I’ve a positive. The Pens beat themselves. If Detroit had beaten Pittsburgh 5-0 without the large number of penalties, that’s a bad loss. Take away the dumb penalties and the ensuing goals, you’ve got a 2-0 game. That’s not great, but going into the third it would’ve been an entirely different game without the extra three. If Pittsburgh can control themselves a little bit better, which shouldn’t be hard in front of the home crowd, they have a much better chance of heading back to Detroit.
Well, less than 12 hours until possibly cup deciding game time. If this was back in college We would already be partying. Of course when I was in college the Wings were never in this position. I love hockey every bit as much, but my body doesn’t put up with the 16 hour parties anymore, so I will have to hold off a bit. 
My Red Wing fan side wants to see a win of course. My hockey fan side would love to see it go to a game 7. I only wish I had actually put money on another Wings-Pens final back when I predicted it in October.
Did they beat themselves or reveal themselves? They may be showing they still are not ready. You have to keep yourself in control and play the game. The Pens did not. Too young and too immature perhaps? Not ready for prime time yet?
The Stosh Finals is not the place to show you can not keep your shit together. It is a long and arduous task. To risk losing it to cheap penalties and slashing ,is just showing lousy control and is taking a chance on losing everything.
I read this in Stewie’s voice…“Did they beat themselves or reveal themselves? Too young and too immature perhaps? Not ready for prime time yet? Gotta formulate a new strategy, eh? Get a game plan? Beginning middle and end? Work through all three periods? Think they can do that? Need a new plan, eh, cuz the old one’s not working for you…?”
I’m going to miss the first half of this game, since I’ll be out on the canal in the cold and rain, paddling a dragonboat. I really hope it goes well for the Pens, because I have no plans for Friday night and want to watch one more full game!
There is always the hockey monkey wrench, goal keeping. If a goalie stops everything, you win. It can always happen. We all want Ozzie to throw another shutout, don’t we?
Not really.
For me the Wings fan beats the hockey fan rather easily. I’d much rather see Detroit take this one than risk another momentum swing and a 50/50 game seven. Detroit has control now after playing as perfect a sixty minutes as you can play, and has zero changes to make or questions to answer. They’ve even had an extra day between games to rest. Pittsburgh? Not in a good place. Will Fleury (seriously, his nickname is Flower? Makes Happy Hudler seem badass by comparison.) be back in games three and four form, or one, two, and five? Were the repeated lapses in discipline merely an aberration, or as Gonzomax put it, did they reveal themselves?
Tonight is the best chance Detroit has of wrapping this series up and taking the cup home. For their sake, they’d best do it.
It was a tight hard played series. Then Detroit got Pavel back. That changes everything . They added one of the best players in the world to their roster. Advantage Wings.
GO PENS GO!!!
See you in 60 minutes…
Exciting 1st period.
Missed half the bloody first period freezing my tail off at my daughter’s softball game. It’s June fercrissake. Where’s the warmth?
Ozzie weathered the early storm, but Detroit has to start shooting the puck. It wasn’t a long series of perfect plays that gave them five goals against Fleury. They just shot the puck. Unless they’re planning on winning the game 1-0, which ain’t likely against Pittsburgh, they’d better stop making passes and start firing.
Pens up 1-0
1-0 Pens after a nice shot by the Pens. Looked like there was interference on Ozzie. Unfortunately it was Ericsson that looked like he bumped Ozzie’s glove away from the puck.
Gotta give him credit. Osgood is doing everything he can to keep Detroit in this game. It’s up to the Wings to back him up and keep play in the Pittsburgh zone.
Wonderful. Detroit has won 4 Stanley Cups precisely because they didn’t make mental mistakes, but now 3 times in 2 games in Pittsburgh braindead pinch attempts by their defensemen have led to 3 goals.
It’s more than that. Detroit is throwing passes into traffic, firing shots wide from way out. They’re putting two guys in front of the net, allowing the Pittsburgh defensemen to gum everything up. They need short passes and puck support in the offensive zone. Make the Pens defense and Fleury move around and open the net up.
And I do believe Fleury just atoned for last year. 
Exciting 2nd period.
Cold and wet, but finally watching. I was very pleased to turn on the TV and see the score. Let’s hope it keeps going this way!
More thoughts at the end of two: If there is a single hockey fan that doesn’t think Osgood has hall of fame credentials, they haven’t been watching this game. Osgood is the only reason that Detroit hasn’t been mercy ruled out of the game.
Fleury’s save that redeemed him from last year was the best thing to happen to the Pens and the worst thing that could’ve happened to Detroit. The smile on his face said it all. Last game is forgotten and last year is forgotten.
Detroit just can’t seem to be guessing the plays right. When someone needs to be in front of the net, they’re pinching on the boards. When they need to be at the boards, they’re in front of the net. The one thing they’ve been doing is clearing the puck out of the defensive zone: short passes and puck support. They’re just not doing that in the offensive zone.
Yeah, I saw him smiling too. I think he knew what he did. 
Oh, and my gift of prophecy: What the hell made everybody stop in the middle of the Wing zone? They all just froze for like five seconds. And about 3 seconds after I said it, the announcer repeated after me. I don’t know.