It's no surprise the Detroit Red Wings had a Swede to thank for winning the opening game of the NHL's Stanley Cup series Saturday, but Mikael Samuelsson?
The demoted forward busted out of a slump with two goals, and Chris Osgood stifled Pittsburgh's talented stable of forwards with 19 saves to lift the Red Wings to a 4-0 victory over the Penguins.
Samuelsson doubled his playoff goal total with two in the biggest game of his five-season NHL career. He had been dropped to Detroit's third line earlier in the playoffs.
"I just live in the moment," said Samuelsson, who used to play for Pittsburgh. "We played good as a team. I'm lucky to be the one who scored a couple of goals."
Detroit overpowered goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with a 36-shot barrage. Osgood has two postseason shutouts this season and 12 in his playoff career.
The Red Wings are led by a collection of seven Swedes, most notably captain Nicklas Lidstrom on defense and key forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
With Samuelsson finding his scoring touch, it didn't matter that Franzen - tied with Zetterberg for the NHL lead with 12 postseason goals - missed his sixth straight game due to recurring headaches. He seems close to returning, and that could pose big problems for the Penguins.
Pittsburgh raced out to 3-0 series leads in each of the first three playoff rounds, and didn't drop more than one game to any opponent. Detroit, however, kept Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in check along with the rest of Pittsburgh's young stars.
In a series billed as a matchup between Penguins' youth and Red Wings' experience, Detroit claimed the first strike to move closer to their third Stanley Cup title in 11 seasons.
Samuelsson needed no help as both of his goals were unassisted. His goals bailed out fellow Swede Tomas Holmstrom, who was whistled for interference that negated a goal that would have been the game's first score.
Samuelsson opened the scoring in the second period, picking off an errant pass on the far side of center ice and taking it all the way with 6:59 left in the first.
"He didn't score here lately, but he got an assist his last game," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Sammy is kind of a streak guy. When he scores he feels good about himself."
Samuelsson netted his second 2:16 into the third when Pittsburgh fumbled the puck. Samuelsson got it and was alone at the top of the crease for the goal. Dan Cleary added a short-handed goal with 2:42 left and Zetterberg added a power-play goal with 12 seconds remaining.
"We just have to be a little smarter and a little more disciplined and move the puck quicker and play in their end more and we'll be all right," Penguins defenseman Hal Gill said.
Game 2 is Monday in Detroit
