think the Pens need to pull out their game plan for NJ. The Detroit defensemen aren’t that tough and I think they can be had on the cycle and fore-check.
Marks
May 31, 12:54 PM
I think your assessment of Bylsma was a little harsh. When you play with 11 forwards, it’s pretty tough to keep the same line together every time. Having Sid double shift to play with guys like Adams and Geno play with Talbot is what we’ve been doing since Gonch went down.
Sid isn’t going to be too effective if he has Zetterberg shadowing him at all times, so creating beneficial matchups is really our only hope in this series. That’s one thing that Therrien struggled with last year and Bylsma has done pretty well in the playoffs so far.
Albert
May 31, 01:11 PM
Coach B does more line-juggling on the road. He did it in the PHI, WAS, and CAR series, too.
Penguins are younger, stronger, faster. You saw that in the 2nd period. They need to sustain that energy and execute the Bylsma gameplan.
There was not enough attack and forecheck in this game. In addition to generating the goals required to get a win, that style would hit DET where they are weakest—esp. Ericsson and Lidstrom.
If the refs want to “let them play” then the Penguins should physically PUNISH their D. That works to PIT’s advantage.
It also wouldn’t hurt to knock Kronwall down a peg or three.
Pens1967
May 31, 01:37 PM
One thing I didn’t like was the passive offense to start the game. Borque said it was part of the game plan, but I think with Lidstrom and Ericsson being at lot less than 100%, starting on the attack would have been better, IMHO.
I agree with McCreary and Devorski’s “let ‘em play” style of referring, Detroit’s dmen should be targeted for hits at every chance.
As for the Sid/Zetterberg match, I think Sid generated offense. How much offense did Zetterberg generate?
Moq
May 31, 02:10 PM
It’s never too early for a must win game.
james
May 31, 03:18 PM
Don’t forget Mcguire’s obligatory “The Red Wings are so professional on the bench” rant. I wish he would just get gonorrhea and rot in hell.
DaBich
May 31, 05:01 PM
I almost cried over this effort. The guys played hard, matching Detroit on shots but got wasted on the face offs. Our hits were great too. Fleury HAS to be better for us to win.
And once again, our biggest problem: Power Play. That basically finished us off last night. Had we converted a time or two, we would have been in the game.
Pens1967
May 31, 05:15 PM
I forgot to mention how impressed I was that Holmstrom was brave enough to target Max Talbot for abuse.
Zack Dawson
May 31, 05:45 PM
I don’t know, I think the indictment of Fleury is a bit harsh. The fact that both goals were hardly hard-working or even normal goals means that most goalies would have let them in. Fleury made a lot of good saves in the game and never seemed too far out of it.
Just my take…and the fact that I’m tired of the “Fleury is terrible” banter that seems to be permeating these playoffs…
DAVID SCOTT
May 31, 05:59 PM
Let me start off saying that I am a Pittsburgh transplant living in So Cal. I am not a “the Refs stole the game from us!” conspiracy theorist.
Having watched most of last year’s post season and this year, I see a significant difference in Western and Eastern Conference games.
The Western Conference games, throughout the season and the post season, appear to be allowed more “physical” play than the the Eastern Conference games. Many hooks, cross checks and interference calls that are called in the East are considered “hockey plays” in the West.
The East seems to feature the player’s skill and speed, and discourages plays that will diminish that, while the West seems to promote more “old time hockey” that is more popular in Canada.
If Philly played in the West, I seriously doubt they would have been the most penalized team in the league.
When the two conferences meet in the SCF, if the refs call it like they do in the West (which has been the case in both this year’s game one and 5 of the 6 games last year) the Pens are at a distinct disadvantage. The Red Wings are use to this “Let ‘em play” mentality in the west, and can take advantage of it.
I am curious — Does anyone else see this?
Pens1967
May 31, 06:50 PM
I haven’t watched much western conference hockey, but I think who the refs are have more to with how the game is called. For ex, McCreary is famous for “letting them play”. He ref’d one of the games against Carolina and I think there were only a couple penalties on each team.
MB
May 31, 07:47 PM
A B for Malkin seems generous. The missed breakaway (after almost no deke) and the assist don’t seem to make-up for the turnovers. Oh well.
Pens1967
May 31, 11:39 PM
Fleury…what to say? Another terrible soft goal sucked the life right out of the other 18 skaters.
Ray aka WildcatRay
Jun 1, 11:21 AM
Game 1 Issues:
First game nerves: OK because they did not fall behind once they got worked out.
Face-offs: See above except they did not get worked out till Game 2.
Bounces or puck-luck, if you will: The saying goes, good teams make good luck, but really? Two caroms that go Detroit’s way for goals!?!? A third carom that only the Detroit player sees!?!?
Turning point: Malkin’s breakaway. I wonder if he knew he had enough room/time to make a deke on Osgood? I suspect he did not realize he could have.
Say what! moment: Babcock calling Sid a headhunter. Wonder if he thinks the same about Kronwall. His run at Malkin along the boards looked very much like an attempt to injure one of the other team’s star player. (Fortunately, Gino saw him coming and was able to avoid most of the hit.) Wonder if the refs would have run Kronwall had he made solid contact? Remember, it is a Hockeytown, USA player at home we are talking about.
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