Allsports thinks the Detroit Red Wings have Lady Luck on their Side

If you've been watching the Stanley Cup final or have been searching for sports news on the web, you will be aware that the Detroit Red Wings have won the first two games of the series with Pittsburgh by identical 3-1 scores.

Allsports thinks that the Red Wings are very lucky to be up 2-0 in the series and that Lady Luck has been smiling on them. But as the saying goes you have to be good to be lucky and you have to be lucky to be good.

The Penguins on the other hand have had no luck at all so far, hitting posts in the games and carrying the play for the most part. Chris Osgood has played very well in the Detroit net and Detroit has gotten some gratuitous bounces for goals at the other end of the ice.

The refs have even been in on the act to help Detroit’s cause. In game two Henrik Zetterberg covered up on the puck in the crease, with no penalty called.

In game one he closed his hand on the puck in the crease and avoided a call there as well. The Penguins should have been awarded a penalty shot on both of these instances. Below is the video of Zetterberg’s hand on the puck in game #1

To add insult to injury, the go-ahead and eventual game winning goal by Detroit was caused because Marion Hossa hooked the Pittsburgh player and broke his stick, leaving the Penguins down a man. The hook was a penalty all year and all playoffs. The lack of a call lead directly to the goal.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of the new sticks. They break far too easily, but the refs need to be consistent with the call. I wrote a post on the sticks titled, “Sorry coach my stick blew up” on May 11th of last year.

The frustration for the Penguins finally blew up at the end of the game, when Talbot jabbed at the puck when Osgood clearly had it. Then Malkin decided to throw some punches at Zetterberg.

Malkin got the instigator in the fight, and since it was in the last five minutes of the game there could be a one game suspension. Let's hope not, because a lot of the frustration was a direct result of the ref’s missing critical calls.

It is a hard job to do but there is still no excuse for missing the calls. Hossa’s hook was blatant and a no brainer.

For the complete sports news story on the game go here.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

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