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Crosby, Penguins try to even series with Red Wings

May 26, 2008 - 1:14 PM Pittsburgh at Detroit 8:00 pm EDT Stanley Cup Finals Red Wings lead, 1-0

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings greeted Sidney Crosby rather rudely in the young superstar's first Stanley Cup Finals game.

Mikael Samuelsson netted two goals and Chris Osgood made 19 saves en route to his second shutout this postseason as the Red Wings skated to a 4-0 victory over the Penguins in Game One on Saturday.

Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins look to even the series at one win apiece Monday night when they square off against the Red Wings for Game Two.

It certainly will not be any easy task as Detroit showed its experience in the series opener, killing off four penalties in the first period and dominating the final 40 minutes.

"They're a good hockey team," Crosby said. "They play tight. I don't think we came here expecting an easy series. For sure, they played a tight-checking game. But that's playoff hockey. You still have to find ways around that."

Daniel Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg also tallied for Detroit, which outshot Pittsburgh, 25-7, over the last two sessions and improved to 8-1 at home in the playoffs.

"We tried to keep them on the outside and, for the most part, we did that," said Zetterberg, who is now tied with injured teammate Johan Franzen for the league lead in goals with 12. "They had a lot of opportunities on the power play and we played good on the PK. And again, Ozzie came up huge for us, especially on the PK."

Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury was peppered with shots all night - making 32 saves for the Eastern Confernce champion Penguins, who went 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a shorthanded goal.

"I don't know if it was the nerves, but definitely that was the worst performance of the playoffs," said Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien, whose team entered the contest converting nearly 25 percent of its man-advantage opportunities. "We didn't compete like we were supposed to compete. It's a good lesson."

Samuelsson, who played 22 games with Pittsburgh in 2003, gave the Presidents' Trophy recipient and Western Conference champion Red Wings all the offense they needed with just under seven minutes remaining in the second.

The Swede skated down the left wing and went behind the net before emerging near the right goalpost. As Fleury attempted to move across the crease, Samuelsson banked the puck off his left pad and into the net at 13:01 for his third goal of the playoffs and a 1-0 edge.

Samuelsson doubled the lead just 2:16 into the third period. After unleashing a check on Penguins defenseman Hal Gill in the left corner, the puck squirted toward the front of the net. Fleury poked it to Evgeni Malkin in the bottom of the left faceoff circle, but the Hart Trophy finalist was unable to control it.

Samuelsson, who replaced Franzen as the second-line right wing, pounced on the bouncing puck on the doorstep and fired it past Fleury - completing his second multi-goal performance this postseason.

"Samy's kind of a streak guy," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "When he scores, he feels good about himself. I thought he played big and strong. He made a real good finish check on the second goal."

"We're in the Finals. It's not always going to be the top guns to score the goals," Pittsburgh's Maxime Talbot said. "Sometimes it's going to be role players, sometimes it's second line. It was proved tonight it was not just about (their top) forwards. They have some depth."