Detroit Red Wings stay hot by blanking Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 -NHL Update
Not seeing superstar forward, Sidney Crosby, on the ice was definitely a motivational factor for Detroit when they went up against Pittsburgh as the Red Wings' offense caught fire in the third period to blank the Penguins, 4-1, Tuesday night, December 13, 2011, at the sold-out CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Being without Sidney Crosby, Penguins is still a top-notch team which the Detroit Red Wings could not deny, but one thing is for sure, it is not the same without its star player.
"They're a good team even without Sid, they're very deep and well-coached and they're fun to play against, and tonight was a good one for our team," Red Wings' coach, Mike Babcock, said after his team's third consecutive victory. "I thought he (Datsyuk) was dominant down the stretch, and that's what he tends to do in the bigger moments."
With five seconds remaining in the opening period, Evgeni Malkin took control of the puck to score his 11th goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, giving Pittsburgh a much needed boost in the contest.
Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk scored his ninth of the season with four minutes remaining to play in the second period, off a breakaway assist by Todd Bertuzzi who changed the tables around in terms of momentum by equalising the contest, heading into the final 20 minutes.
Johan Franzen kicked off the scoring during Penguins' first power play opportunity of the last period when Matt Niskanen was booked with a minor penalty for holding in the opening five minutes, while Daniel Cleary potted two straight nearly four minutes apart in the closing moments to secure the contest in favour of Detroit.
"Detroit is a good team, they played quick," Malkin said. "We had a couple of mistakes. In the last 10 minutes, we played bad and we didn't have a chance to win."
Detroit will be looking for a fourth straight victory when they face off against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, while the Penguins will be looking for a comeback against the Ottawa Senators, one day later on Friday.
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