Detroit's Special Teams?

No, being old, tired and worn out is gonna cost them the cup.

The penalty kill has been no surprise. It was one of the worst in the league at about 78% all year. Its a little worse in the playoffs but it probably should be as there are no easy teams to pad the Stats against in the playoffs

The PP was at 25% all year and is still at 24%, again no surprise. They can't seem to get it going this series. That is probably a function of no Datsyuk and a Zetterberg who looks exhausted from Chasing Crosby for 20 mins a game. While Zetterberg has been an amazing shutdown guy the need to have someone else do it and let Zetterberg concentrate on offence.

Also the other team has a say sometimes and can shut down the best of powerplays.

Will it cost them the cup, maybe. Their inability to push back in the third period may cost them. They have looked tired mentally and physically the last 2 games, especially as the games progressed.

Edit just looked at the PP stats Of the top 5 teams % wise excluding the Wings they are 4th, 4 of the other five teams have played the wings this year in the playoffs. Hawks, Ducks, Pens and Bluejackets. So does the Wings PK suck because they played the best teams or do these teams have a good PP because they played a weak wings PK.

I think if they do in fact lose the series, their play on special teams would definitely be a contributing factor. Though when considering how few penalties are being called and the small amount of time that the special teams have been on the ice, a slew of other factors will weigh in as well.

As far as why they are playing so poorly? You're guess is as good as mine. The one thing I can say is that, even though Datsyuk hasn't been putting up the numbers so to speak, he does "create" a lot for his teammates by way of creating space or with puck control on the power play and penalty kill. There is no question that Datsyuk being out is impacting the Red Wings special teams.

I want to say the shorty by Staal, broke the back of the Red Wings in last nights game, first and foremost. The powerplay is first or second overall in the play-offs (1st in the reg season) and the powerplay is not hurting that much, 1st or 2nd again in the post season, unless you aren't getting the opportunities, which by the way IS the case right now. PK on the other hand, has been HORRIBLE all season and even worse NOW. The special teams for the Red Wings are NOT SO SPECIAL right now and COULD possibly cost them the Cup this year, NO DOUBT!

The Red Wings shouldn't be written off so easy. Home ice is their advantage and they must take that advantage of it Sat night, or it could be over. I still think Detroit comes out on top however, only time will tell. Pittsburgh still has to win on the road in either game 5 or 7 if it goes that far.

It hasn't been "horrible" throughout the playoffs. They stumbled in the Chicago series and never seemed to rebound. Their tired, but that's no excuse for how they played last night.

They are tired and hurt and older.

Their PK hasn't been good the entire playoffs, and being forced into a series against a team as good as the Pens with a good chunk of your players missing, you know it is going to be ugly.

First off...many people do NOT realize it..but the Stanley Cup finals are scripted, just like the WCW.

Bettman is attempting to make this sport grow and to do that he needs to create the drama and draw the series out. To achieve all this he will need to have this series go 7 games.

Detroit wins the first two games

Pittsburgh wins the next three games.

Detroit wins the 6th game

and the last game is up for grabs. Pittsburgh will most likely win it as Bettman loves his Penguins and his butt boy Crosby.

Their intensity is for trash also!

Last night, they played like they did not give a damn about winning this series.

just because of last night their penalty killing sucked?

sometimes their penalty killing is really good like when they played the ducks.