You could tell from the get-go which team had the most experience in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
And while the Detroit Red Wings showed Saturday night that they were the team with more Stanley Cups in their lineup, they also came in as a group that had a lot of playoff failure in recent years. They knew there was a lot of pressure on them to perform well.
At the other end, the Penguins were a team that stumbled the moment Marc-Andre Fleury stepped out on the ice. The first period - in which Fleury made a lot of big saves for the Penguins - was a lot closer than it otherwise would have been because the Red Wings spent most of the time in the penalty box.
Also, the Penguins could only muster a combined seven shots on goal through the second and third period. That speaks volumes about what the Detroit Red Wings did defensively.
Now head coach Mike Babcock said, "You can talk all you want about it, but you have to experience it," at the game day skate. Simply put, you have to have been through all this before. And the Penguins haven't. That being said, Pittsburgh will get better in this series after what they experienced in Game 1.
Looking back at the performance of the Penguins on Saturday, Sidney Crosby was as good as it got. He showed good emotion and jump throughout the game. But at the end of the day, it was difficult for the Penguins captain to accomplish something when you're up against that 'Sea of Red' for Detroit. He gets an 'A' for effort, but just didn't get the results.
Close Call By Referees
Prior to the start of the Stanley Cup final, the NHL warned both the Red Wings and Penguins that it would be keeping a close eye on goaltender interference. And it obviously showed with Nicklas Lidstrom's disallowed goal in Game 1.
I thought the penalty call on Tomas Holmstrom in the first period was a little to high on the sensitivity chart. The contact that he made with Fleury wasn't body-on-body and it wasn't done in the crease.
But I will give referee Dan O'Halloran the benefit of the doubt on this. For all the replays that we saw of the incident, we couldn't really tell what impact Holmstrom's stick had on Fleury's ability to play the puck.