MOTOWN MELTDOWN: Red Wings Power Play Puts No-Discipline Penguins On Brink With 5-0 Game 5 Loss

Going into game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins last night at Joe Louis Arena, the game tally was an even 2 games a piece.

After game 5, the composure tally is also now even, although the series scoreboard is not.

The Detroit Red Wings were the veteran team playing with the composure and poise of a defending Stanley Cup champion in game 5 last night, while the Penguins lost their grip on being a disciplined club in control in the 2nd period.

And, by extension, lost their posture in the series.

At least for now.

The Red Wings rode 3 power play goals (tying an NHL record) to a 4-goal 2nd period outburst in embarassing the Penguins, 5-0, to take a 3-2 series lead after game 5 last night.

Game 6 is Tuesday night in Pittsbugh (8 PM EST).

The Penguins started off game 5 last night well enough and had a solid opening 10 minutes (save for a poorly executed power play). After that, things went downhill, beginning later in the first period when Dan Cleary took a pass from Pavel Datsyuk -- who returned from nursing his fractured foot for the last 7 games -- and beat Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury by flipping an unexpected shot by him from 45 feet.

That was a bit of an indication of how the night would go for Fleury, who probably would (or should) have liked to get that one back the moment it sailed by him.

That was pretty much how the first period finished, with Pittsburgh down 1-0, but very much in the game.

That all changed faster than you could say "lack of discipline" in the 2nd period -- a frame the Penguins, looking back, would have done just as well to not show up for at all.

Detroit capitalized on a Penguins' line change just a few minutes into the frame when Red Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood passed the puck up the boards 120 feet to RW Marion Hossa, who ducked into the zone and found a streaking Valterri Filppula in the slot ahead of a chasing Penguins' defense.

Filppula deked to the backhand and, while Fleury stayed with him very well, Filpulla somehow managed to sneak the puck between #29's legs to give Detroit a 2-0 lead.

Minutes later, while on the power play, Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall --down behind the Penguins' goal line of all places -- took a pass, then took advantage of the path right to the slot which the Penguins' defense decided to make for him, before beating an overcommitting Fleury high to give the Red Wings a 3-0 lead.

Then the wheels really fell off for Pittsburgh, and they were the team who showed the same frustration that the Red Wings showed in game 4 in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins took several needless penalties and, with the precision of a surgeon, the Red Wings wasted no time making them pay.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski capitalized first, beating an easily screened Fleury with a wrist shot from the point to make it 4-0. Fleury was trying to look around Red Wings' LW Tomas Holmstrom on one side at the same time Rafalski wristed the puck to the opposite side of the net.

Then, Henrik Zetterberg took a cross ice pass before wheeling uncontested one step into the circle and beating Fleury high to the glove side for another power play marker to make it 5-0.

Fleury was pulled after that in favor of backup Mathieu Garon to give him a chance to refocus for game 6, but other than that -- and aside from several other undisciplined penalties by the Penguins, including a bit of a slash Penguins RW Max Talbot laid on the injured left foot of Datsyuk that's going to be talked a bit about but really was no big deal -- the game ended with the in-control Red Wings again one win away from claiming the Stanley Cup heading into game 6 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

A lot is going to be made of Pavel Datsyuk's return in this one, but I'm not sure how much of a big deal it was. For example, ESPN analyst Barry Melrose couldn't stop gushing about his man-crush on Datsyuk and what he means to Detroit after the game, but while Datsyuk had 2 helpers and was plus 2, I don't believe he did anything too special out there. Many other players could have made the passes he did. If anything, he was an emotional lift for the rest of his team, but otherwise, I don't think he had an overwhelming impact.

Much will also be made of the veteran Red Wings, and how they bounced back to show the "young" Penguins that they have a lot to learn.

Credit Detroit if you want, but the real story of the game was the Penguins' unraveling themselves in the 2nd period. And frankly, it was hardly different than what Detroit did game 4.

It was just the Penguins' turn.

And in truth, there may be a silver lining in that for Pittsburgh. This may be an optimistic take, but the reality is that the Penguins only played one bad period last night -- the 2nd one. It easily was enough to cost them the game, but they did more to shoot themselves in the foot than anything else. Detroit took advantage of that, of course -- as any team at this level should -- but it remains true that Pittsburgh did as much to hand themselves the loss last night than Detroit did to deliver it to them.

Pens' coach Dan Blysma won't have a hard time selling his team on the fact that they simply lost their game last night -- nor should he. The players will know that. Things collapsed for them in the 2nd period last night, then the boys showed frustration. Understandable. They just have to get back to their game. They know they didn't play Penguins' hockey last night, and know they are capable of much more.

I'd almost rather go down the way the Penguins did last night then lose a tough, 2-1 double overtime contest. This one is easier for the Penguins to toss out like yesterday's newspaper -- which is exactly what they should do.

And I think they will.

I certainly don't think Fleury is going to come out and allow 5 goals on 21 shots again, like he did last night.

Nor do I think Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are going to finish game 6 with a combined 2 shots between them, like they did in game 5.

Of course, the Penguins are going to need big contributions from other players besides those 3, but with their season on the line in game 6, I'm sure all will come up with better performances.

Of the last 19 times a Stanley Cup Final has been tied after 4 games, the game 5 winner has gone on to win the Cup 11 times in game 6. On five occassions has the game 5 loser prevailed and taken home the Silver Chalice in 7 contests.

I count on Pittsburgh to bounce back in is own raucous barn in game 6, then leave everything on the ice as the no-pressure road club in a winner-take-all game 7 in Detroit Friday night.

B - E - L - I - E - V - E ! ! !

Let's Go Pens'

More tomorrow.