By IRA PODELL, AP
May 27, 2008
DETROIT - Hockeytown is halfway to hoisting the Stanley Cup again.
With first-period goals from Brad Stuart and Tomas Holmstrom and another lockdown defensive effort, the Red Wings beat the Penguins 3-0 last night to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.
The puck-possessing Red Wings again held onto it all night and registered 34 shots. They put the clamps on the Penguins, who have yet to score. After a 19-save effort in a 4-0 series-opening win Saturday, Chris Osgood stopped 22 in a rocking-chair game and earned his third shutout of the playoffs - 13th career.
The often-overlooked Osgood owns the Red Wings' record with 50 postseason victories, ahead of Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk, and is closing in on his third Cup with Detroit.
Osgood is the first to post shutouts in the first two games of the finals since the Devils' Martin Brodeur in 2003 against Anaheim.
"All it means to me is that I'm just confident, and I'm going to try to do it for as long as I can," Osgood said. "It's as simple as it gets."
Of the 31 teams to win the first two games of the finals at home, 30 have captured the Cup. Game 3 is tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, and the Penguins will have to win one of the next two to force a trip back to Motown.
The Penguins are 8-0 at Mellon Arena in the postseason and have a 16-game winning streak inside the Igloo, dating to Feb. 24. Detroit needs two wins to lock up its 11th Stanley Cup title and fourth in 11 seasons.
"We just have to execute," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "Did they really get that many scoring chances on us? I don't think they did. They got a few and put them in. . . . That's the difference."
