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Re-invented Osgood shines

Veteran Detroit goalie coming up better than ever

The Rocky

Published May 25, 2008 at 10:31 p.m.

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Don't tell Chris Osgood that you can't teach an older goaltender new tricks.

Osgood, 35, says that he's re-invented himself after going back to school to work with a couple of goalie coaches.

It shows.

Osgood posted 27 wins and an NHL-best 2.09 goals-against average for the Detroit Red Wings in the regular season, and he has backstopped them to within three victories of a Stanley Cup championship heading into Game 2 of the Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight at Joe Louis Arena (6 MDT, Versus).

This isn't the same guy who was ridiculed 10 years ago for allowing a 90-foot shot to elude him in overtime in a Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars.

Yet some folks tend to forget that Osgood pitched a shutout in the next game to get the Red Wings into the Finals, where he helped them win the second of back-to-back Cups.

"He's always been mentally strong," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said Sunday. "That's one of his strengths. If he has a bad game, or a bad goal is let in, he doesn't seem to get rattled by it. We've seen that in the playoffs and we've seen that back in the '90s as well.

"(But) he's really matured as a goalie and as a person, too."

Osgood wasn't exactly a sieve in his first stint with the Red Wings, but he credits Detroit goalie coach Jim Bedard and former University of Michigan goalie coach Stan Matwijiw - the latter runs a school across the river in Windsor, Ontario - for incorporating some butterfly techniques into his game.

"I just took what I did good before and learned new moves and learned things that would make me better and kind of meshed it into one," said Osgood, who made 19 saves in a 4-0 win Saturday and has gone 11-2 in the playoffs with two shutouts, a league-best 1.48 goals-against average and a .935 saves percentage.

"I took what I did good, and then I erased the things I didn't do so good. And I improved on the new things I needed to learn to become the goalie I am today. It took a while. It just doesn't happen overnight, but now I think I've got it down pretty good."

Osgood went back to school during the 2004-05 lockout, after he completed a two-year stint with the St. Louis Blues before returning to the Red Wings as a free agent.

Osgood, one of the NHL's most underrated and underpaid goalies - his salary this season was $800,000 - began this playoff run as Dominik Hasek's backup, but he took over in Game 4 in the first round against Nashville.

Plenty of great goalies have worn the winged wheel, yet Osgood ranks second behind Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for the most regular-season wins in franchise history (279), and he has won the most playoff games (56).

With 363 regular-season wins overall, 15th on the league's career list, and an opportunity to get his name on the Stanley Cup for the third time, Osgood has a better-than-good resume.

"He's been so good for us for so many years that sometimes we take it for granted," Lidstrom said.

Penguins' shake-up

Saying every playoff team needs to make adjustments, Penguins coach Michel Therrien will shake up his lines for Game 2, including putting 6-foot-4, 224-pound Ryan Malone on center Sidney Crosby's line instead of the speedy Pascal Dupuis. Marian Hossa will stay on the right side.

Maxime Talbot, a gritty 190-pound left wing, will skate on Evgeni Malkin's line with Petr Sykora, and 6-2, 215-pound Gary Roberts will replace tough guy George Laraque on a unit with Adam Hall and pest Jarkko Ruutu.

Roberts was a healthy scratch Saturday after missing the previous three games of the Eastern Conference final against Philadelphia.

Dupuis will skate with Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy.

Roberts' addition gives the Penguins more of a "physical presence," Crosby said. "He's a guy that can go out there and really give you momentum with a big hit or creating that energy that you need sometimes."

Franzen might play

Red Wings forward Johan Franzen, who is recovering from concussionlike symptoms, practiced again Sunday and might play tonight. He apparently was injured in the second round against the Avalanche, even though he scored nine goals in that series.

"I can't remember a situation where I got a hard hit to the head or anything like that," he said. "We haven't looked at the videos or anything."

Quenneville seen

Former Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville was spotted in San Jose last week, according to the San Jose Mercury News, evidence he interviewed for the Sharks' vacant head coaching position.

The Sharks fired coach Ron Wilson, but general manager Doug Wilson said he won't reveal the names of any potential replacements.

PENGUINS AT RED WINGS

* When: 6 p.m. MDT

* Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit.

* What: Game 2, best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals.

* TV/Radio: Versus; KKFN-FM (104.3).

* Leading scorers

Pittsburgh (12-3) G A P

C Sidney Crosby 4 17 21

RW Marian Hossa 9 10 19

C Evgeni Malkin 9 10 19

LW Ryan Malone 6 9 15

D Sergei Gonchar 1 10 11

Coach:

Michel Therrien

Detroit (13-4) G A P

C Henrik Zetterberg 12 10 22

RW Pavel Datsyuk 9 10 19

RW Johan Franzen 12 3 15

LW Jiri Hudler 4 9 13

D Nicklas Kronwall 0 12 12

Coach:

Mike Babcock * Injuries: Pittsburgh - D Mark Eaton (knee) is out. Detroit - C Tomas Kopecky (knee) is out; Franzen (concussion) is possible.

* Sidelight: Teams winning Game 1 of the Finals have won the Stanley Cup in 53 of 68 seasons (78 percent) since the NHL went to a best-of-seven format in 1939.

* Notes: The Red Wings are 8-1 at home in the playoffs and have outscored teams 29-12. . . . The Penguins are 4-3 on the road and have outscored teams 18-17. . . . The Red Wings are 11-1 when they score first, 12-0 when leading after two periods and 12-3 when outshooting their opponent. . . . The Penguins swept Ottawa in the first round and started the next two series with three wins, so they are in unfamiliar territory after losing Game 1. "We've proven in the past, after a fair performance, we always bounce back," Therrien said. "This is what I'm expecting from that team. And we addressed it with the players before (Sunday's) practice. I thought our guys were sharp during practice. So we're going to try to bring that to the game."

SCHEDULE, RESULTS

Stanley Cup Finals

Detroit Pittsburgh

1 Detroit 4-0

2 Today at Detroit, 6 p.m.

3 Wednesday at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

4 Saturday at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

*5 June 2 at Detroit, 6 p.m.

*6 June 4 at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

*7 June 7 at Detroit, 6 p.m.

MOST CAREER PLAYOFF SHUTOUTS

With his shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings has moved into a tie for ninth place for the most career postseason shutouts.

23 Patrick Roy, Montreal, Colorado, Montreal

22 x-Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

16 x-Curtis Joseph, St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit

15 Clint Benedict, Ottawa, Montreal Maroons

14 x-Dominik Hasek, Buffalo, Detroit; Ed Belfour, Chicago, Dallas, Toronto; Jacques Plante, Montreal, St. Louis

13 Turk Broda, Toronto

12 x-Chris Osgood, Detroit, St. Louis, Detroit; Terry Sawchuk, Detroit, Los Angeles

Comments

  • May 27, 2008

    9:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SE7EN writes:

    Osgood has been solid, but I think most of the credit need to go to the 5 guys playing in front of him. They really don't allow anyone to get many quality shots or scoring chances. I think a lot of goalies could look pretty good with the way the Wings play mistake-free hockey in front of their own net.