Stanley Cup Finals Game 5

Detroit Red Wings vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Detroit wins 5-0 (Detroit leads series 3-2)

Chris Osgood recorded his franchise record 15th playoff shutout in a 22 save performance, but obviously that will be overshadowed by the return of Pavel Datsyuk, which led to what can only be described as a complete and utter destruction sequence of the Pittsburgh Penguins engineered by the hands of the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg tied up Chris Kunitz late in the first period, which led Kunitz to crash into Osgood and resulted in a goalie interference penalty. Although the Red Wings did not convert the power play on the stat sheet, it sparked what would be a showcase of offensive zone domination by Detroit, as they drew 3 more penalties and converted on all 3, leading to a 5-0 blowout only midway through the second period. And even though you got the sense Detroit would have been happy playing defense the rest of the way, Pittsburgh lost their cool and gave up 5 more chances for the Red Wings to score on the power play. Datsyuk ended the night with 2 assists and 17:38 of ice time (which probably would've been a lot more had it not been for the blowout), and looked strong and healthy as he was stick-handling and checking like he was prior to an injury that had him absent for the past 7 playoff games. And although Hossa still is absent from the goal column on the score sheet, he and Henrik Zetterberg were huge beneficiaries from Datsyuk's return, combining for a goal and 2 assists between them and lots of scoring opportunities.

A glimpse at game 5 showed the return of the dominant Detroit Red Wings that stormed their way to a Stanley Cup victory last year over a Penguins team that was immature and inexperienced. Talk about Pittsburgh being a team that is more prepared and has more Stanley Cup experience on their roster led to beliefs that they would be able to handle the Red Wings in a rematch. But the return of Pavel Datsyuk on home ice proved otherwise. Detroit shut down the Penguins offense in the way they knew best: offensive zone puck possession and drawing penalties. Pittsburgh imploded in the second period, taking 6 straight penalties (including a carry over from late in the first), which led to 3 power play goals by Detroit. Of the Red Wings's 29 shots on goal in the game, 14 of them came on 9 power play opportunities. But don't let the 3 of 9 power play conversion rate fool you: when Detroit went up 5-0 midway through the second period, they were 3 for 4 with the man advantage. And you'd expect a professional team like the Red Wings to let the foot off the gas (at least a little) with a 5-0 lead. The only time Pittsburgh even had a hint of making the game competitive was in the first 5 minutes of the opening period. So far, the home team has been dominant in this series, so the Penguins are probably relieved to have game 6 go back to Pittsburgh. But coming off a loss like this? You have to have a feeling Detroit is a lot more relaxed going into the state of Pennsylvania than the home team is. Good news for Pittsburgh: they have 3 days to get their heads straight and prepare for game 5. Bad news for Pittsburgh: Detroit has 3 days to rest up and tend to their wounds.