Posted by Scott Burnside
DETROIT -- Guess the reports of the Red Wings' demise were greatly exaggerated.
What a show of dominance in the second period as Detroit blitzed the Pittsburgh Penguins for four goals to take a 5-0 lead. Talk about men to boys. Things got so bad, Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma yanked Marc-Andre Fleury with 4:20 left in the period after Henrik Zetterberg scored to make it 5-0. Call it an act of mercy putting in Mathieu Garon for his first playoff action this spring.
Fleury gave up five goals on 23 shots (apart from the first goal by Dan Cleary, it's hard to really fault the beleaguered Pens netminder). The Zetterberg goal was the third straight power-play tally in the period and is a little payback for Jordan Staal's Game 4 short-handed marker that proved to be the difference in the Pens' 4-2 win and had tongues wagging about the sorry state of the Wings' special teams.
Consider that Valtteri Filppula scored five seconds after the expiration of Chris Kunitz's carry-over penalty from the first period, and it's almost like 3½ power-play goals in that period. Guess the special teams question has been answered as far as the Red Wings are concerned, no?
What has also been answered, at least at this moment, is the Penguins aren't anywhere near the maturity level they claim to be at or want to be at. Note the cheap shot by Maxime Talbot, hacking at Pavel Datsyuk late in the period, or the Sidney Crosby slash on the back of Zetterberg's leg that also drew a penalty. Yes, we know Kirk Maltby gave Crosby a similar whack in Game 4, but that's Maltby's modus operandi, not Crosby's.
The Penguins have been called for six minor penalties to the one assessed to the Red Wings, and that's probably being charitable given the chippiness shown by Pittsburgh. These will be a long two off days before Game 6 and what may be the second straight Stanley Cup celebration for Detroit at Mellon Arena.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
