The Penguins look to faceoff against the Red Wings in Stanley Cup Finals

Admin on 05 30, 2009

The Pittsburgh Penguins are riding a 5 game playoff winning streak. Their two stars are playing unstoppable hockey collaborated with key play from their role players. The Penguins ran through the Carolina Hurricanes with ease scoring 5 goals per game that series. Pittsburgh seems to be in a great position coming into the Stanley Cup Finals. Too bad they play the Red Wings.

The Red Wings have been the kryptonite for the Penguins over the last two years. They manhandled the Penguins in the Stanley Cup last year using veteran know-how and pure grit. Their abuse of Evgeni Malkin led to his inability to influence the series (1 goal, 2 assists). They also roughed Sid the Kid up which resulted in his less than stellar performance. The Red Wings Final’s experience proved to provide too much of a disparity to be overcome by the ability of this young Pittsburgh team.

This year these two teams matched up twice in two completely different games. The first was a chaotic goal scoring frenzy in which the Penguins made up a 3 goal disparity (scoring 4 altogether) in the third period to push the game into overtime. Ruslan Fedotenko scored the game winner in overtime on an assist from Jordan Staal. The second game was a 0-3 Penguins destruction at home. Fueling the fire was a goal from the first appearance by winger Marian Hossa at his old team’s arena. Hossa, an essential part of last year’s Penguins squad, is now a key piece of the puzzle to the Red Wings success.

The Red Wings proved too experienced, too playoff savvy for last year’s Penguins. Can the rest of the Penguins watch Crosby and Malkin’s back to help keep their mind on winning the game instead of getting laced by Detroit’s brutal checking? Can these two stars trump the offensive balance of the perennial favorite Detroit Red Wings? This Stanley Cup Finals should prove to be much more evenly matched than last year’s due to that experience.

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