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Red Wings shut out Penguins in series opener

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 24, 2008 at 9:56 p.m.

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DETROIT – Mikael Samuelsson might be the most unsung Swedish-born player of the six that suited up for the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.

But the 6-foot-2, 213-pound forward was quite a force in the opening game of the Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena.

Samuelsson, whose only two previous goals this postseason came in the Red Wings’ 8-2 rout of the Avalanche that completed a sweep of the Western Conference semifinal series, scored two more in Detroit’s 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The series resumes here Monday night.

“ ‘Sami’ is kind of a streak guy,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “When he scores, he feels good about himself. I thought he played big and strong.”

So did Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood, who turned aside 19 shots for his second shutout of the postseason and 12th of his career in playoff competition.

The Red Wings, who have won eight of nine home playoff games, finished off the Penguins with late goals by Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg.

Cleary scored a short-handed goal with 2:42 to play and Zetterberg, who had a game-high eight shots, connected for a power-play goal with 12.2 seconds remaining with Jarkko Ruutu in the penalty box for slashing Samuelsson.

“I don’t know if it was nerves,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said, “but definitely that was (our) worst performance of the playoffs. We didn’t compete like we were supposed to compete. It’s a good lesson.”

The Red Wings did a superb job on special teams, especially while killing penalties. They killed four consecutive Penguins power plays – one lasted 11 seconds -- in the scoreless first period before seizing control.

Detroit outshot Pittsburgh 16-4 in the second period and took a 1-0 lead on Samuelsson’s first goal at the 13:01 mark.

The Penguins were on a line change when Samuelsson intercepted a pass from Ruutu. Samuelsson skated down left wing, moved behind the net and scored a wraparound goal, banking the puck off the left skate of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

“The feeling, it was great for sure,” said Samuelsson, who played in 22 games for the Penguins in 2002-03. “I love to score goals, obviously. But, yeah, they turned over the puck at the red line. I just took a shot at it. They went to the net. I couldn't really cut in front of the net, so I had to go behind.

“I guess Fleury committed to me a little bit. So I took a chance to throw it at the net, and it went in.”

Samuelsson, who had 11 goals in 73 regular-season games, set up his next goal at 2:16 of the third period when he separated Penguins defenseman Todd Gill from the puck with a big hit along the boards.

After the puck popped free, Fleury tried to pass it to Evgeni Malkin, but it bounced off the Pittsburgh forward and Samuelsson gained possession. He skated into the slot and fired it into the net for the 2-0 lead.

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 25-7 over the final two periods and 36-19 for the game.

“I thought we were nervous early,” Babcock said. “I didn’t think we executed early. I thought once we got the tempo up and got skating that things went our way better.”

Osgood was at his best in the opening period when he made three saves against Marian Hossa and two against Sidney Crosby.

“I don’t think we came here expecting an easy series,” Crosby said.

The Red Wings lost an apparent first-period goal at 15:20 when referee Dan O’Halloran ruled that Tomas Holmstrom had interfered with Fleury when a shot by defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom went into the net.

Not only did the Red Wings lose the goal, but they had to kill off Holmstrom’s penalty. It was a controversial call because Fleury was outside the crease when Holmstrom skated by and made contact with his stick.

“That’s the rule, you can’t put your stick in the crease now, is it?” Babcock said. “Did they change that when I wasn’t watching? Did he touch his pads in any way or interfere with him in any way?

“(The officials) have to decide. I just coach the game. I don’t get to referee it.”

ETC.: Detroit’s Kris Draper, who turned 37 Saturday, won 13 of 19 faceoffs and was a plus-3 … Hossa finished with four shots on goal and Crosby three … The Red Wings scratched defenseman Chris Chelios (leg) and forward Johan Franzen, who is recovering from a concussion … The Penguins scratched forward Gary Roberts, who missed the last three games of the Eastern Conference finals because of pneumonia but is healthy now … Steve Yzerman, who won three Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, and Mario Lemieux, who won two Cups with the Penguins, took part in a ceremonial faceoff before the game. Yzerman is a Red Wings vice president and Lemieux is Penguins chairman.

Comments

  • May 25, 2008

    7:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    hikingartist writes:

    I was pulling for the pens, but jeez the red wings are good. If you like hockey, you can't help but be impressed.

  • May 25, 2008

    4:53 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jcn7vc writes:

    SASQUATCH-
    Not only that, but I can't find a hockey game on TV any more. Wasn't this game supposed to be on NBC? I couldn't find it anywhere. Hard to follow a team when you can't watch them or even get their highlights.