Hockey Beat » 2009 stanley cup highlights

Penguins Win, Stanley Cup Series Tied

Jeanne Dupuis — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:52:00 +0000

The Pittsburgh Penguins dug deep and found a way to win last night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with a final score of 4-2. The victory has evened up the series since each team has won both of their home games.

image: Zuma Press

Evgeni Malkin got the Pens on the scoreboard very early in the first on a power-play but his goal was quickly answered with one by Detroit’s Darren Helm.

They went into the second period tied up and after a goal by Brad Stuart, the Red Wings were held scoreless for the rest of the game as a shorthanded goal by Jordan Staal, followed by goals from Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy secured a victory for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh really needed that win because I think that their confidence was low and Detroit was ready to pick them off. I think Crosby summed it up best. He said “these last couple at home have been desperation from us. It’s going to be like that all the way through here.”

If the Penguins can continue to play the way they did in those last 40 minutes, they will stand a very good chance of winning the Cup this year, especially if they can manage to steal a win in Game 5 in Detroit and then come back home for Game 6. If they lose the next game to the Red Wings, I think they could be in a lot of trouble…

The two teams will square off in the Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night at 8pm ET.

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NHL Best of the Week – June 4, 2009

Jeanne Dupuis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:54:35 +0000

The Stanley Cup Finals are well under way but the NHL has put together a collection of plays from the past week. Clearly, it’s going to be all about the Pittsburgh Penguins/Carolina Hurricanes series as well as the Detroit Red Wings/Chicago Blackhawks series. Fortunately, there were some pretty sweet moments in both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

Here’s a breakdown of the plays but definitely check out the video.

Fedotenko cruises the crease and scores on Ward – Looking at it, I can barely believe that this happened in a playoff game. Along with Ward, there was like 100 Carolina players gathered in front of the net but, somehow, Fedotenko was allowed to just cruise around and score.
This was a little lame. They actually just listed the moment when the Penguins won the Conference Finals.
Osgood locks the door on Fraser – this was just great goaltending. Kane and Fraser made a good attempt at putting one behind Oz but the seasoned netminder shut them down.
Great goaltending by Osgood part 2. Enough said.
Huet makes a great save on a hard shot by Hossa but, before he and his teammates could even celebrate, a long shot by Lebda made it in to the back of the net.
Great goaltending by Osgood part 3. Yawn.
Kane launches an awesome backhand shot at Osgood and… actually beats him and got his first goal of the series.
Huet makes an amazing save in overtime for the Blackhawks.
The Red Wings score on Huet and make it to the Finals.
Highlights from the Penguins/Red Wings series so far.

image: Newscom

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Crosby Leads Penguins, Eliminates Capitals

Jeanne Dupuis — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:14:59 +0000

It was the game many of us were looking forward to (and hoping for) ever since it was announced that the Washington Capitals would square off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinals. The series has been fiery hot and I was sure that Game 7 was going to sizzle but all I got was fizzle.

image: Zuma Press

To say that I was shocked by tonight’s game would be an understatement. I wanted the Penguins to win but not like this. I wanted it to be gritty and tough but, instead, the Pens dominated that Caps but I will concede that much of the shift was due to the surprisingly shoddy goaltender displayed by Simeon Varlamov. After playing so spectacularly, the young netminder picked the most important game of the series to completely fall apart and was pulled and replaced by Jose Theodore who had not been seen between the pipes since early (game 1?) of the quarterfinals.

I’ve got to give credit to Sidney Crosby for earning the hype throughout the series and especially in tonight’s game. He led his team and opened scoring in the first period and then again in the third (both on a power play). He also registered an assist. His rival, Alexander Ovechkin, didn’t leave the ice empty handed – he did score a nice wrap-around goal late in the second. In the end, though, Crosby and his team skated away with a huge 6-2 victory over the Capitals.

The Penguins will have to wait and see who wins the Boston Bruins/Carolina Hurricanes series tomorrow night to find out who they will face in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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Anaheim Surges Back, Forces Game 7

Jeanne Dupuis — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:52:57 +0000

The Anaheim Ducks are not giving up and they proved that last night as they faced elimination in Game 6 against the Detroit Red Wings. Both teams were physical (which you really don’t see too often from the Red Wings) and you could tell that this was an intensely played game.

image: TSN

The game remained scoreless through the first period and then the Ducks scored on a power-play in the second and the entire feel of the match changed. By the end of the second, they had a 2-0 lead (that second goal by Perry was downright insane). Johan Franzen scored the lone for Detroit on a power-play in the third period.

Again, Ducks goalie, Jonas Hiller, was spectacular because the Red Wings definitely tried to win this game but he came up big for his team. If it wasn’t for him, Pavel Datsyuk would have tied this game with less than 10 seconds left in the game. He finished with 38 saves while Detroit netminder, Chris Osgood, turned away 26 shots.

A brawl erupted with Ryan Getzlaf going after Marion Hossa and Corey Perry sending a message to Brian Rafalski and it really set the tone for Game 7 which takes place tomorrow night in Motown. Check out the highlights:

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