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Stanley Cup Finals - Game 7 - Pittsburgh at Detroit
A) Ozzie the Wall -
Tyler Kennedy picked up the puck in the neutral zone and found some rare room in the Red Wings zone. After a shifty deke, he fired a shot that went off the side of the net and behind the cage.
Kennedy swooped in, grabbed his own rebound and feathered a pass out to a waiting
Jordan Staal, who rifled a shot on
Chris Osgood.
The veteran goalie was up to the task, shutting the door and jumping on the rebound for a whistle, preserving an early scoreless tie and keeping the Penguins from scoring the all-important first goal.
B) Fleury keeps Pens in it - Detroit was rolling to begin the game, and late in the first period, the Penguins needed
Marc-Andre Fleury to thwart two chances for the Wings.
With 3:10 to go,
Valtteri Filppula motored into the Pittsburgh zone on the left wing, taking a
Marian Hossa drop pass on a 2-on-2. Eluding
Evgeni Malkin as the Pittsburgh defenders split farther apart to guard Hossa and the open right wing, Filppula found himself alone in front of Fleury and attempted to pull the puck right around the goaltender. But Fleury spread his pads and used his stick to break up the play and knock down Filppula while the Pens recovered.
Around a minute later,
Kirk Maltby found the puck on his stick after a right circle faceoff in the Pens' zone and fired a shot targeted for the right corner of the net that Fleury blocked with his glove.
Both saves preserved the Penguins' psyche in a winner-take-all scenario in a hostile building.
C) Talbot Tallies - Early in the second period, the Penguins pounced.
Brooks Orpik pounded the puck deep into the Detroit zone, where the Wings'
Brad Stuart went to retrieve in the right corner. With
Maxime Talbot pressuring, Stuart launched a soft clearing attempt off Pittsburgh forechecker
Evgeni Malkin. Talbot headed straight for the net, as Malkin softly nudged the puck to him. The right winger quickly pulled the puck away from defenseman
Niklas Kronwall and fired a low shot past
Chris Osgood for a 1-0 Penguins lead.
D) Talbot tallies twice - Midway through the second period, the Pens took advantage of another opportunity to open up a 2-0 lead. With
Brad Stuart pinching on the right point to keep the puck in, Pittsburgh's
Chris Kunitz swooped in to pressure. The puck came loose, and Kunitz nudged it past a supporting
Jiri Hudler ahead to the left-wing breaking
Maxime Talbot for a 2-on-1 rush. Holding onto the puck with the Wings'
Niklas Kronwall guarding more to the right side, Talbot launched a perfect shot over
Chris Osgood's right shoulder and into the top right hand corner of the net.
Talbot's second goal of the period shocked the Joe Louis Arena faithful, giving the Penguins an unexpected 2-0 lead in a Game 7 on the road.
E) Wings come to life - Finally the Red Wings got life with 6:07 to go in the third period.
After an energetic cycle in the Pittsburgh zone by the line of
Valtteri Filppula,
Mikael Samuelsson and
Jiri Hudler that got the Penguins chasing, the puck found its way around to the left point where
Nicklas Lidstrom waited. With most of the skaters veered off to
Marc-Andre Fleury's left, the Detroit captain quickly went cross-ice to the right point, where
Jonathan Ericsson unloaded a shot that deflected off the top of Fleury's glove and into the net. The goal spurred a furious late Detroit flurry.
FINAL SCORE: Penguins 2, Red Wings 1