2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog - Stanley Cup Final

Looking nothing like a guy who’d missed seven games with an injured foot, Detroit centre Pavel Datsyuk collected a pair of assists as the Red Wings hammered the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 to take a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup final in Game 5 Saturday at Joe Louis Arena.

“I feel good,” said the Russian, who played the wing alongside Henrik Zetterberg. “When I play more, I feel more better and come back in more better shape.”

The Wings admitted that just knowing their regular-season scoring leader and Hart Trophy finalist would be back in the lineup gave them an emotional lift after successive losses at Mellon Arena deadlocked the series.

“It really was (uplifting),” said Detroit right-winger Dan Cleary, who scored the game-winning goal off a Datsyuk feed. “You could see it in the players' eyes. His leadership, his character, just his presence is uplifting. And his play was great. He played really strong for us.”

Osgood enough

Detroit netminder Chris Osgood blocked 22 shots for his 15th career Stanley Cup shutout, breaking the four-way tie for fourth on the all-time list he’d been locked in with Jacques Plante, Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour. He now sits one behind Curtis Joseph for third overall.

“It was a great win,” Osgood said. “We finally played like we wanted to play, for the most part. So we just have to figure out what we did right and carry it over to the next game.”

Osgood also displayed some offensive skills. His tape-to-tape pass from behind his net to teammate Marian Hossa at the Pittsburgh blue-line led to Valtteri Filppula’s second-period goal that made it 2-0.

“I saw they were changing and Ossie had the puck behind the net and he made a great play,” Hossa said. “I saw Fil going to the net, I tried to backhand it softly to him and he made a nice play on the goal.”

Osgood joined Detroit's Mike Vernon (1997), New Jersey's Martin Brodeur (2003) and Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere (2003) as the only goalies to collect an assist in a Stanley Cup final game.

Record setter

Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom enjoyed a record-tying night. Playing in his 233rd playoff game, Lidstrom tied former New Jersey Devils defenceman Scott Stevens for fifth spot on the Stanley Cup career games played list.

“We came out with a lot of determination,” Lidstrom said. “We killed off the first penalty and we went at them hard. We stuck the puck in deep behind them and made some plays. We really stuck with our game plan.”

Drawing an assist on Brian Rafalski’s second-period power-play goal, Lidstrom tied Sergei Fedorov (163 points) for second spot on Detroit’s all-time playoff scoring list.

Hack and whack

Datsyuk was unnerved by a slash to his feet delivered by Pittsburgh centre Maxime Talbot late in the second period that looked like nothing other than a blatant attempt to re-injure him.

“I don't know,” Datsyuk said. "(They) have penalty, I'm happy we have (power play), five on three. That's what it is.”

Ice, ice baby

Datsyuk brought the house down when he was asked whether he had to have his foot frozen in order to be able to play.

“I don't know,” he claimed with a smile. “I'm thinking it's a secret. Yeah, try to keep it secret.”

Who’s tired now?

There was talk in the national media and from the Penguins dressing room that the Wings looked like a worn-out bunch after their Game 4 loss and that perhaps the Pens were responsible for wearing them down.

“You try not to pay so much attention to it,” Zetterberg said. “The media try to get some things going. You just focus on your game.”

Others insisted it was inspirational to have so many ready to count the defending champs out of the picture.

“We don’t mind that stuff, its extra motivation for us,” Cleary said.

Wings coach Mike Babcock clearly was weary of such talk, getting a little dig in that suggested perhaps the Penguins are still lacking a bit in the maturity department.

“When we play well, do our guys talk about their team like that?” Babcock asked.

Out of control

The Wings were surprised by how undisciplined the Penguins became once the game got out of hand.

“You don't need that,” Cleary said. “The game is out of reach. Guys can get hurt like that. You just try to protect yourself. The frustration set in early. We made them pay on the power play. We've just got to carry that over now.”

It’s a level of frustration that rarely seems to impact the Wings, no matter what course the game takes.

“We play disciplined, we don’t play afterwards, we play between the whistles,” Cleary said. “We play hard, smart, we don’t do any cheap shots, we take the hit to make the play, draw a penalty.”