Posted by Scott Burnside
DETROIT -- Interesting finish to that second period.
The Penguins got caught with the Hal Gill/Rob Scuderi defensive pairing on a long, long shift. They tried two or three times to get off the ice late in the period, but the Wings continued to gain possession in the neutral zone and made it impossible for Scuderi and Gill to get to the bench.
Give Pens coach Dan Bylsma credit for calling a timeout with 1:14 left in the period, but it didn't work as the Wings kept control of the puck off the ensuring draw and Johan Franzen scored off a scramble at the side of the net with 57.4 seconds left to take a 2-1 lead.
For the second time tonight, Marc-Andre Fleury seemed to be sprawled out of position when the puck went in. What's up with that?
The late goal soured what was a nice period of hockey for the Penguins. After looking tentative at times in the first, they seemed to get into a groove. Evgeni Malkin, the best player on the ice for both teams through two periods, had a breakaway, but was thwarted by a nice Chris Osgood arm save. Then, Malkin set up Miroslav Satan, who made a nice move but couldn't close the deal.
Overall, the Pens had 13 shots in the period.
Not a great start to the finals for Sidney Crosby, who was on the ice for the second Red Wings goal and has just one shot on net through two periods. He also lost a key faceoff against Henrik Zetterberg that led to Franzen's go-ahead goal.
What did you see, Pierre?
Pierre LeBrun: I do agree with you that Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom isn't quite at the same pace as usual tonight. He's obviously not 100 percent, but then again, who is at the end of the playoff run?
The Wings killed off a pair of Pittsburgh power plays and that's an interesting development early on because Detroit's weakness in these playoffs has been its penalty kill. That's the area the Pens are hoping to exploit. Not only did Detroit kill both power plays, but I also can't recall a single scoring chance.
Overall, what a difference from a year ago, when Pittsburgh never touched the puck in Game 1. As we all know, the Wings are all about puck possession, but so far tonight, they are having to share it pretty evenly with the Penguins.
More from us and E.J. Hradek after the game!
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
