Sick-ora
June 3rd, 2008 by Jason ChenThe marathon thriller ended in triple overtime when Petr Sykora ripped a shot just over Chris Osgood’s glove, sending the series back to Pittsburgh for a critical game 6. I lambasted Ryan Malone in my previous post, but he showed that he is a true playoff warrior after taking a puck to the nose from a Hal Gill shot, perhaps breaking it for the third time in his career, yet still having the guts to stand in front of the net again and again. It paid great dividends when a lucky bounce off the referee made Osgood go the other way and with Malone screening he had little chance of saving the shot. It was an excellent hockey game, the best in this series, and I applaud both teams in their efforts, although I would like to point some things out…
Marc-Andre Fleury, if Pittsburgh wins the Cup, is hands-down the Conn Smythe winner. Fleury was clearly the best player on the ice, making 55 saves for the win. His toe save on Johan Franzen was the highlight of the night, as the Wings couldn’t solve the former the young netminder even after outshooting the Pens 24-14. Fleury has finally lived up to his billing as a former #1 pick and being an RFA this season he would get a big raise over the $1.6m he earns right now. He could easily command a Marty Brodeur type contract, ($5.2m/year, although Brodeur doesn’t have an agent) and Ray Shero will be more hard-pressed than ever to decide who to keep this summer.
Pierre McGuire talked about this and I noted it before as well - one of the reasons the Wings are so good is because their best players play in all situations of the game. In previous games, Sidney Crosby was barely used, if at all, on the PK. While that does give him ample rest and players like Max Talbot and Jordan Staal do an excellent job, they can’t generate the same offensive chances as Crosby can. On turnovers, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg can put fear in the hearts of the Pens’ point men. They’re absolutely dangerous, and it allows Mike Babcock to keep them on the ice a lot, something Michel Therrien has been unwilling to do.
Losing Sergei Gonchar will be a big blow to the Pens. The all-star blueliner was in obvious pain after he fell into the end boards, and so far it has been only been described as an “upper-body injury.” Gonchar is the Pens’ best defenseman, and his ability to move the puck up the ice is second to none. He’s not going to be healthy for the rest of the series, and that could be a potential gamebreaker. His injury has led to Ryan Whitney logging over 50 minutes of ice time last night, and while Whitney is a solid defenseman no one on that roster can replace what Gonchar puts on the table.
One of the major reasons the Pens are behind is because of the play of Evgeni Malkin. The guy is completely lost out there, and I don’t know what happened between the Conference Finals and the Finals, but there were times where Malkin looked absolutely amateur, including one play where he was called on an intentional offside, which Don Cherry pointed out. Malkin is lucky he is so talented, and that the puck bounced to him after the Gonchar point shot, otherwise he’d be sitting on the bench and other guys like Talbot and Tyler Kennedy will have more ice-time, both of whom played great. They obviously knew what was on the line, while Malkin looked like he knew as much as Bob and Doug McKenzie.
The Wings played well - Kris Draper won the faceoffs, Datsyuk and Zetterberg provided the offense, Nik Kronvall had the big hits, Nik Lidstrom had several breakaway passes - but the player that caught most of my attention was Darren Helm. The diminutive forward was a 5th round selection in 2005, and despite his small stature isn’t afraid to throw his body around. On one shift he single-handedly kept the puck in the offensive zone, laying out hits on the left board, the end board, and the right board, and then getting lucky on a weak snap shot that was deflected and went through Fleury’s legs. This kid with his blazing speed and fearless forechecking is a player to watch. He logged only 13:08 ATOI, but he sure made good on every second of it.
Lastly, and sorry about the long post, the Pens need to keep firing the damn puck. It’s hard when Detroit is so crisp and fast with their passes, but Osgood is definitely a tier down from Fleury, but it gives no reason to allow 58 shots on net. Osgood is simply not that good - there were a coupe times when the Pens beat him high, only to be denied by a post or crossbar - and he needs to be tested consistently, and in time he will break down. Malkin needs to find his game fast, and Crosby needs to keep doing what he’s doing - the drawn penalties will come and as will the goals. Even if the Pens lose, they can take it in stride, because you know what’s the scariest thing about this team? Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Whitney can only get better and better.
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