NHL Stanley Cup Finals By the Numbers Through Game Two

Let’s talk some hockey.

By the Numbers

64 Shots for the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Two Goals)

56 Shots for the Detroit Red Wings. (Six Goals)

41 Giveaways by the Red Wings versus 25 for the Penguins.

17 Takeaways by the Penguins against 20 for the Red Wings.

77-72 Hits in favor of the Red Wings.

25-21 Blocked Shots in favor of the Penguins.

1 Power play goals by Pittsburgh in three attempts. Detroit has yet to tally a power play goal in their three attempts.

.969 Save percentage for "the over-rated" Chris Osgood, Red Wing Goalie.

-4 Pittsburgh defenseman Hal Gill's plus-minus rating. He's been on the ice for four of the Red Wings' six goals. Gill was +6 on the playoff season going into the finals.

2 Points (1G, 1A) for Evgeni Malkin

0 Points for Sidney Crosby

15 Hits credited to Red Wing Center Darren Helm. The most for either team.

2 Goals for 22 year old Justin Abdelkader. A Muskegon, MI native who wasn’t even playing at the beginning of May. Abdelkader joins Darren Helm as two Red Wings with playoff goals without any regular season goals.

2:46 Minutes into the third period for Abdelkader’s goal in Game 1

2:47 Minutes into the third period for Abdelkader’s goal in Game 2

63 Faceoffs won by the Red Wings against 43 won by the Penguins.

24 Faceoffs lost by Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal against only nine wins. Staal was 6-of-19 in Game 1 and only 3-of-15 in Game 2. Detroit center Darren Helm was 13-4 against Staal in Game 1 and 9-2 in Game 2. Sidney Crosby improved his faceoff percentage tremendously from Game 1 (6/20) to Game 2 (10/15).

0 Empty net goals for Detroit in almost four minutes of empty net time.

Comments

In all seriousness, the Penguins are skating very hard and taking it to the Wings on every shift. Detroit is getting more than a little bit of Puck Luck and will need to play better to close out this Pittsburgh team. Pittsburgh has caught more than one post and is doing a good job of out-RedWinging the Wings. Anytime a team plays the puck possession game better than the Wings, they can assume they’re playing pretty good hockey.

Sources: freep.com, nhl.com, detnews.com, redwings.nhl.com

JuTMSY4Legend

161 days ago

Score 9

For posterity's sake

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Pittsburgh GunnyMajor Leaguer

160 days ago

Score 3

Ha, that's tremendous Justin, made me laugh anyways.

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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer

160 days ago

Score 0

Awesome.

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CheezerAll-Star

161 days ago

Score 0

My edits are done so Pic away. If it won't allow further edits, it won't bother me any.

Thanks for the fix.

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JuTMSY4Legend

161 days ago

Score 0

yeah, it could have been more seamless though - not sure what the deal with that spam filter was very odd

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False ProphetAll-Star

160 days ago

Score 0

i blocked some sites on the AGM Spam Blacklist during the last trolling fiasco because it was the only way I could slow down the proliferation of those edits. If you tell me what website you're trying to post, I'll go and unblock it

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

161 days ago

Score 0

I've seen an article like this before

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CheezerAll-Star

161 days ago

Score 1

This one is better. New and Improved! Now with Sections!

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Onin5againWaterboy

160 days ago

Score 1

Really, Cheezer? I think Pits outplayed Det in the second period of game one and the second half of the first period of game two and that's been it. It ain't over tho and that's for sure and you're rt about that.

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CheezerAll-Star

160 days ago

Score 0

The periods you mention are when the Pens dominated the Wings. I feel that in addition to those periods of dominance, the Pens have been playing outstanding hockey for most of the rest of the time. As good or better than the Wings (just remember all the giveaways we've seen). They have been pushing the Wings shift after shift with a few scattered moments of Red Wing dominance. The difference is the Pens can't finish and the Wizard has been outstanding. I really foresee a different game in Pittsburgh. With the last change, look for the Pens to load up two/three lines and push constantly.

However, a few things play into the Wings favor:

• This is a MUST WIN for the Pens. They may be frantic.
• The Wings have led the third periods in Games 1 and 2. That means the big guys for the Pens played a ton of minutes and have to be getting tired.
• Zetterburg is in their heads. Which could lead to some stupid play from the Pens.
• Helm has been hitting people every chance he gets and the non-stop chatter from Maltby has to be getting annoying.
  
  Glad to see another Wings fan around here though. Keep contributing.
  
  As always, anything mentioned by me is purely opinion.

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SSreportersLegend

160 days ago

Score 2

I'm rooting for the Pens to win. So it's all over for you. ;-)

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CheezerAll-Star

160 days ago

Score 0

You and everybody else.

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JuTMSY4Legend

160 days ago

Score 2

not me...

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

160 days ago

Score 1

I am rooting for the Detroit Red Wings. I hate the Penguins. I loathe Crosby. And despite my feelings about Chris Osgood, Detroit's always been my team in the West (their unis look so much like the Soviet Union).

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

160 days ago

Score 1

And if they gave Scott Walker a break with the "automatic" suspension, they're going to give Malkin one.

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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer

160 days ago

Score 2

Nicely done Cheezer but you forgot "2" as in:

2 Stanley Cup Championships won by the Red Wings at the expense of the Penguins.

Playoff hockey is a different animal from the regular season. The Blackhawks learned a valuable lesson. And apparently, so are the Penguins once again.

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CheezerAll-Star

160 days ago

Score 1

I'm always concerned until the third victory. The Wings can definitely play better hockey.

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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer

160 days ago

Score 0

Of course you are but you have a vested interest in the Red Wings and I do not blame you. As an outside observer I can only state that in all sincerity I hope that Detroit's City Council can scrap a few bucks together for a parade within the next week or so.

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

160 days ago

Score 1

To be fair to Pittsburgh, they weren't "supposed" to get this far as a 4 seed.

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