Yesterday's Lesson.....Leadership

Now that one, that one felt really good. After a sad performance on Thursday night, the Wings came back strong on Saturday and showed why they are the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was a classy and in honor of Babcock, a "willful" performance by the Wings. Losing last night was not an option, and they knew it. They came out and answered their critics....and funny, I didn't have any ass hole emails from Pens fans today....hmmm apparently a 5-0 victory causes them to shut the fuck up for a day or two....

Alright a few quick thoughts:

Datsyuk started out a bit slow and I was concerned that his foot was going to be too much of an issue. But after his first shift he really seemed to get his timing back and I'm sure the adrenaline rush helped as well. Another great move by Babcock to start him on Zetterberg's wing. It was certainly beneficial to both. Datsyuk only had to take 4 faceoffs and Zetterberg no longer had the weight of the team on his back. He had someone to share the burden with.

In fact the whole team seemed to exude confidence after watching a few shirts by Zetterberg and Datsyuk. It was exactly the kind of boost they needed. Now I am not suggesting their great play was solely a result of one player, but he was the extra piece they needed, the extra little confidence.

And quite frankly, after Datsyuk's first shift, he regrouped and didn't look back from there. He had a great hit on Malkin and a beautiful pass to Cleary for the first goal. If nothing else he seemed to draw 2 or 3 Penguins to him. It was absolutely great to see him back.

Fleury is a pure butterfly goalie. And he seems to drop to his knees faster than a cheap whore. Last night the Wings really seemed to use this to their advantage.

Ozzie was strong once again. While he wasn't terrible in Pittsburgh they certainly weren't his best performances. But as expected from Osgood, he rebounded and played well when he needed to. And now has two assists during the playoffs. I'm pretty sure that's more than Maltby. After a great heads up pass to Hossa on a long Pittsburgh line change, Hossa makes a nice play to Filppula for the goal. The sequence just exemplified the change in the Wings over all play.

Kronwall and Rafalski both came back from poor performances and had great games. Each with a goal and great defensive play. Kronwall's goal was most surprising when he drove to the net from the corner on the power play and stick handled like he was Pavel freaking Dastyuk by 3 Pens defensemen. They were so surprised they didn't even react.

Overall they seemed to diminish turnovers and started making crisp clean passes. Which can be attributed to their newly found confidence.

During the second period the Penguin's frustration really seemed to escalated and like the Ducks and Hawks before them, they for some fucked up reason thought the best plan of attack would be to goon it up with the Wings. Ummm yeah because that worked so well before....Let's see if we can list their amazingly classy antics:

• Kunitz attempts to drop the gloves with Helm during one of many after whistle scrums. Yeah, because it would be soooo advantageous for him to fight you. Once a dick always a dick...he enjoyed some time in the box.
• Talbot easily was the biggest douche bag of the night. And that is a hard award to win. He purposely slashed Datsyuk in the foot. Apparently the Pens remembered how much more difficult the Wings are when they have everyone in the line up. Not to mention this is exhibit A for hiding playoff injuries.
• Matt Cooke is a donkey dick just like his bff Kunitz
• Malkin. Hmmmm where to begin 6 penalty minutes does not make a leader or a star player. Tisk Tisk. Stupid penalties all around especially the elbow to Franzen's head.
• During ANOTHER after the whistle scrum, Crosby starts throwing some gloved punches with the linesmen safely in sight. I hope Babcock reminded the boys to cover their ass holes when Crosby starts swinging....
• For some reason I can't remember who absolute wrecked Kronwall in the head....but it was awful. If a Wing did that, they would be looking at a suspension. Seriously if Kronwall himself did that, out of the game. But I doubt anything will happen...
• And finally we get to the leader of the Penguins. The savior of the League. The anointed one. The face of the NHL. Awww the little boy made his uncle Gary proud last night, with his beautiful frustrated slash on Zetterberg. Sorry Crosby, no matter who creams their panties over you...that's going to be a trip to the box. And what did one of the Wings leaders do? Oh well Zetterberg falls from the slash and immediately gets back up and plays on. Now as a fan, I'd rather watch that. As opposed to Crosby falling to the ground after the Maltby slash grasping himself in anguish as if Maltby had taken a chain saw to him. A side note.....Don Cherry seems to hate soccer players and their diving antics...now wasn't that exactly what his good ole Canadian boy did, as opposed to the evil Swede. I'm just saying.

A few other notes, Crosby didn't play the last 5 and a half minutes of the game. I'm sure they were "getting him ready" for game 6....but Yzerman, Zetterberg, and Lidstrom, the leaders in Detroit always managed to finish the game. Because when your team is down, when they're imploding, you don't hide behind the bench. Just ask Datsyuk who apparently threw a fit after not being allowed to play in Game 4. HE decided he was playing in game 5.

Draper only had about 6 minutes of ice time. I wonder if he is hurting and if Abdelkader will be back for Game 6.

The Chief has a great screen grab of little Gary pouting after his Penguins imploded. After his golden child acted like a douche bag, like a skid mark on the underpants of society, he apparently wasn't too happy. Sorry but I thought he was supposed to be impartial. Ha.

While the Wings played great, the scary thing is, they can still play better. And they will need to on Tuesday. While the Penguins were immature and classless last night, they will regroup and come out flying on Tuesday. And the crowd, well that will be a 6th man for them. The Wings need to stay focused and continue to push hard and finish this bitch up on Tuesday. I'm not sure anyone other than Gary can handle a game 7 at this point.

Oh, and the Tigers won last night....just saying.