Red Wings Ice Penguins in 4-0 Rout

Quiet Samuelsson scores twice to spark team to 1-0 series lead

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted May 25, 2008 1:00 AM CDT

Copied

Red Wings Ice Penguins in 4-0 Rout — Former Pittsburgh captain Mario Lemieux, left, and former Detroit captain Steve Yzerman drop the ceremonial face-off to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

For a while it looked like the kickoff of the Stanley Cup finals would be a goalie's battle, but then Detroit's Mikael Samuelsson kicked into gear with goals in the second and third periods. Two more Red Wings goals on Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, by Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg, sealed the Penguins' 4-0 fate, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Samuelsson's goals followed a controversial first-period call that rescinded a Nick Lidstrom goal over a goaltender interference call on Tomas Holmstrom. But the Wings both killed the resulting penalty and piled on four more valid goals to build themselves a 1-0 series lead. (Read more Stanley Cup stories.)