Stanley Cup | Dominant Red Wings frustrate Penguins

PITTSBURGH — Perhaps the Pittsburgh Penguins should start showing more perspiration and less frustration.

The Penguins, shut out in the first two games of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final by Detroit, showed their exasperation toward the end of Monday's 3-0 loss in Game 2 with borderline cheap shots on several Red Wings players.

Most prominent was Gary Roberts' not-well-disguised shot to the face of Johan "Mule" Franzen, who was returning from a six-game layoff because of concussion-like symptoms. Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk also absorbed some punishment, no doubt sent by the Penguins to show they have some physicality to go with their so-far invisible scoring talent.

One problem with such hits is that they can motivate the opponent more than they do the team delivering them. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock promised Tuesday the Penguins haven't seen the best of his team.

And, perhaps, the beast of his team, either.

"I guess you're trying to send a message, or whatever," Babcock said. "To me, the game's going to be won in between the whistles. And you're not going to back us off one inch. It's impossible."

As for Franzen, Babcock likes the fact the forward has played a game in the Final.

Game 3 is tonight in Pittsburgh.

"We think we can be better. And we're going to try to be better," Babcock said. "Just the Mule getting a game under his belt, [he] should be a better hockey player the next game."

Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby, 20, has been called the face of the NHL. He said the off-ice attention from media hasn't been wearying.

"I'm in the Stanley Cup Final. That's realistically what's going through my head," Crosby said. "That's all I'm worried about. Not the TV, not anything. I mean, I've dreamed of being here my whole life. And my job is what I do for my team and what I bring for my team. And that's what I'm worried about, nothing else."

Note

• Stanley Cup is a major Penguins fan who wants some tickets.

Stanley Joseph Cup, 59, a steelworker from Saltsburg, Indiana County, in the Pittsburgh region, has been a Penguins rooter for years. Several years ago, he appeared in TV ads for Versus (then OLN) promoting the network's Stanley Cup coverage.

Cup's father, a coal miner named Steven Stanley Cup, wasn't a hockey fan. As for Stanley Cup, he has pictures of himself with the other Stanley Cup.