Tonight it was the Red Wings and the Penguins in a rematch of the last two Stanley Cup finals. Jimmy Howard was the goalie for the Wings and Fleury was in net for the Penguins. Malkin was out of the lineup tonight. Eaves and Cleary were still out as well.
Late in the first period Filppula brought the puck into the Penguins’ end after receiving a nice pass through the neutral zone from Bertuzzi. Filppula did a neat little toe drag and shot a wrister between Gonchar’s legs. Fleury couldn’t see it in time because he was screened by Gonchar. The shot beat Fleury and gave the Wings the one to nothing lead.
The first period was a good one for the Red Wings. They had a lot of great scoring chances especially during the power plays.
The Red Wings continued playing well in the second period. They created a few good scoring chances in a row and you could feel that they were really buzzing. Lidstrom got the puck to Zetterberg who took it across the ice in front of the crease with Bertuzzi in front. Zetterberg let go a backhander that was stopped and came right back to him. He moved over a little and let it go again finding the top corner of the net to make it two to nothing Red Wings.
Later in the second period the Penguins dumped the puck in and chased it down. Kunitz and Dupuis battled for the puck and between the two of them they got it to the crease. The puck bounced around and got into the net to bring the Penguins within one. The goal was originally given to Kunitz but was later changed to Dupuis.
Early in the third period the Wings were on the move and Filppula passed it to Zetterberg at center ice. Zetterberg took it into the zone, made a few moves and fired. Fleury got a piece of it but it made it through him and into the net. That was Zetterberg’s second goal of the net and it made it three to one Wings.
The Wings continued to play really well for the rest of the third period. Not only could the Penguins not come back and score, but it was all they could do to stop the Red Wings from scoring again. Detroit played very aggressively and pressured hard right up until the end. The Red Wings won the game three to one and they looked dangerous doing it.
There was a little bit of mayhem after the final whistle. Zetterberg and Crosby did some pushing and shoving and then Jimmy Howard stepped up and grabbed Crosby. It was great to see Howard sticking up for himself and for Zetterberg.
This was a fantastic game. The Wings looked like a team on a roll. They might be getting hot at the perfect time.
This 1-3 win brings us to:
36-23-13
85 points
