Alert the mayor, this one's over.Despite not being officially eliminated after their 5-0 beatdown by the Detroit Red Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins are simply over matched by the depth and experience of the Motor City. Now, with the return of Detroit's top center Pavel Datsyuk, the Penguins officially find themselves with no room for error. It's undoubtedly a tough reality to grasp for Penguins hopefuls and fans, but simply put, it's inevitable. Fact is, this team's not winning the Stanley Cup if their inability to play their game outside of the Mellon Arena continues. The Pens were completely out-hustled and worked by the elder Red Wings for 60 minutes at the Joe Louis Arena, for the 3rd time out of 3 visits to Motown.
For the Red Wings, the return of Datsyuk into the line-up and more importantly the powerplay was the difference maker in their Game 5 demolition of Marc-Andre Fleury. Despite gingerly skating on his injured foot during the pregame skate, the Russian center proved to be effective as ever. In his 17+ minutes of ice time Datsyuk didn't miss a beat, picking up a pair of assists including a great feed to Brian Rafalski on the powerplay to increase the Red Wings lead to 4-0.
In what has become typical Detroit-fashion, the Wings systemically destroyed the Penguins and exploited their youth throughout all three periods of Saturday night's tilt at the Joe. The Wings got the Penguins frustrated early and often, a tactic which led to 9 powerplay opportunities for the Red Wings. The Red Wings took advantage of this, scoring 3 straight powerplay goals in the 2nd period, putting themselves up 5-0 on the Penguins and leading to the exit of Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh net.
As a confidence-less Fleury headed down the runway and back to the Pittsburgh locker room, the doubts of Pens Nation grew. The rumored fatigue of the Red Wings is gone; they're back, and they smell blood.
The Penguins defenders were unable to stop the one-footed Datsyuk and Wings, as they often resorted to swinging their sticks blinding from their knees in a feeble attempt to stop the Wings roaring offense. The series swings back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the same setting where the Penguins felt their initial dream of bringing their 3rd Cup to the city of Pittsburgh crushed by Chris Osgood and the Red Wings.
It's not written in stone that the Penguins will not pull off the upset and capture the Stanley Cup, however, the continuing failures at the Joe Louis Arena are creating massive clouds of doubt among NHL fans worldwide, including myself. M.A Fleury has created the image of the Joe being his House of Horrors much like Tim Thomas' was seemingly tormented by the Bell Centre during his first few years in Boston. Fleury's record in Detroit during the past two Stanley Cup's is anything but flattering as he's gone just 1-4 with a GAA just under 3 and a .906 SV%. Fleury's only win came in 2008 Stanley Cup's epic Game 5 where the Penguins survived the Red Wings to avoid elimination with a win in the 3rd overtime.
Now with 2 days for both teams to rest their surely sore bodies, the Penguins have two options before their eyes: regain their confidence and believe that they can top this team or lose once again in front of their home crowd. Despite the added noise and spark the Igloo White-out will provide, the Red Wings are just too strong on their special teams with the return of Pavel Datsyuk. As Nicklas Lidstrom and the rest of the Red Wings will raise their 2nd Cup in as many years we'll learn that Hossa was right, he did have a better chance in Detroit because the Pens are simply done.
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