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The Big Red Machine that is the Detroit Red Wings
once again showed the Flightless Birds that are the Pittsburgh
Penguins how to play hockey. They totally dominated the game yet
again, allowing the newly constructed lines of the Pens absolutely
nothing all night. Sure there were a couple ‘what ifs’, but in
all honesty Chris Osgood, the goaltender for Detroit, has yet to be
tested, in either of the first two games.
The Penguins are missing in action, they seem to have no solution for
the Red Wings or their system, and even while on the powerplay, which
is where the majority of their shots have come, they are mostly from
the outside or a bad angle.
The biggest problem yet again tonight was puck possession, the
Penguins never have the puck, and when they do, it’s gone in an
instant; either via dump and chase (which they forget the chasing
part), a bad pass, or a simple poke check off the stick. The
first game I blamed Marc-Andre Fleury for giving up some bad goals and
having too many misplays, but tonight, it was honestly an all over
team effort that did not produce anything resembling the team that got
to the Stanley Cup Final. The Pittsburgh defense, which was put
up as so tough this playoff year, has been oh so bad. They are
making bad passes, no passes, not taking the body, and being rushed
into poor choices.
The only good thing the Penguins did tonight was stop the Detroit
powerplay, which went 0 for 9. Read the again, 0 for 9.
The fact that they HAD 9 opportunities shows the kind of game the
Penguins are being forced to play, and they are down right losing
because of it. While 5 on 5, they can’t do anything. Unlike the
Red Wings who scored three goals at even strength tonight, granted one
was a 4 on 4 highlight reel goal by Valtteri Filppula, which Fleury
could or should have stopped, but it really didn’t matter at that
point. You can’t win if you don’t score, if that had been an
overtime goal, fine, I’d hound Marc-Andre, but he has gotten zero
support in front of him, and Kris Letang did nothing to help him on
that play, just as the entire defensive core has done nothing for him
or the forwards the first two games.
After watching the first two games of the series one has to wonder,
are the Red Wings this good, that Penguins this bad, or are the Red
Wings simply forcing the Penguins to PLAY this poorly. The
Penguins MUST win the two games in Mellon Arena to make this a series,
they can not go down 3-0 or 3-1 to this Detroit team. Somehow between
now and Wednesday, the coaching staff better find their thinking caps
and come up with a solution, otherwise they may be embarrassed out of
the Finals in 4 games.
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Comments
TIM
May 27, 01:41 AM
Well it isn’t over at all, but this team needs to stop being scared and go back to playing solid hockey. Let’s Go Pens!
Pens1967
May 27, 02:12 AM
Roll out the tape of how to play the NJ Devils. The other thing I’d do is return to the earlier defense pairings of Gill/Letang and Whitney/Scuderi.
Dabich
May 27, 07:24 AM
Any comments on the Goalie interference call at the end of the game?
Jonathan Farzalo
May 27, 07:50 AM
The sykora one right at the end, or the malone one (about 1/2 through 3rd). Doesn’t matter, both were iffy in my opinion….but, that’s been there standard through 2 games, very tight around the goaltenders, so.
Ben Schmidt
May 27, 12:55 PM
Three things I’ve been noticing in the first two games:
1) Whenever Malkin comes across the blue line, he’s got three Red Wings players on him. The Pens should really develop some set plays top drop that puck back to someone and then forward really quickly to the open guy, because there’s no way they can have three players converging on one guy and not leave another open (see: Dupuis breakaway in first game). Another possibility is to not have Malkin carry the puck in for a change. Actually, this doesn’t just apply to Malkin’s line, but his line has been hit the hardest by this.
2) Shoot high. I don’t think a single puck went towards Osgood that was any higher than 2” off the ice.
3) If they’re not going to shoot high, get a player in the slot, because Osgood actually sends a fair number of rebounds there. For some reason, there’s never a Penguin there to capitalize on them, so the Wings get to transition to the attack. I’d like to at least see a defenseman pinch in for those pucks, if a forward can’t move into the slot.
All of these are very simple things that they could adjust without having to make sweeping changes. At the very least, they certainly couldn’t do worse trying this than they already are!
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