Osgood making his case for Conn Smythe

CBC Sports Staff                                    

Osgood has been named the first star of both Detroit wins in this series, and the man who supposedly is Detroit’s weak link must be rated as the clubhouse leader for the Conn Smythe Trophy after lowering his playoff goals-against average to 1.94.

“He’s been their best player in the first two games of the series, and that’s the reason why we’re down two nothing right now,” Penguins left-winger Pascal Dupuis said

Penned in

The Wings head off to Pittsburgh carrying their 2-0 lead, but also recognizing that they haven’t delivered an A-level performance in either victory.

“It hasn't been easy,” Osgood said. “We're going to have to play better and an even higher level when we go to Pittsburgh.”

Osgood felt it’s been Detroit’s savvy that’s carried the day through the first two games.

“We're playing smarter. We’re sticking to our game plan for the most part. For 60 minutes, we're not panicking, even when we turn it over, we still give ourselves a pretty good opportunity to get it back.

“If anything, we turned it over too much again tonight, we didn't shoot enough. I thought we had some chances to shoot down the side, so we have to try to get to the net a little more. But they've got a good team. Their D is solid. We have to find a way to get in front of their goalie a little more.”

Wings coach Mike Babcock also recognizes that things aren’t anything like they were a year ago.

“I think last year, the [Evgeni] Malkins and [Sidney] Crosbys were engaged [for] Game 3,” Babcock said. “I think this year, when the puck dropped, they were engaged.

“This Pittsburgh team has played hard from the drop of the puck. Every inch of the ice is a battle out there with them.”

'Z' tops

The man the Wings call "Z," centre Henrik Zetterberg, is smothering Crosby for the second straight final series. Crosby, who came into the final riding a six-game point streak and with points in all but two of 17 previous playoff games, heads home still looking for his first point of the series.

“We’ve got (Zetterberg) matched up against him all the time and Z’s doing a really good job out there, knocking him down in the middle and not giving him as much time and space as he wants,” Wings defenceman Jonathan Ericsson said.

Zetterberg showed a different side to his game late in the contest when he dropped the gloves and scrapped with Malkin.

“That was surprising,” Ericsson said. “Malkin was battling a little bit with Z first and Z didn’t do anything. But Z’s a strong man and the strong man from Sweden took care of him.”

Zetterberg shrugged off his fistic debut.

“In the playoffs and finals like this, there is a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings,” he said.

Fourth best

For the second straight game, Detroit’s fourth line of Justin Abdelkader between Ville Leino and Kirk Maltby figured in the scoring and turned in a strong performance. They were able to pin play in the Pittsburgh zone frequently with their strong cycle game.

“They’ve been able to hang on to the puck down low,” Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said of the club’s fourth unit. “They’re all strong skaters and they’ve been able to hang on to the puck down low and force the other team to stay in their own zone and play some defence.

“It helps our bench when you have a fourth line that can not only score goals, but can hang on to the puck, too. It helps when you have a fourth line that can contribute."

Abdelkader, who pummeled Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin with a punishing second-period bodycheck, scored to make it 3-1, as he did in the series opener.

“That third goal is always big,” Abdelkader said. “Pittsburgh was pressing there for a while. I think maybe like Game 1, it kind of relaxed us a bit after we got that third goal. So it's always crucial and I'm thankful it was me that put it in.”

Shared history

With his goal in Game 1, Abdelkader became the first player to register his first-ever National Hockey League goal in the Stanley Cup final since Pittsburgh’s Jim Paek did it in Game 6 of the 1991 final against the Minnesota North Stars.

Curiously, Paek coached Abdelkader in the American Hockey League this season, where he serves as an assistant coach with Detroit’s Grand Rapids farm club. And Paek is along for the Stanley Cup ride. He’s being utilized by the Wings to work out the club’s Black Aces after the regulars are done with practice.

Adding up

Any way you slice the pie, it delivers a tasty treat to the Wings.

Defending champions are 17-0 in final series when they take a 2-0 series lead. Home teams are 33-1 in final series when they take a 2-0 series lead.