DETROIT — Call this one the Fickle Finals.
Two games into the Stanley Cup championship series, all signs pointed to a Red Wings redux. They may be older and more worn down than the youthful and energized Penguins, but experience, guile and winning history seemed more than enough to carry Detroit to a repeat.
That’s how it played out last year. The Red Wings won the first two games in Detroit, split the next two in Pittsburgh, then wrapped up their 11th championship in six games.
Why would this time be different? A 5 1/2-minute stretch in the second period of Game 4 on Thursday turned around the series, and the opinions of many watching it.
Instead of carrying a 3-1 lead back to Hockeytown, the defending champions are locked in a 2-2 fight. Game 5 is tonight in Detroit, and a return to Pittsburgh for Game 6 is a sure thing.
“If you listen to what people on the outside say, Pittsburgh was done after two games. I don’t think anybody in our locker room thought that,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said Friday. “Now if you listen to what people on the outside say, the Red Wings are done after two games. I don’t think that’s what we think.
“What we think is that we’ve got a best of three, with two in our building, and we’re going to come here and play well.”
After the NHL crammed the first five games into an eight-day stretch, including back-to-back games to start the series, there will be two days off before Games 6 and two more before 7, should it go the distance.
That could be what the Red Wings need to get their legs back.
The return of leading scorer Pavel Datsyuk, who has missed seven games with a foot injury, would provide a big boost.
Babcock said Friday that Datsyuk will play. The Russian forward nearly got back in the lineup Thursday, after skating in the pregame warm-up, but was ruled out again.
While the Penguins felt better about the first two games than they did a year ago when they failed to score, much of the talk was about missed opportunities and bad breaks.
The chances were there, but the goals weren’t as the Red Wings took two 3-1 wins.
“We know we have to go in there and play a solid game,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said Friday, before the team hopped a flight to Detroit. “We want to come back here obviously up.”
