STANLEY CUP NOTEBOOK | From Mellon Arena
Cheap shots: Maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins should start showing more perspiration and less frustration. The Penguins, shut out in the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals by Detroit, showed their exasperation at the end of Monday’s 3-0 loss in Game 2 with some borderline cheap shots on several Red Wings players. Most prominent was Gary Roberts’ not well-disguised punch to the face of Johan Franzen, who was returning from a six-game layoff with concussion-like symptoms. Pavel Datsyuk also absorbed some punishment, no doubt sent by the Penguins to show they have some physicality to go with their so far invisible scoring talent. The problem with such hits is they can motivate their opponent more than it does the team delivering them. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock promised again Tuesday that the Penguins haven’t seen the best of his team. And, perhaps, the beast of his team, either. “I guess you’re trying to send a message or whatever,” Babcock said. “To me, the game’s going to be won in between the whistles. And you’re not going to back us off one inch. It’s impossible. You’re not going to back up Pavel. And you have to decide for your own team what you think helps you win.” As for Franzen, Babcock likes that he has now played a game in the finals. “We think we can be better. And we’re going to try to be better,” Babcock said. “Just the Mule getting a game under his belt, [he] should be a better hockey player the next game. And that should make us a better team.” Detroit hasn’t played in Pittsburgh since winning a 2-0 decision — yes, another shutout — in a regular season game on Oct. 7, 2006.
Face of the playoffs: Sidney Crosby may be the face of the new NHL. So far, with no goals and not a lot of scoring chances, Crosby has yet to be the face of these finals. Not when there are so many grizzled Red Wings mugs trying to keep him from winning a Stanley Cup before he turns 21. That doesn’t mean Crosby isn’t getting a lot of attention, both from the Red Wings and the media, but he said all the off-ice attention hasn’t been wearying. “I’m in the Stanley Cup final. That’s realistically what’s going through my head,” Crosby said. “That’s all I’m worried about. Not the TV, not anything. I mean, I’ve dreamed of being here my whole life. And my job is what I do for my team and what I bring for my team. And that’s what I’m worried about, nothing else.”
Leading edge: Now the Penguins know what the Predators, Avalanche and Stars discovered earlier in the playoffs. It’s not only difficult to beat the Red Wings, it’s hard enough to get a lead on them. Of the 1,081 minutes and 48 seconds they’ve played in the postseason, the Red Wings have led or been tied for all but 122 minutes, 2 seconds, or 89 percent of the time. The Red Wings have outscored the Penguins 7-0 in the finals. The last time the Penguins were shut out in consecutive playoff games was in the 2001 Eastern Conference finals against New Jersey, when the Devils beat them 3-0 in Game 3 and 5-0 in Game 4 in Pittsburgh. The Devils won 4-2 in Game 5 at home to take the series. This is the first time in the Penguins’ three Stanley Cup finals appearances they have been down by two games. They swept Chicago in 1992 and beat Minnesota in six games in 1991, when they lost two of the first three games but won the next three.
Associated Press