Red Wings crush Penguins 7-3 (25-Oct-2002)
The defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings gave Pittsburgh a rude wake-up call by outscoring the Pens 7-3 and outshooting the Pens 44-27 in Detroit. Alexei Kovalev (2) and Ville Nieminen scored the goals for the Penguins while Luc Robitaille (2), Sergei Fedorov (3), Jiri Fischer and Nicklas Lidstrom scored for Detroit.
Lines: Morozov-Lemieux-Kovalev, Vujtek-Hrdina-Daigle, LaCouture-Primeau-Nieminen and McKenna-Manderville-Donovan.
Defensive pairings: Tarnstrom-Moran, Bergevin-Rozsival and Jonsson-Pushor.
Goaltender: Jean-Sebastien Aubin
Alexei Kovalev opened the scoring at 7:53 of the first period. Kovalev seemingly skated throughout the entire offensive zone before scoring with a slapshot from the inside of the right circle.
Pittsburgh, Alexei Kovalev 5 (Michal Rozsival, Mario Lemieux), 7:53
Luc Robitaille tied it up three minutes later with a power play goal. Robitaille took a through-the-crease pass from Igor Larionov and banged it by Jean-Sebastien Aubin from in close.
Luc Robitaille got his second of the game less than one minute later. Jean-Sebastien Aubin made a save but slid out of position to the right of the net. Robitaille then took a pass from Jason Williams, who was behind the net, and easily knocked it in from the left-side of the goal.
Shots after one period were 17-10 in favor of Detroit.
The second period was the Sergei Fedorov Show as he netted a natural hat trick in a 7:21 span.
Sergei Fedorov got his first of the game to make it 3-1 Detroit. Darren McCarty and Fedorov came in on a 2-on-1. McCarty's shot was saved by Aubin but the rebound went to Fedorov who buried it from below the left circle.
Detroit, Sergei Fedorov 4 (Darren Mccarty, Jiri Fischer), 2:21
Fedorov made it 4-1 in favor of Detroit at 5:02. Fedorov circled out of the right corner, skated to the net, went forehand-to-backhand and slotted the puck home.
Detroit, Sergei Fedorov 5 (Chris Chelios, Brett Hull), 5:02
Fedorov finished off the natural hat trick at 9:42. Fedorov worked a give-and-go with Brendan Shanahan and one-timed the return pass by Aubin.
Detroit, Sergei Fedorov 6 (Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull), 9:42
Pittsburgh got a late power play goal from Alexei Kovalev. Kovalev picked up a rebound of a Jan Hrdina shot and backhand a high shot from the inside of the right circle which beat Detroit goaltender, Manny Legace, short-side.
The Penguins looked like they might crawl back into the game when Ville Nieminen scored his second of the year at 4:53. Nieminen picked up a rebound of a Wayne Primeau shot, spun around and ripped a slapshot high far-side by Legace.
Pittsburgh, Ville Nieminen 2 (Wayne Primeau, Dan Lacouture), 4:53
The Wings responded quickly though with a Jiri Fischer goal 41 seconds later. Larionov threaded a cross-ice pas to Fischer who tapped it in at the left-side of the goal.
Nicklas Lidstrom closed out the scoring to make the final 7-3. Lidstrom took a short pass from Kris Draper and took a slapshot from the left faceoff dot which beat Aubin high short-side.
Detroit, Nicklas Lidstrom 4 (Kris Draper, Darren Mccarty), 12:35
- ROOT | 
- NBC | 
- NHL