Aftermath: Penguins 4, Red Wings 2
Tuesday, 06.02.2009 / 11:35 PM
/ Features
By Sam Kasan
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QUICK ANALYSIS
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| After falling behind two games to Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins knew that Game 3 would be a “must win” as they wanted to avoid trailing 3-0 in the series. Pittsburgh stepped up in the critical contest to pull off a 4-2 victory and pulled closer to the Red Wings. The Penguins started the game strong with heavy pressure in the early parts of the first period and took an early 1-0 lead. The opening period tilted back and forth and ended in a 2-2 draw. In the second period, the Red Wings transition game and puck pursuit cornered the Penguins in their own zone. Pittsburgh struggled with the long change but survived with the score remaining tied. Pittsburgh’s hopes came down to the final 20 minutes of the third period. The Penguins played with desperation and dominated the final period, outshooting Detroit, 10-3. Sergei Gonchar scored the biggest goal of the season for Pittsburgh on a power play and the Penguins held on for the win. There is still a lot of work to be done. The Penguins know the Red Wings are going to come hard in Game 4 and Pittsburgh wants to even this series at 2-2 when they head back to Detroit. |
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| WHAT HAPPENED |
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| (AP) -Sergei Gonchar said it once, then repeated it again a few seconds later as he tried pumping some confidence into some discouraged teammates: It's not over. Thanks to Gonchar's power-play goal midway through the third period that revived the Penguins after the Detroit Red Wings pressed for lead, the Stanley Cup finals are far from over for Pittsburgh following a 4-2 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday night. |
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| SHOT OF THE NIGHT | |
 The Penguins celebrate after Sergei Gonchar scored the eventual game-winning goal in the third period (photo by Getty) |
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| ESSENTIALS | |
| What Worked Well: Power Play The Penguins power play came up with two huge scores, including the game-winner, to lift the team to a victory over Detroit. Pittsburgh trailed 2-1 late in the first period when Kris Letang tied the game on the man-advantage. Then, halfway through the third period Sergei Gonchar scored the decisive goal on the power play. What Could Have Gone Better: Second Period The Red Wings used turnovers and their strong transition game to trap the Penguins in their own zone during long stretches of the second period. The long change forced Pittsburgh’s defense to log a lot of minutes with little rest and the Penguins only registered four shots in the frame. However, the Penguins responded with a dominant third period and pulled out the victory. |
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DIFFERENCE MAKER
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| Maxime Talbot always seems to come up with big plays at big times against the Red Wings. While his performance wasn’t as dramatic as when he scored the game-tying goal with 30 seconds left in regulation in Game 5 last year to save the Penguins’ season, he did chip in two goals to help the Penguins avoid a 3-0 hole. Talbot also had a plus-2 rating and three shots in 15:11 minutes. Not to mention, he hit the post on a breakaway or else he may have pulled off a hat trick. | |
| SCORING SYNOPSIS |
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| The Penguins grabbed the early lead following a great offensive zone possession. Pittsburgh mounted sustained pressure on the Detroit goal. Kris Letang made a great play to keep the puck in the zone and flipped it to Evgeni Malkin at the near halfwall. Malkin centered the puck to Maxime Talbot in the high slot. Talbot one-timed a shot into the net. Pittsburgh 1, Detroit 0. The Red Wings tied the game just over a minute after Pittsburgh netted the early lead. Ville Leino carried the puck to the Pittsburgh goal and tried to stuff in a shot. Marc-Andre Fleury made the save but Henrik Zetterberg lifted the rebound into the netting. Pittsburgh 1, Detroit 1. Detroit took the lead with a power-play goal halfway through the first period. Zetterberg made a cross-ice pass from the near halfwall to Johan Franzen on the other side of the net. Franzen sent a shot into the far top corner of the goal for the tally. Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 1. The Penguins evened the game with a man-advantage score of their own with four minutes remaining in the opening frame. Malkin made a cross-ice feed to Kris Letang above the far circles. Letang whiffed on the one-timer, but recollected the puck and whipped a slap shot through the five-hole of Wings goalie Chris Osgood. Pittsburgh 2, Detroit 2. The Penguins regained the lead midway through the third period with their second power-play tally of the game. Sergei Gonchar unleashed a slap shot from the above circles that found its way through traffic and into the top right corner. Pittsburgh 3, Detroit 2. Pittsburgh added an insurance goal when Talbot buried his second of the game into an empty net. Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 2. |
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| INTRIGUING NOTABLES |
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| The Penguins used the same lineup from Game 2 with 12 forwards and six defensemen. The scratches were forwards Mike Zigomanis, Petr Sykora and Eric Godard and defensemen Philippe Boucher and Alex Goligoski. Pittsburgh added a new twist during a shift in the first period. The Penguins skated four forwards and one defenseman during even-strength action. Sergei Gonchar was the lone blueliner, while forwards Evgeni Malkin, Miroslav Satan, Maxime Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko joined him on the ice. |
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| GAME NOTES | |
| > Pittsburgh trails the Stanley Cup Final to Detroit, 2-1, and is 7-2 at Mellon Arena in this postseason. > Head coach Dan Bylsma has a career postseason record of 14-6. > Scoring Summary: PIT, M.Talbot (5), 4:48 1st period: Penguins 1, Red Wings 0 DET, H.Zetterberg (10), 6:19 1st period: Penguins 1, Red Wings 1 DET, J.Franzen PP (12), 11:33 1st period: Red Wings 2, Penguins 1 PIT, K.Letang PP (4), 15:57 1st period: Penguins 2, Red Wings 2 PIT, S.Gonchar PP (3), 10:29 3rd period: Penguins 3, Red Wings 2 PIT, M.Talbot (6), 19:03 3rd period: Penguins 4, Red Wings 2 > Sidney Crosby notched an assist and has 29 postseason points (14G-15A). Crosby has 23 points (12G-11A) in his last 15 games and has a point in 16 of 20 playoff games. > Evgeni Malkin, the NHL’s Art Ross champion, tallied three assists to add to his league-leading 33 points in the postseason (13G-20A). Malkin has 21 points (8G-13A) and seven multi-point games in his last 10 contests. > Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves in the victory. > Sergei Gonchar buried the game-winning goal on a power play and added an assist for a two-point night. > Max Talbot scored two goals, his fifth and sixth of the postseason, and first two of the Cup Final. > Kris Letang posted a goal and an assist for a two-point game. He has three points (1G-2A) in his last two games. > Chris Kunitz had a game-high 11 hits. > Mellon Arena sold out for the 116th straight game with a standing room only attendance of 17,132. The Penguins sold out every game in the past two seasons. Pittsburgh is 76-31-9 during that span. |
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| THREE STARS | QUOTE OF THE NIGHT |
| 1. M.Talbot, PIT 2. E.Malkin, PIT 3. H.Zetterberg, DET |
“We didn’t have any luck in the first two games, but I think luck is turning around right now. All the good teams have luck and I think we are going to create our own luck.” - Kris Letang |
Author: Sam Kasan
