Tired? Try again.
With both media and fans alike questioning the ability of the Red Wings to perform tonight, Hockeytown’s finest stepped up and delivered a championship caliber performance, dropping the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Despite being outplayed early in the first period, the Wings would rally behind the some big saves from goaltender Chris Osgood and the return of Hart Trophy candidate Pavel Datsyuk. Dan Cleary would have the early answer, taking a Datsyuk pass and burying a wrist shot over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Wings a 1-0 lead just over halfway through the first.
And then the flood gates opened.
It wouldn’t take long for the Wings to strike again, as Valtteri Filppula connected on a semi-breakway to put the Wings up by two. Less than five minutes later the Wings would add to their lead when Niklas Kronwall stepped in front of the net with the puck and put home a power play goal above the shoulder of Fleury. It wouldn’t take long for the Wings to strike again, as they headed to another power play and scored just over two minutes later on a Brian Rafalski blast from the point. As the Pens reeled, the Wings went for the kill, and Henrik Zetterberg was the man to end Fleury’s night, beating him on the power play to give the Wings a 5-0 lead and send Fleury to the showers early.
Chris’ Red Wing of the Game
Pavel Datsyuk
Pasha helped get the Wings on the board with an early assist on the Cleary goal, and he would add another in the second. His spark jump-started the Wings and the crowd alike, spurring the Wings on to a Game 5 win.
The Wings will now enjoy two days of rest before looking to wrap this series up in Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The puck drops at 8:00 PM and the game can be seen on NBC and CBC.
