When he charged onto the ice before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in Detroit last year, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stumbled comically and fell — a bad omen, it turned out, as the Red Wings won the opener and the series in six games.
Fleury made it onto the ice without mishap for this year’s Game 1 on Saturday night. But despite playing well over all, he made some new gaffes of a more serious nature that ultimately spelled the difference in Detroit’s 3-1 victory at Joe Louis Arena.
Fleury’s first faux pas came when Brad Stuart’s routine slap shot from the blue line caromed off the rink’s famously lively end boards, struck him in the rear end and dribbled into the net 13 minutes, 38 seconds into the first period to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Fleury allowed a similar rear-end-assisted goal to the Red Wings in last year’s finals as well, during a performance so spotty that people watching in Russia nicknamed him “Mousy,” according to Viktor Fedorov, father of the former Detroit star Sergei Fedorov.
With a minute left in the second period and the score tied 1-1, embarrassing misfortune struck Fleury once more, again courtesy of the arena’s supercharged end boards. Brian Rafalski’s long shot sprang off the boards to Johan Franzen at the side of the net, who centered the puck just as Fleury was diving headfirst back into position. The puck hit Fleury’s trailing leg, ricocheting 60 degrees into the net, and it was 2-1 for Detroit.
Fleury made 27 saves against the Wings, but if anything disturbed his night’s rest before yesterday’s Game 2 in Detroit, it will probably be the memory of those two goals.
This is the first Stanley Cup finals rematch in 25 years and except for the two odd goals, the Penguins had the edge in play, at least through the first 40 minutes.
The Penguins scored their first goal at 18:37 of the first period when Detroit goalie Chris Osgood let the rebound of a Evgeni Malkin slap shot trickle away for Ruslan Fedotenko to bury, making it 1-1. The play started when the normally dependable defenseman Niklas Kronwall gave the puck away to Malkin in the Detroit zone.
That was an encouraging sign for the Penguins, who were shut out in both of last year’s first two games here.
Osgood made some very good saves throughout the game, finishing with 31 over all. Early in the second period he robbed Malkin on a 120-foot breakaway after Malkin got away with tripping Kronwall and stole the puck from him. Later in the middle period he stopped Sidney Crosby, who shot a backhander after making a nifty 360-degree spin.
Saves like those kept Detroit in the game until the Wings were able to break it open on Justin Abdelkader’s first career playoff goal in the third minute of the third.
That goal, from the line of Abdelkader, Ville Leino and Darren Helm, highlighted Detroit’s remarkable depth. They were playing because of the absence of Pavel Datsyuk, the Wings’ MVP finalist who is out with a foot injury, and Kris Draper, their top face-off man who is sidelined with a groin injury.
Nicklas Lidstrom, the Wings’ talismanic defenseman and captain, was back in the lineup after missing the first two playoff games of his 17-season career and led all players with 23 minutes of ice time.
Detroit also had defenseman Jonathan Ericsson back after he missed one game because of an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday.
The game was chippy, as befits a Cup final rematch. Crosby went out of his way to throw an open-ice shoulder into Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit’s two-way center who usually plays opposite Crosby.
Brooks Orpik jarred Marian Hossa, who left the Penguins after last season to play for Detroit because the Wings, Hossa said at the time, had a better chance of winning the Cup. On Thursday, Orpik said he wished Hossa was still with Pittsburgh, but that did not stop him from nailing him in open ice.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
RSS