In an era where the four major sports have become more open to foreigners, the knock against them has always been that they don’t know what it takes to win. Their skill games were too often beaten by the brawn in North America, and as such labeled as “soft.” The Detroit Red Wings completely flipped that theory upside down.

Ever since the Stanley Cup was made the official “big one” in the NHL some 82 years ago, no European-born captain has ever lifted the Cup. For reference’s sake, Nicklas Lidstrom is from Vasteras, Sweden, a city of roughly 110 000 inhabitants. In fact, most of their key players, are from overseas - Henrik Zetterberg is from Njurunda, Sweden; Johan Franzen from Vetlanda, Sweden; Tomas Holmstrom from Pitea, Sweden; Niklas Kronwall from Stockholm, Sweden; and Pavel Datsyuk from Sverdlovsk, Russia. So how did this team manage to win the Cup? In the playoffs it’s not about individual skill - it’s how the game is played as a team.

When the Ducks won the Cup last year, it solidified the assumption that you can’t win the Cup without a Canadian captain, a shutdown checking line, and a tough, aggressive, forward corps. The Sens were labeled as “soft” and Swedish captain Daniel Alfredsson shouldered a lot of the blame. Suddenly, the market for the big, bruising forward was way up, highlighted by Dustin Penner’s offer sheet from Edmonton. The asking price for size and grit shot up. The Wings, however, remained a small team. Neither Datsyuk or Zetterberg stand an inch over 6′, and it may surprise you that Holmstrom only stands, at most, 6′1″. Lidstrom is only listed at 6′2″. The Ducks in comparison, were monstrous. Chris Pronger stands at 6′6″ and Ryan Getzlaf is 6′4″. But every single player on each of those rosters bought into a style of play the coach was trying to teach. For Randy Carlyle, aggressive and intimidation hockey was key; for Mike Babcock, puck possession and efficiency was the winning formula. The Ducks and Wings carved and molded their own identities as hockey clubs, and they never strayed away from that.

Truth be told, there really is no “winning formula,” but the Ducks and Wings showed that if a team stayed true to their goals, values, and identity, the wins will come.

Have a great summer everyone.

And to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who put up a hell of a fight, a fantastic series.

I will write my analysis tomorrow.

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.

Marian Hossa has looked dangerous out there, which will pay dividends this summer, no matter what team he chooses to sign with - same goes for Pascal Dupuis, who I thought was their best pick up at the deadline, despite being just the “throw-in” in the Hossa deal. Brooks Orpik has been a monster for the Pens, but the Wings’ aren’t going to be pushed around, and there’s always Darren McCarty and Johan Franzen to mix things up a bit. Marc-Andre Fleury and Chris Osgood both played good games, although neither was particularly sharp, especially on Jiri Hudler’s nifty backhand that just grazed Fleury’s left shoulder, and Hossa’s cross-bar backhand. Take notes, kids, the backhand is the most dangerous shot in hockey. With the curves on the sticks these days it’s impossible to predict which way the puck is going to go. Gordie Howe’s famous advice to Wayne Gretzky when he was a youngster was “practise your backhand.”

Ryan Malone has completely dropped off the face of the planet and hasn’t been the offensive force he’s been this Cup run. He had 4 hits in the first period, and Max Talbot has been just as physical, but the Wings have beaten them at their own game and are finishing their checks.

The Detroit defense is so deep that even when Michel Therrien has last change Sidney Crosby will always inevitably facing one of Brad Stuart, Nik Lidstrom, or Nik Kronwall. The secret to Babcock’s success, he says, is keeping the shifts shorts. He made a mistake when he played Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg too much in game 3, and as a result his players got tired and he couldn’t quite get the match-ups he wanted. He adjusted and it paid off, as neither Crosby nor Malkin were as dangerous as they were previously.

The series goes back to Joe Louis Monday night, and as I pointed out the stat in previous posts, no team has ever won the Cup after being shut out the first two games, although they have pushed the series to 7 games.

A moment of silence will be held before Game 4 tomorrow night.

My condolences to the Bourdon family. It is a most tragic loss.

Michel Therrien also benefited greatly from the home-ice advantage, and with the last change was easily able to keep Sidney Crosby off the ice when Babcock sent out Zetterberg. The result was immediate as Crosby scored two goals to lead the Pens while Adam Hall netted the game-winner.

With the Pens’ comeback it has fully rejuvenated the series, as blowouts in Games 1 and 2 turned off some viewers, but a Pens win means TV viewers are back again. Versus’ TV ratings featured an astonishing 273% total increase over last year’s opener between Anaheim and Ottawa, and a 181% increase from the Carolina-Edmonton series. This comes as no surprise, as Detroit and Pittsburgh are considered fairly viable American hockey markets, not to mention that the NHL’s poster boy is in the big showdown for the first time in his young career. The NHL’s marketable future depends much on Crosby, whose ubiquitous Gatorade and RBK ads will be a major promoter of hockey in the US.

Key stat: In 2003, the Ducks failed to score a goal in the first two games against New Jersey, and went on to lose the series in 7 games. The other time before that occurred in 1945 when the Wings failed to score against the Leafs, and that ended in the same result, as the Wings lost in 7 games. The Pens will be hoping to change that trend this year.

I still haven’t been able to catch a game yet, but the stats are telling the story here.

I noted that Dan Cleary has been noticeably absent in the Wings’ playoff run. In Game 1 he notched a goal, and in game 2 he had 4 shots and played 18:51, if I’m not mistaken that’s the most he’s played in a game this playoff run. He has clearly been stepping it up and it’s showed. It hasn’t been Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg who’s been taking over the series, but guys who are willing to grind it out like Cleary, Kris Draper, and depth forwards like Filppula.

I noted the Pens’ top offensive players lead the team in ice-time, regardless of situation. Evgeni Malkin played 18:03, considerably below his average, and if the Pens continue to take penalties this is the result. Even though he is used on the PK, it’s mostly Max Talbot’s line that does the work. Less Malkin on the ice means good news for the Wings.

When Sidney Crosby broke into the league he wasn’t a very good face-off man. Same goes for Malkin. He was an abysmal 4-14 in the circle. That’s not good considering he took the second most amount of face-offs on the team, behind Crosby, who did surprisingly well (12-21) and ahead of Jordan Staal, who was a mediocre 5-12, although he did win 5/9 against Draper.

Dan Cleary notched a short-handed goal in the third period, just his second in 17 games…

Kris Draper was +3, and won 13 of his 19 faceoffs, for a 68% mark…

Henrik Zetterberg notched 22:03 TOI, second among forwards, notched a goal on 8 shots, and won 53% of his faceoffs…

Nicklas Kronvall managed just one shot on goal, but was +3…

Pavel Datsyuk had 6 hits in the game, to go along with 1 takeaway, solidifying his case for the Selke…

Brad Stuart blocked 2 shots…

Rob Scuderi was -2 along with Hal Gill, both team worsts in the game…

Jordan Staal won only 38% of his faceoffs, Zetterberg was 1-3 against him.

Ryan Malone had one hit, Brooks Orpik had 7…

Orpik had 6 blocked shots, Sergei Gonchar only 1… Gonchar led all players with 27:51 ATOI

Neither Tyler Kennedy nor Sidney Crosby registered a takeaway… a testament to Detroit’s puck possession ability…

Potential matchups…
- Staal got the better of Zetterberg, winning 2 of 3 drawas against one another…
- Draper had 8 draws against Crosby (5 wins), and only 2 (1 win) against Malkin…

Despite winning an astonishing 63.4% of his faceoffs, Kris Draper is a team-worst -3, and that rating could balloon against Pittsburgh… he also has 0 giveaways in 16 games…

Detroit’s best offensive player has been Henrik Zetterberg, who has 21 points in 16 games, +15 to lead the team, 21:24 ATOI to lead the team, averaging 5.2 SOG/game, and winning 57.9% of his faceoffs…

Nicklas Kronvall leads all Detroit defensemen with 12 points, but has yet to register a goal…

Pavel Datsyuk, surprisingly, leads all Detroit players with 37 hits… and 19 takeaways

Brad Stuart’s 18 blocked shots leads the team…

Rob Scuderi leads the team with +8, and has only 2 PIM…

Jordan Staal is the Pens’ best face-off man, winning only 52% of his faceoffs… against a puck possession team like Detroit winning face-offs will be key… he will most likely draw Zetterberg’s line and his 58 win%…

As a testament to the Pens’ tough play, Ryan Malone and Brooks Oprik leads the team with 62 hits each… Datsyuk’s 37 would place him a distant 4th on their team…

Orpik and Sergei Gonchar leads the team in blocked shots, with 33 for Orpik and 31 for Gonchar… Gonchar leads the team with 24:45 ATOI, Evgeni Malkin is second with 20:22…

Tyler Kennedy has 0 giveaways and 8 takeaways, Sidney Crosby leads the team with 18 takeaways…

Potential matchups…
In the face-off circle, Staal (52%) against Zetterberg (59%)…
Draper (5′10″) drawing Crosby (5′11″), whose size is more comparable and easier to handle than Malkin (6′4″)…
Orpik (6′2″, 230) against Holmstrom (6′0″, 210)…
Stuart (6′2″, 215) against Malone (6′4″, 215)…
Skill and smarts meets brawn and muscle, Lidstrom, Chelios, Rafalski vs. Malone, Kennedy, Laraque