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RED WINGS SHUT OUT PENGUINS TO TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD

Posted by billy on 05/26/2008 - 11:59 PM

DETROIT - NHL history suggests that the Detroit Red Wings are shoo-ins to win the Stanley Cup now.

Brad Stuart, Tomas Holmstrom and Valtteri Filppula scored the goals and Chris Osgood blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second straight game, 3-0 on the heels of a 4-0 whitewash in the opener, as the Red Wings took a 2-0 stranglehold on the championship series Monday night.

The all-time championship series record of home clubs winning the first two games is 30-1. The 1970-71 Chicago Blackhawks were the only team to blow a 2-0 lead built at home, losing to Montreal in seven games.

The series shifts to Pittsburgh for games Wednesday and Saturday. The Penguins are 8-0 at home in the playoffs so maybe they'll get their act together at Mellon Arena.

They'll start Game 3 on their longest goalless stretch all season - 135 minutes 57 seconds. Pittsburgh hadn't been blanked two games in a row since February 2003.

''I know my players are frustrated right now,'' aid Penguins coach Michel Therrien.

The Wings were bolstered in Game 2 by the return of Johan Franzen, who had 12 goals and 15 points in 11 games before headaches caused him to sit out the last seven, and the Penguins got some added grit with the return of Gary Roberts.

Franzen had an immediate impact. He helped screen Marc-Andre Fleury when Stuart opened the scoring at 6:55 with a slap shot Fleury couldn't see.

''Mule was out front creating havoc,'' Stuart said.

It was the defenceman's first goal this post-season.

''This is the time of year a team gets some unexpected goals, and that's the sign of a good team,'' said Stuart.

Holmstrom doubled Detroit's lead at 11:18 off a scramble. Shots on goal were 8-0 at this stage. They were 12-6 after 20 minutes.

Detroit entered the game with an 11-1 record when leading after the first period so the Penguins were going to have to mount a memorable rally to even the series.

The line changes made by Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien, including the insertion of Ryan Malone in place of Pascal Dupuis on the first line with Sidney Crosby and Marian Hossa, seemed useless.

Detroit checking was smothering the Penguins, who managed one shot on Osgood through the first 10 minutes of the middle period. The Red Wings controlled play for such long stretches that it was a game of keepaway at times.

The Penguins were trying to dump the puck behind Detroit defencemen and rush in but Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall and Stuart were quick to feed it up the ice to the forwards to thwart the Pittsburgh forechecking.

Pittsburgh got its best scoring chance so far with four minutes left in the second period when Roberts fed Jordan Staal for a shot that banged off a post.

Detroit had an 11-6 shots edge in the second period.

Filppula made it 3-0 at 8:48 of the third with a dazzling display of stickhandling. The Finnish centre wove his way around defenceman Kris Letang and swept the puck past Fleury as he was being tripped to the ice.

A couple of minutes later, Roberts stuck a fist in Franzen's face, and Franzen went down as if mortally wounded. He was fine. Roberts wasn't penalized. Franzen went on to take two roughing penalties before the game was over.

The Penguins brawled it up at the end. Petr Sykora threw a shoulder into Osgood and knocked him to the ice to spark the ugly end, which included a 10-minute misconduct to Roberts.

''He's a good actor,'' Therrien said of Osgood. ''He goes to players and he's diving.''

At the final buzzer, Pittsburgh's Max Talbot was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty for trying to go after anybody in red wearing skates.

Therrien sloughed it all off, accusing the Red Wings of employing obstruction fouls to slow the Penguins.

''It's tough to generate any offence,'' he complained. ''They're good at (obstruction).''

Detroit had an 11-10 shots edge in the third.

Many thought this would be a close series between two highly-skilled teams but, so far, it has been a mismatch.

Red Wings fans in the Joe Louis Arena crowd of 20,000 left shouting their approval.

''We did some really good things,'' said centre Kris Draper. ''It was really hot in the building.

''You could really feel that. We try go short and hard and play at a high tempo.''

Detroit coach Mike Babcock had some bad news for the Penguins: he says his team can improve in Game 3.

''We're going to play better,'' said Babcock. ''We've been a good road team all year.

''We're going to have a real good game in Pittsburgh. We're excited to get on the road.''

Notes: Pittsburgh was 0-for-3 and Detroit 0-for-8 on power plays . . . Final shots: Detroit 34, Pittsburgh 22 . . . Pittsburgh had a 39-29 hits advantage . . . First periods have been the Red Wings' best throughout the playoffs and they have now outscored opponents 25-8 in their 18 games . . . Detroit deleted Darren McCarty to make room for Franzen, who had scored 27 goals in 27 games including 11 winners before being told by doctors on May 10 that he needed to be free of the concussion-like symptoms that were bothering him . . . Detroit defenceman Chris Chelios sat out a third straight game . . . Pittsburgh dropped Georges Laraque so Roberts could play. Roberts was a healthy scratch in Game 1 after missing three getting over a bout of pneumonia . . . Day after day, demands for interviews with Crosby necessitate his appearance in arena interview rooms. He never balks. ''It's not a terrible situation to be in the Stanley Cup final and have to go to the podium every day,'' Crosby says. ''So, I'll take it. I try not to look down upon that. It's a good opportunity, playing in the NHL, and a whole lot of people would want to be in my position so I'm not going to complain about it.'' . . . Darren Helm, 21, is the youngest Red Wing to play in the Stanley Cup final since Pit Martin, who was 20 in the 1964 series against Toronto . . . The referees were Marc Joanette, 39, of Verdun, Que., and Brad Watson, 47, of Regina.