Red Wings Capture Crucial Game One Victory

The puck was bouncing Detroit’s way in Game One of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals as the Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1, at Joe Louis Arena last night.

The Red Wings dominated in the game’s face-offs led by Darren Helm and Henrik Zetterberg.  This was a crucial factor for the Wings as they are forced to play without their two best face-off players, Kris Draper and Pavel Datsyuk.

Helm, 22, is quickly becoming a fan favorite as his playing time continues to increase.  He’s a hard-hitting player with a great deal of speed.  He’s only 5′ 10′, but he’s not afraid of going after the big guys.  Helm is a Red Wing through and through.

Having Nicklas Lidstrom and Jonathan Ericksson back from injuries was crucial in last night’s win.  But great performances by Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula and rookie Justin Abdelkader show the depth of our current Red Wings squad.  This team is stacked.

Detroit will try to get a 2-0 lead in the series tonight as the two teams face off in the second of back-to-back games.