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Wings On Cruise Control
by Paul on 05/31/09 at 10:39 AM ET
Comments (2)
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
They are a machine, but not the usual kind they build here in Motown.
The Detroit Red Wings can operate with most of their parts, still managing to motor along just fine without the odd key component, whether it be their leading scorer in Pavel Datsyuk, or the best defenceman in the world, six-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom.
Take the drive train out of a Ford, and it just won’t run. Take Datsyuk and Kris Draper out of the Detroit lineup, and they still beat the Pittsburgh Penguins comfortably, cruising to a 3-1 win and a 1-0 lead in this 2009 Stanley Cup final rematch.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
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...and they still beat the Pittsburgh Penguins comfortably, cruising to a 3-1 win…
Not sure that’s the right word. It was a hard fought game by both sides, and Detroit did more with their opportunities, lucky opportunities or not. They earned the win.
But territorially the game was incredibly even in all measurable ways, save for the face-off disparity. It’s not as if Detroit out-shot or out-chanced the Pens by a sizable margin, or controlled the puck much more than the Pens. The shots and chances were almost even. The hits were almost even. And if you break the games into chunks, each team essentially had 30 minutes where they were more assertive and had more jump—Detroit was much more energetic and smart for the first 10 minutes. Then, the Pens took over for the next 20 minutes of the hockey game. Detroit took over for the next 20, scoring twice in that span. And then the Pens pushed heavily and played a lot in the offensive zone the final 10 minutes.
Overall, a pretty evenly played game in a number of spots. The difference was the Wings defense cleaned up better in their own end than Pittsburgh’s did, and the Wings bottom six forwards played much better games than the Pittsburgh’s did.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 05/31/09 at 12:45 PM ET
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I have nothing to add, that just needed to be said again.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 05/31/09 at 11:53 AM ET