BING, BANG, BOING: Game 1 Bounces To Red Wings, 3-1

Some will tell you that a team works hard to create its own luck.

Others will say that luck, in and of itself, is pure happenstance.

Personally, I think it's probably a mix of both, depending on the situation.

This morning, after the Detroit Red Wings' 3-1 victory in game 1 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final over the Pittsburgh Penguins, I fall strictly into the latter category.

Yes, the puck luck was surely with the hometown squad last night, and the Red Wings surely had no shame in parlaying that to a 1-0 series lead.

Not that the Penguins' are going to be too down about it. In fact, the general consensus of most observers to last night's game -- this one included -- is that the Penguins were right there with the Red Wings last night. They probably even outplayed Detroit for a majority of the game. They actually outshot the Red Wings, 32-30 (which almost never happens) and forced Detroit into more giveaways.

But they were burned by the bouncing biscuit in this one for sure.

To wit, just keep reading:

The Red Wings tallied the opening goal 13 minutes into the game on a harmless shot from the point by Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart that skittered wide of Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, only to come off the back boards and bounce off Fleury's backside and into the cage.

Taking a pause from the bad luck continuum here -- Pittsburgh replied with about 90 seconds to go in the first frame on a turnover when Evgeni Malkin stole the puck inside the Detroit blueline, then ripped a shot on Red Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood that he failed to control. LW Ruslan Fedotenko barreled through the slot, beat Osgood to the loose puck, and backhanded it into an empty cage to tie the score.

In the second period, the Penguins carried the play, and had a real chance to take over the game.

Pittsburgh had 2 consecutive power plays, but were ineffective on both. Detroit did a good job of standing up at their blue line and not allowing the Penguins to set up. Pittsburgh should have adjusted better and started dumping the puck in but they continually tried to get cute with setting up in the zone. They failed miserably at that and, when they ultimately were able to get situated, their man-advantage time in each instance was just about over.

I think the Penguins registered just one shot combined on both of those power plays. That has to change in game 2 against what is really a terrible Detroit penalty kill. Last night, the Pens' made the Red Wings look like they were killing off penalties with 8 guys on the ice.

Despite their failings on the PP, the Penguins had several other strong scoring chances in the 2nd period, including ones by LW Chris Kunitz, RW Bill Guerin and even RW Miro Satan, who deked Osgood into the ground after taking a pass right in front and quickly changing direction on the Detroit goaltender, only to have the puck roll right off his stick before he could shoot on the backhand.

However, none of those chances were as notable as the one missed by Malkin when Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronall turned the puck over at the Pens' blueline and gave #71 a breakaway for 120 feet that had the entire Joe Louis Arena on its feet.

Malkin, never known as the greatest breakaway player, broke in with speed and tried a wrist shot high to Osgood's glove side, but Osgood got a piece of it to make the biggest stop of the game for his team.

If you ask me, if Geno was going to shoot that puck, he should have gone stick side. As it was, Malkin didn't test Osgood a great deal on that one. He didn't even really deke. It's hard to be too critical of Malkin, because he was dangerous at times last night, but as the top scorer in the league in a 1-1 game in the Stanley Cup Finals, you have to bury those chances. Especially against a team like the Red Wings that isn't going to give you very many.

Okay. Back to the board game here. The Penguins were feeling Deja Vu back to the Red Wings' first goal for much of the rest of the game, starting later in the 2nd period when Detroit RW Johan Franzen took the rebound of a shot off the lively back boards and got another fortunate bounce when the puck went off the lifted leg of Fleury -- who had dove towards the post on his stomach in a desperate attempt to close off that shooting lane for 'The Mule' -- and into the goal.

The third period was more of the same.

Rookie Justin Abdelkader -- playing in only his 12th career NHL game, regular season or playoffs, and only in the lineup beacuse of injuries to Red Wings MVP candidate Pavel Datsyuk and C Kris Draper, both of whom missed the contest -- scored about 3 minutes into the period when an initial shot he took bounced off Fleury and up in the air right back to him. Fleury didn't know where the puck went and neither did Pens' center Jordan Staal, who was trying to check Abdelkader. While Staal let up for a second or two while not knowing where the biscuit was, the Red Wings' rookie saw the puck the whole way. He quickly gloved the puck out of the air and put it down to Fleury's left before shooting it back towards the goal before the biscuit ever settled down on the ice.

The puck went top corner past Fleury's blocker just as he realized where it was and Detroit then had a 3-1 lead.

Not to be simply victimized by bad bounces in their own zone, the Pens' suffered the ignomity in the offensive end too.

Later in the 3rd period, with the Pens' looking to get back within one goal, Sidney Crosby picked up a rebound off Osgood to the side of the net and tried to chip it back in front or off the netminder. It hit the blocker of the diving Osgood, then the post, then landed right on his back between the top of the "3" and the "0" on the back of his jersey.

Several Red Wings swarmed the play, including Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg, who had been engaged in a combative physical battle on and off the puck with Crosby all night, arrived first and reached for the puck. As far as I could tell, he briefly covered it with his hand while Osgood was still on his back in the crease. That happened for just a second or a second and a half before it looked like he was then trying to push the puck off Osgood's back, away from the net, and perhaps underneath him.

No penalty was called on the play and Crosby questioned Referree Paul Devorski about why a penalty shot wasn't called.

Fair question, since the puck was in the crease and covered up by a glove -- regardless of whether it was on Osgood's back or not -- but the truth of the matter is that the play was a close call, and Devorski didn't have a good look at what happened because he was skating around the net from the direction where Zetterberg came from, so he couldn't even really tell what was happening at the time.

It was a tough break for Pittsburgh, but then again -- so was each goal the Red Wings scored. It just wasn't the Penguins' night.

After the contest, the Penguins were disappointed at the bad breaks they had, but appeared confident with how they matched up against Detroit. Their veteran leaders, including Brooks Orpik and Bill Guerin, both have the team ready and anxious to get right back out there and take another crack at things in game 2, which -- as most know -- comes quickly: tonight at 8 PM.

Here are some interesting pieces to read about game 1:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09151/974069-87.stm

http://www.freep.com/article/20090531/COL01/90531011/1053/SPORTS05/Game+1+was+dandy++but+tonight+s+Game+2+just+as+pivotal+

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/2009/05/31/9627456-cp.html

So how do the Penguins split this series and go back to Pittsburgh tied at 1 with home-ice advantage in what would then be a best of 5??

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, the Penguins will need to be better on the power play in the next contest. They also will need to capitalize on their chances when they get them. Again, good scoring opportunities are going to be more scarce against the Red Wings and you can't miss them when you're going up against an outfit as good as they are. Everything can make a difference.

Another thing Pittsburgh needs to do better in game 2 tonight is work the circle better. They were miserable on faceoffs in game 1. Detroit won 71% of the draws, going 39-16 against the Penguins.

The worst part is that Detroit's performance on draws wasn't at the hands of a few of their better face-off guys -- Draper and Datsyuk -- but the likes of Zetterberg and Darren Helm. Crosby and Staal, in particular, both were schooled last night.

I didn't know Helm was that good on the draw. He's a great energy guy with speed and some skill who has a good future with Detroit, but little did I know he had that kind of talent in the circle.

After the Penguins performance on face-offs in game 1, I can't help but wonder if coach Dan Bylsma might consider inserting Mike Zigomanis into the lineup for game 2? It could be viewed as a drastic change for just one aspect of the game, but make no mistake -- the Penguins were completely and totally dominated in the circle. In a game where puck possession is so important and you have 2 teams who pride their attack on that, it can't be understated. I don't know that I would do it for sure, but if I were Blysma, I'd have to really consider it.

Zigomanis hasn't played in about 6 months following shoulder surgery, but he was cleared for contact weeks ago and has been practicing with the team regularly. He's just being a healthy scratch at this point, like Eric Godard and Pascal Dupuis. And aside from getting Zigomanis in the lineup to help on draws, it might be a good move in the back-to-back situation to keep Crosby, Malkin and Staal -- who are all getting extra shifts up front because of Bylsma dressing 7 "D" again -- a little fresher. Sure, getting #'s 87 and 71 on the ice more makes it harder on the Red Wings, but if we gas those 2 so much that they are ineffective, we will lose this series. They didn't have a big impact in last night's game and you can imagine how much of a difference it would have made in it if they did. It was a close contest. It doesn't take much and every decision can tip the scales.

I think the last thing the Penguins need in game 2 is a little better -- and more controlled -- play from their netminder.

Osgood outplayed Fleury in game 1, and as an initial matter, that can't continue to happen if the Penguins are going to win the series.

Now, it's not that Fleury played badly. But he doest need to be a little more aware of the puck, the bounces, and the back boards. To help in that area, I think he needs to be a little more under control positionally. In game 1, he was active and aggressive and while those are good traits for him generally, he can't take himself even the slightest bit out of the play -- either at the top of the crease, or even moving side to side.

On the first Detroit goal, his whole right leg was extended past the post on what I already described was a pretty harmless shot by Stuart. That's what allowed the puck to carom off him and in. If he's just to the post on that one and not extended past it, that goal doesn't happen.

Same on the 2nd Red Wings' goal by Franzen. Fleury was out a little far on that one and when "The Mule" quickly got to a rebound off the wall, he had to dive back to shut off Franzen from scoring. That worked, but he was prone and not able to avoid having the puck bounce off him and into the net.

So with that, the Penguins have their blueprint for game 2. And let's be frank -- the Penguins now really need game 2. They do not want to be in the same position against Detroit than they were against Washington after 2 games, down 2-0. They overcame that hurdle against Washington and, while I won't say it would be impossible to do it again against Detroit, that's a chore they really want to look to avoid if they can.

The Penguins seem confident enough to get right back out there tonight, and they should be. In the battle of who was going to dictate the play to the opponent more last night -- maybe the biggest story of the series given how similarly these two squads play -- the Penguins probably came out on top. If they do more of that tonight, they stand to get a better result.

Especially if its their turn with the puck luck.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!