Octopi Strike Again: Red Wings Weaken Sidney Crosby's Pens at The Joe

The Octopi of the Motor City struck again putting goals behind Marc-Andre Fleury and lifting the Hockey Town machine to another win in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals today, May 26. The only good news of the game for the Pittsburgh Penguins was going home to the Igloo.

Detroit set the tone from the get-go and put a goal past Fleury at 6:55 thanks to a Brad Stuart slap shot goal. An assist on the goal went to Valtteri Filppula. Detroit scored another before the penalty streak in the first period. Tomas Holmstrom sunk the second goal on a tip-in at 11:18. Henrik Zetterberg would be given an assist on the goal.

At 11:33 Detroit’s Brad Stuart visited the penalty box for two minutes for tripping. The Penguins' first mark on the score sheet was a penalty by Ryan Malone at 15:14 for interference. At 17:49 Detroit’s Dan Cleary took a hooking penalty and yet again the Penguins could not get themselves on the score board. The Penguins' Gary Roberts would visit the "sin bin" for roughing at 19:46 to end the period giving Detroit a power play.

The teams played a lot more evenly in the second period, as there would be no goals in the first half. At 11:17, the Penguins' Brooks Orpik and the Wings' Tomas Holmstrom took equal penalties. Orpik took a roughing penalty and Holmstrom sat for slashing. The Penguins began to look as tough they were losing patience when Ryan Malone took a slashing penalty at 17:30.

To open the third period, the Penguins' Marian Hossa took a holding call 22 seconds in. The Penguins' Ryan Malone along with the Wings' Pavel Datsyuk took matching roughing penalties at 3:42. Detroit’s Dallas Drake took a tripping penalty at 7:49. It clearly seems as though the Penguins have yet to crack the Red Wings on the man advantage. Until they can, they are doomed in this series. Ryan Malone sat with another penalty at 8:04 for goalkeeper interference.

At 8:48 Valtteri Filppula of the Red Wings made it a 3-0 Wings lead on a wrist shot. The assists would go to Johan Franzen and Brad Stuart. At 11:51 tempers boiled over as Detroit's Johan Franzen and Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot took matching roughing penalties. The Penguin penalty was served by Tyler Kennedy. Maxime Talbot would again let his temper get to him as he sat for a roughing infraction at 11:55. This period was ridiculous, The Penguins looked completely out-played. This has got to be the most one sided Finals series I have ever seen.

At this point I feel compelled to mention I have stopped following the game on the radio and have muted my NHL radio on my computer to watch a crab fishing show on the Discovery Channel...it has proven much more entertaining than watching the one-sided Finals game two. It seems Captain such-and-such needs to find more crabs, much like the Penguins need to find a way to score on Chris Osgood. It seems at 16:08 Ryan Whitney took a roughing penalty. Some bearded Captain is about to freak out after stumbling on tons of crabs. I’m becoming seafood hungry. At 18:52 Evgani Malkin and Gary Roberts both took roughing penalties along with several others.

My question: Is anyone still watching this one-sided ass kicking? My interest is gone; I can’t even follow stuff on the box score on NHL.com anymore. I could care less if they both end up killing each other out there. This is the worst Cup game I have ever seen.

Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images, figured it went well with the seafood reference.

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