2009 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4: Pens Down Wings to tie series 2-2

I went over to Patti and Jeff's last night to watch Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, with the Detroit Red Wings up 2 games to 1 in the series.  We all know that when a home team is down 2-1, Game 4 is a must-win.  This was no exception.  Detroit came out strong in the first period, dominating play for nearly the entire 20 minutes.  The lone Penguins goal came on a power play, but early on it seemed like the Wings were going to do what they always do, which is control the puck, maintain the offensive zone, send forwards down low, take big shots from the point, and pounce on rebounds for goals.  The first two games were clinical in their approach.  Once the Wings get a lead, it's all about clogging the neutral zone and slowing down the opposing team's forwards.  This is nothing new.  It's not exciting, but it works. 

Game 4, however, saw the Penguins pull away in the second period.  Suddenly, Detroit was turning the puck over in all 3 zones.  Their skaters seemed slow to the puck and reluctant to play the body.  The overwhelming opinion in this series is that the Wings are considerably older than the Penguins, but in terms of ice time, both teams are playing a mix of older and younger players.  Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar are no spring chickens for Pitt, while Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader have made their presence felt for the veteran Wings. 

More than age, turnovers were the story of Game 4.  Defenseman Rob Scuderi, normally very solid in his own end for the Penguins, made a horrible attempt at an outlet pass that ended up right on Helm's blade and seconds later was deposited in the net past Marc-Andre Fleury.  What a shame.  The crowd got very nervous at this point, and the general sense was "here we go again."  Any goals scored in the last two minutes of a period worry me because that's when fatigue and mental mistakes are most common.  The Pens limped to the first intermission, and I fully expected the Wings to take control of the game to start the second period.

Instead, it looked like the home team had held off the worst of the visitors' attack.  Detroit looked lifeless, tired, and uninspired in the second period.  When your team looks like that, it's going to make the other team look very good.  Suddenly, Pitt passes were connecting.  Their forwards were winning every race to loose pucks.  Their youthful scorers shone through, starting with 20 year old Jordan Staal's shorthanded goal midway through the period. After killing the rest of the penalty, we were treated to one of the most exciting plays of the year, with a Sidney Crosby goal off a beautiful Evgeni Malkin feed. 22 year old Tyler Kennedy followed up with a goal assisted by Crosby to close out the scoring in the second, which gave us our final score of 4-2.  

Game 5 is Saturday night in Detroit.  The two big questions will be to see how Hart Trophy Finalist Pavel Datsyuk plays in his first game back from a foot injury, and how will Crosby's line adjust to playing in Detroit after being completely neutralized in the first 2 games of the series.  Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock has consistently matched Henrik Zetterberg's line against Crosby whenever possible, with excellent results.  The series is down to a best of 3, and with Datsyuk in the lineup, now it's a fair fight.  If either Crosby or Malkin were out for the first 4 games of this series, the Penguins would likely have been in danger of being swept.  Luckily for us, the stars will be out on Saturday.