Detroit pushes Penguins to edge of elimination

Home ice continues to prove to be advantageous in the Stanley Cup Finals this postseason, as the Detroit Red Wings improved to 11-1 at home this postseason, beating the Penguins 5-0 in a very important Game 5 on Saturday night. After Pittsburgh evened the series with two solid wins at home in Games 3 and 4, Detroit needed to bounce back and regain control of the series. The return of Pavel Datsyuk to the lineup could not have been more timely. The Russian center had two assists and was buzzing all over the ice, making his presence known with some solid physical play accompanying the soft hands and finesse play he has become known around the league for.

The addition of Datsyuk to the lineup proved to be an additional obstacle for young superstar Sidney Crosby to overcome, as he was held to a single shot during the game, spending most of his ice time playing against the deadly defensive combo of Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Another factor which leans in Detroit’s favor is the fact that Game 6 will not take place in Pittsburgh until Tuesday, giving Detroit three days to rest their roster which includes a large number of older veterans and injured players.

While Pittsburgh played well in the first period, a little past the halfway point of the period, Datsyuk feathered a pass to Daniel Cleary, whose wrist shot somehow beat Penguins’ keeper Marc-Andre Fleury. The shot probably should have been stopped by Fleury, and it proved to be enough to give Detroit all the momentum they would need to run away with this one. In the second period, Detroit tied a postseason record by scoring 3 powerplay goals.

Valtteri Filppula gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the period, scoring mere seconds after the Penguins had successfully killed a penalty for goalie interference. Niklas Kronwall, known more for his solid defense and strong physical play, pulled off a couple of nifty moves near the Penguins goal line on one of Detroit’s nine powerplays, beating Fleury with a quick shot to put the Wings in a commanding position at 3-0. Pittsburgh went into a steady nose dive after that, taking more penalties even after seeing Detroit’s lethal effectiveness with man advantage.

Brian Rafalski scored Detroit’s second powerplay goal a little over two minutes after Kronwall scored, and Zetterberg chipped in another marker with the extra man at 15:26 of the 2nd. Detroit’s 5th goal chased Fleury to the bench, and backup goalie Mathieu Garon made his first appearance of the postseason, playing about 24 minutes of shutout hockey. In the 3rd, Pittsburgh continued to show a lack of discipline, as Crosby and Max Talbot both took penalties for slashing different key players on the Red Wings. Talbot’s slash targeted the injured right foot of Pavel Datsyuk, but he appeared unaffected by the blow. Pittsburgh will now have to hope that home ice advantage will continue to play a role in this series as they return to Pittsburgh for Game 6 on Tuesday. If not, it will be an eerily similar end to the Cup Finals, as Detroit celebrated their Stanley Cup victory at Mellon Arena last season.