After being dumped by the Red Wings 3-1 in each of the first two games in the series, the Penguins were desperate for a win. The injury riddled Red Wings managed to get a well deserved rest prior to last night’s game, but was that enough for them recharge and take down a fired-up Malkin and the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Detroit 2 @ Pittsburgh 4 – So this is indeed deja vu all over again. Last year, the Red Wings were up 2-0 in the series before the Penguins finally squeezed in a win.  Just like the Stanley Cup finals last year, the Penguins’ offence finally comes to life in game 3.

Now what led to the sudden resurgence of the Penguins last night? Could it be Malkin’s pathetic attack on Zetterberg that fired up the Pens? Nope. Could it be the fact that the Pens play better when they’re trying to catch up from behind? Perhaps.  It turns out that the powerplay was the deciding factor in the game last night. How fitting that it was the veteran Sergei Gonchar who stepped up last night to salvage the team’s Stanley Cup hopes.

The Wings dominated the first period, but it was the Penguins who lit up the scoreboard first. It was Maxime Talbot that scored the first goal less than five minutes into the game to put the Penguins in the lead. However, that lead was short-lived when the Red Wings knotted the score on Zetterberg’s 10th postseason marker.

Later in the first period, Brooks Orpik was called for an interference penalty and the Wings took advantage of that. Johan Franzen scored a powerplay goal to give the Wings the 2-1 lead.

For about 20 seconds in the latter stages of the period, the Red Wings had six skaters on the ice, but neither referee took notice. However, the Pens received the power play they deserved when Dan Cleary was sent to the penalty box for a holding infraction moments later. On the ensuing power play Kris Letang tied the game as he fired a slap shot through Osgood’s pads with 4:03 to go in the opening frame.

While the second period remained scoreless, the Wings outshot the Penguins 14-4. After a suffering from bad luck and bad breaks, Fleury managed to make all the right moves last night to keep the score knotted at 2.

Midway through the third period, Gonchar launched a sizzling slapshot from the point that whistled past Bill Guerin’s screen and over the glove of Chris Osgood. Gonchar’s power-play goal broke a 2-2 tie and that was enough to give the Penguins the victory. Maxime Talbot scored his second goal of the night with the empty netter near the end of the game to seal the deal.

The Wings are a talented team and they do have great depth, but they were finally showing some cracks last night. The Penguins were able to move around the Wings’ penalty kill as they were 2 for 3 on the powerplay last night. Chris Osgood had a lackluster game as he stopped 17 of 20 shots while Marc-Andre Fleury kept the Penguins alive by making 27 saves from 29 shots.

While the Penguins did not dominate throughout the entire game, they did step up with it mattered the most. They managed to outshoot the Red Wings in the third period 10-3. The Penguins would definitely love to carry this momentum into game 4 on Thursday night. 

Detroit leads the series 2-1

Three Stars of the Night:
1. Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh)
2.Maxime Talbot (Pittsburgh)
3.Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit)

Tuesday’s Schedule:
Detroit at Pittsburgh – Detroit leads the series 2-1 (TV: CBC, Versus)