Game 5 Recap

http://www.mlive.com/forums/redwings/index.ssf
I check this regularly, it is nice to see what the fans think.

First I Wanted to touch on my, keys to victory and see what each team was doing wrong or failed to do.

"Keys to winning: Red Wings

1. In this series Hossa is the Red wings X factor. If he plays well I believe that the wings win the game.
2. The wings first and second line. In order for them to win they will need more production out of these lines.
3. It all starts with the fore checking, They need 1-2 players fore checking hard to make the pens turn the puck over in the neutral zone.
   

Keys to winning: Penguins

1. In the past 2 games the production that they have gotten out of Malkin has been astounding. If they want to win he should be on the ice just as much as Crosby.
2. Keep up the fore checking. The Red wings turned the puck over way to many times and that lead to t least 3 goals last game. This was all a result of very strong fore checking by the Penguins.
3. Fleury. He needs to be on his game and remember that he is back in the Joe with "spring boards". He needs to not give up weak goals and put his team in a hole.

"
Since the Wings won the game I am going to focus on them first. First off I thought hossa played the best game of his series tonight, almost having a goal fed from datsyuk. I thought that he was a very unselfish player handling the puck only when he needed to.

By the first and Second I mean Zetterburg, Datsyuk and Cleary. And the Second line I consider Hossa, Filppula(flip-u-la, as I like to call him) and franzen/holmstrom. I probably should have clarified that before and for that I appologize. But the Wings these lines did step up dramatically
and was for sure the difference maker in this game. I think the whole world now sees how much the wings miss their other assistant captain.

I believe this was the biggest key to the wings victory out of everything. I really did like Coach Babcocks decision to put 2 of his fastest most physical guys on the same line. They would be Helm and Draper. They started with the physical fore checking and it continued like a tuning fork throughout the second period where the wings absolutly demolished the penguins. Look for this to be a very large key for both teams in game 6.

As for the pens. They are a very young team that is not quite yet disciplined for the long haul. It became very obvious to me that they could not handle and are certainly not used to getting blown out. But as a player and team as a whole they just need to humble themselves and remember theat they are going up against the former stanley cup champs and one of the best teams in the league and certainly remember that there is one more final game to play.

as a poster on mlive pointed out

"and other teams. game 3 vs the hawks, wings got down by 3, what did they do? they didnt goon it up, they played their game and got back into it and gave them a chance to win. Game 4 vs the hawks, wings get up by 3, hawks goon it up and get blownout.

Game 5 vs the Pens, Pens get down by 3, start to goon it up. get blown out."

This was posted by truthhurts67 on the Red wings forum on Mlive.com

I believe the comparison is very similar between the blackhawks and wings series to the one currently going on. Some people like to say that a true team shows its colors under pressure. In this case I thought it was very apparent that this team was headed by very young leadership.(Crosby, Malkin)

Favorite stat of the game: Zetterburg 6 shots, Malkin 6 Penalty minutes.

oh and p.s. did anyone else notice that the wings were putting 4 forwards and kronwall out there on the PP? I believe samuelsson was playing the point with kronwall.

Good luck next game Penguins but I think this series is over in 6!