Stanley Cup Finals Game 5: Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Pre-Game News:
When the mayors of Detroit and Pittsburgh made a bet over the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Pennsylvania politico wanted Motown’s moniker of Hockeytown to be part of the wager.

Pre-Game Notes:

• Why Canadians are hoping for the Penguins:  According to a study by Brock (Ontario) University professor Ernest Biktimirov, by way of Toronto’s Globe and Mail, when an Eastern Conference team wins the Stanley Cup, the Canadian stock market goes up. When the Western Conference wins, it goes down.
• For fans of Horse racing today was the 3rd leg of the Triple Crown and Summer Bird was the big winner.
  

Game Notes:

• Kris Draper is playing in his 200th NHL playoff game.  Not bad for the $1 man.
• 1st Period:  Insane pace to this period.  Went 7 minutes and 19 seconds before the first whistle.  First whistle of game was for a Kronwall penalty.  No shots given up on the power play. 
• While it is still quite early Datsyuk’s impact has been felt with a hit on Malkin and an assist on Cleary’s goal.  And how about Cleary who was supposedly not playing tonight.  Looks ok to me.
  
• 1st Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 10, Detroit 8
  Hits: Pittsburgh 10, Detroit 15
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 5, Detroit 3
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 5
• 2nd Period:  Penguins nicely killed off the rest of the Wings powerplay.  However with the Penguins on a change, Osgood got it to Hossa who sent Filppula on the breakaway.  He becomes the first goalie since Brodeur and Giguere in 2003 to get an assist in the Stanley Cup Finals.
  
• Then the Detroit defense got involved with powerplay goals by Kronwall and Rafalski.  Zetterberg roofed a powerplay goal to finish off the period.
  
• Cannot believe how quickly the Penguins unraveled this period.   They took 5 penalties and the Wings capitalized 3 times.  With Datsyuk back you cannot give the Wings opportunities.
• Should be an interesting 3rd period.
• 2nd Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 6=16, Detroit 15=23
  Hits: Pittsburgh 11=21, Detroit 14=29
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 4=9, Detroit 4=7
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 12=16, Detroit 10=15
• 3rd Period:  Hossa takes a stupid penalty.  Wings kill the powerplay.  Not sure this is the same Detroit team.
• Chris Osgood with a shutout.  Pretty quiet period. 
• 3rd Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 6=22, Detroit 6=29
  Hits: Pittsburgh 14=35, Detroit 13=42
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 4=13, Detroit 7=14
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 8=24, Detroit 6=21

Post-Game Thoughts:

• Teams that win Game 5 have gone on to win 14 of the last 19 Stanley Cups dating back to 1950 when the Red Wings did so against the New York Rangers.
• Osgood with his 15th career postseason shutout (Wings record), 2nd of the 2009 post season and 3rd in the Stanley Cup Finals.
• Penguins will not play anything like they did tonight in Pittsburgh.  Expect a way more disciplined team on Tuesday night.
• The impact of Datsyuk’s return was immense.
• The Wings haven’t won by such a large margin in over 12 years, when they defeated the Flyers in 1997 in Game 3 of the Finals 6-1.
• Lidstrom played in his 233 game tonight, which tied him for 5th all time with Scott Stevens.

Courtesy of Greatest Hockey Legends we get some interesting numbers:

The team that grabs the 3-2 series lead in the Stanley Cup finals has a likelihood of winning of 81.3%. That is an overall record of 26 wins and 6 losses.

Those numbers are greatly propped by home team statistics. If the home team can take game 5, the likelihood of winning moves up to 95.5%. Only once in 22 tries has the home team failed to win the Cup under these circumstances.

For complete story click here.

Post-Game Press Conference via NHL.com:

Detroit Coach Mike Babcock

Your thoughts on the lift Datsyuk gave the team? 
Well, I think I said this earlier, if they played the series without Malkin and Crosby and they suddenly come ?? this guy’s one of the best players in the world both offensively and defensively in the winter. Just makes the team more comfortable. We need plays, and suddenly we relaxed and we made plays. 

You often talk about timing on’ a penalty kill. The timing of that first one when it was scoreless, looking back, how big was that?
Real big. The other thing that was so important for us was we talked a lot about preparing for these games was the special teams battle had to be better. We just couldn’t keep losing that battle. We had to compete harder and be better on both specialty teams in order to have success. Our guys have a lot of pride and we wanted to do that.

Pittsburgh Coach Dan Bylsma:

Looking back, the timing of the first penalty kill that they had after you were really doing well on the power play, what kind of factor do you think that was on the game?
Again, home building, they get the kill. If we score a goal, it’s a different momentum in the game. But there’s a lot of hockey to play at that point. I wouldn’t say that was the particular turning point in the game. But they did gain momentum from it. They were aggressive and got pucks down the ice, and forced us to go back several times, which is what you do on a good penalty kill. And they certainly gained momentum from the kill, and the crowd at that point.

Can you talk about facing Datsyuk back in the lineup, and what he really added? Another dimension to the first line to the Wings?
 Yeah, I thought that line got to the offensive zone more. They had it in the first four games, that was certainly there for him. Controls the puck well, and, like the good players, the great players do in the game, they can move it to their line mates. They support the puck, and then they can make those plays.  He certainly did that, and they were a bigger presence in the offensive zone as a result.