Posted by Ken Armer, Senior Ducks Writer for The Puck DropWriters Note: This article appears in its original form from the Los Angeles Times. The original article is written by Ryan Getzlaf, special guest writer for the Times.
You could tell right from the start that Pittsburgh was going to be full of energy. They came out and played physical at the beginning and they had the crowd behind them. Detroit was a little undisciplined at times. They took some penalties. At the same time, they showed what kind of penalty killers they have.
Marian Hossa comes out and gets that big first goal for the Penguins. He did a great job on the play. He got that rebound and showed his quick hands. But on the play after that, Detroit did a great job of responding they way it needed to. [ Sergei] Gonchar did a great job of tying up [Dan] Cleary and he ended up screening his own goalie.
Any time you can come right back and score, especially on the road, that's important. When you give up that first goal and you're playing a team like Pittsburgh who's won 17 in a row at home, that could hurt. For the Penguins to come out and get that first goal was huge for that group and it builds their confidence level.
But to come right back and get your confidence back up with that power-play goal was key. Obviously having Nick Lidstrom back there is not a bad thing. He jumped into a better shooting spot and adjusted his angle for his shot. Obviously, the Red Wings not having Tomas Holmstrom is going to have an effect. Holmstrom is a good hockey player and he plays a big part on that team. But they have enough guys on that roster to fill that spot. Holmstrom obviously has that net presence but I think Cleary did a pretty good job.
I think that five-on-three power play in the third was a big thing for me. Pittsburgh had an opportunity to get itself back in the game on a call that I don't necessarily agree with. (Detroit's Andreas Lilja was called for interference on the Penguins' Sidney Crosby.)
Zetterberg makes a great play back door to tie up Sidney Crosby, who would have buried that puck 100% of the time. When you kill off something like that, it helps your team and you can build around that.
Zetterberg and [Pavel] Datsyuk are very similar players. Both play two-way games. You can talk about all their points but those guys play against every team's top line and best players. They're the two hardest players that I have to go against and I have a lot of fun watching them. Zetterberg has been know for his defense forever. He plays in those situations because of his ability and because he can read those plays.
On Detroit's second goal, it was first a good play by [ Brad] Stuart to keep the puck in behind the Pittsburgh defense. [Brooks] Orpik was trying to make a play behind the net and I think he got rushed a bit. They hit him and everybody is scrambling after it. It looked as if Orpik and Gonchar were both rushing out and [Jiri] Hudler did a great job of getting it on goal.
I think it's a goal [Marc-Andre] Fleury would like to have back. Marc played a great game all night. He made some great saves earlier. The play just happened real quick and he just didn't get to his post in time. But it was great that he bounced back and played well after that.
The thing with [Evgeni] Malkin is … I think what people don't quite understand is how tight the checking gets in the finals. I think everybody expected a lot more offense out of him and I think he will prove that. He just can't let Detroit get to him. Malkin's a guy that's used to playing with the puck all the time and he's going to get frustrated if he doesn't have it. But that's what makes it frustrating when you play Detroit. They're so good at puck possession. You're chasing the puck around for 70% of the game. I thought [ Chris] Osgood played really well. There weren't a whole lot of saves that he had to make but there were a few saves he needed to make and made them. Those are big saves that he has to make and he did it.
Mike Babcock and Michel Therrien are both great coaches. They've done it all season. Mike's going to go home and get his matchup the way he wants it with Crosby because of the last line change. The Penguins did a great job of getting him away from Datsyuk and Zetterberg. But the list goes on and on with the Red Wings. What it comes down to is you've got to outplay the guy next to you.
Being in a similar situation that we faced with Ottawa when we were going home, Detroit gets to go back home and they're going to be comfortable. The biggest thing is for them to take advantage of the situation they put themselves in. They can't let it slip. If you let it slip, if you give Pittsburgh any kind of breathing room, you never know what might happen. Pittsburgh has got to play with its back against the wall. It's a big task. No one is going to kid themselves. They've got to take it one game at a time. That's the truth. If you have to win three games, you've got to get one first.
A member of the 2007 Stanley Cup champions, Ryan Getzlaf centered the Ducks' top line in his third NHL season and led the Ducks in scoring with 82 points. Getzlaf played in his first All-Star game in January.
Original Article: Written by Ryan Getzlaf for the LA Times, article is titled "Detroit made the plays necessary to win"
Photo: Courtesy of google.com.
Original Article can be found here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/hockey/nhl/ducks/la-spw-getzlaf1-2008jun01,0,6364086.story
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