Cup Fever: Game One

"Now peel back his skin dear, peel back his skin
And he'll just smile....
But he's only smiling to deny the pain
And he's only smiling
And I bet you love this, don't you?"
Fear Before the March of Flames: "On the Bright Side, She Could Choke..."

I'm fast coming to despise Darren Helm with every fibre and sinew of my being, because the Red Wing currently filling the role of "young player who becomes a star from nowhere in the playoffs" this season is terrifying. Not because he's a league superstar who can win games by himself (well, yet) but because he's just so good at his assigned role.

But my hatred for him is nothing compared to the hatred I now have for inanimate objects in Detroit-or one set of them in particular. You may be wondering whether I'm in full control of my mind at this point, but bear with me.

It's the boards at the Joe Louis.

The Red Wings won game 1 3-1 last night, and two of the three were a direct result of strange bounces off the boards behind Marc-Andre Fleury's net...including the opening one of the finals. Brad Stuart's shot went wide by several feet, but bounced back harder than a well-aimed pass, and the back of Fleury's thigh did the rest. Franzen's second...that wasn't a shot so much as an instinctive hack at a puck which had again rebounded strangely...it went in off Fleury again, while Abdelkader's winner also had a slight element of luck in the way the puck rebounds straight up off Fleury's pads from the initial shot. Nicely pulled down and finished, though, I'll give him that.

Saying that, the good luck in Detroit must all have gone to the Wings...I mean, this is a typical street scene in Red Wings Nation...

This means, then, that we go into game 2 today with the Finals already at a crossroads. The Penguins win, and it's back where we were going back to the Mellon Arena. The Wings win, and suddenly there's a big, big problem...

But I shall quote my facebook status in saying that winning one from seven is a lot easier than three in six, especially when you're a) having to win at least one of them away from home unless you want to go all the way to the lottery that is Game Seven, and b) you won't have the friendly boards of the Joe for at least two of them. If the Pens can win game two, then it's simply a case of holding serve at home-something which they've done pretty damn well in the playoffs up to now, losing only twice at the Igloo.

Oh yeah...and the reason Crosby is the face of the NHL? It may have something to do with the fact that he's the best in the NHL, plus, for a combination of reasons, he's considered media gold by the league, at least in terms of selling the game to your average suburban American family...
Plus, he probably makes better chili than Chris Chelios does.

Quick thought...Brooks Orpik, we need more of this side of you. Preferably on Marian Hossa, if at all possible. However, if you could arrange a few to be on Henrik Zetterberg (who has more ice-time than Crosby but scores less despite most of Michigan wanting to have his firstborn, still. Yes, even the men. Maybe it's the playoff beard) then that would be nice...

Nicklas Kronwall...continue as you are. None of your famous big hits, and leaving Feds wide open to score the Pens solitary goal. Keep going, superstar...

With 14.2857142 percent of the Finals gone (yes, I looked it up), the Red Wings have the advantage. But the Pens nick one tonight, and suddenly things look very different.

The March of the Penguins has suffered a slight detour. But there is little, as yet, to worry about...whatever those in Detroit would have you think.