On a night filled with star power the best player on the ice neutralized all the star power and Chris Osgood stopped 31 shots for the Detroit Red Wings to give them a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Brad Stuart got things going for the Wings in a tough physical back and forth first period when he missed a shot wide of the net but it bounced off the boards and trickled in the net underneath Marc-Andre Fleury to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Ruslan Fedotenko would tie things up for the Pens on a rebound from an Evgeni Malkin shot where Fedotenko tapped the puck away from Osgood and flicked it up over his shoulder to even the score with less than 2 minutes in the first. In the second period the Pens out shot, outhit, and flat out out played the Red Wings but it was all for not because the Wings picked up their second straight fluky goal with a minute left in the period when again a shot went wide and bounced off the boards and squeaked past Fleury, Johan Franzen's goal gave Detroit a 2-1 lead. The Red Wings got their insurance goal less than three minutes into the third when rookie Justin Abdelkader grabbed the puck out the air in front of the Penguins goal, set it down and fired it pass Fleury for a 3-1 lead. Both Fleury and center Justin Stahl lost the puck when it was in the air and had no idea Abdelkater had it until it was too late. A combination of Detroit's suffocating defense and spectacular net minding from Osgood would seal the Pens fate to a Game 1 loss. Pittsburgh had plenty of scoring chances, Evgeni Malkin had a one-on-one with Osgood and couldn't put it in, Crosby had a nice move spinning in front of the net a firing one off but Osgood used skill and some luck on the play to deny him, and Fedotenko had a nice opportunity but thanks to Osgood they weren't good enough. The most telling stat of this game was Detroit's dominance on the face off 39-16, the Wings are the best on the face off but the Pens came in winning a high percentage so I thought maybe they would be closer in that category. The Penguins won't have much time to think about the loss because Game 2 is 21 hours after Game 1. If Pittsburgh can win some more face offs and capitalize on their scoring chances they will get right back in this series.
DETROIT LEADS SERIES 1-0 OVER PITTSBURGH
GO PENGUINS!
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