Detroit netminder Chris Osgood stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced for the second night in a row, leading his Red Wings to another win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and a 2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup Finals matchup.
It was the eighth time in Detroit’s 18 playoff games this spring that Osgood allowed one goal or fewer.
Unlike in Game One, the Penguins opened the game’s scoring, with an Evgeni Malkin power play goal with 3:10 left in the first period. After a goal-mouth scramble, Malkin snapped a shot on net that Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart bounced off of Osgood and across the goal line.
Jonathan Ericsson got the Red Wings on the board at 4:21 of the second period, blasting a one-timer from the point past Marc-Andre Fleury off of a faceoff.
Valtteri Filppula put Detroit in front 6:08 later, just after the expiration of a Red Wings’ power play. Marian Hossa put a shot on Fleury from the bottom of the left faceoff circle and the puck squirted free on the other side of the net. As Jordan Staal knocked Tomas Holmstrom into the crease, Filppula backhanded an acute-angle shot into the top of the net.
For the second consecutive game Justin Abdelkader wrapped up the scoring. Just 2:47 into the second period he skated into the Pittsburgh zone against three defenders, looped along the top of the circles with the puck, and then swatted a fluttering puck over Fleury’s glove.
The goal gives Abdelkader two on the series, leading all players.
Fleury finished the night with 23 saves on 26 Detroit chances.
The Penguins scored on their only power play while the Red Wings were held without a goal on two tries with the extra attacker, one of which was a 19-second five-on-three to end the game.
The five-on-three came about after Maxime Talbot speared Osgood in an attempt to knock the puck loose after a save. In the ensuing scrum, Malkin instigated a fight with Henrik Zetterberg.
The NHL has announced that the automatic suspension from an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of a game will be rescinded for Malkin and he will be available for Game Three.
Game Three will be on Tuesday night as the series shifts to Pittsburgh.
The Red Wings were once again without Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper, who remain out of the lineup due to injuries.
