Defenseman Kris Letang got that goal, taking a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin, double clutching the puck for a minute because it was almost cut off on the way 5 feet in front of him by a diving Red Wing forward on the PK, then ripping one that beat Osgood clean five-hole.
Despite being outshot by the Red Wings 12-7 in the opening frame, the Penguins managed to finish the first 20 minutes even.
Fortunately for Pittsburgh, they were able to do the same thing in the 2nd frame -- a period which was probably their worst of the series, by far.
Detroit outshot Pittsburgh 14-4 in the second period and, if it weren't for Fleury coming up with several big saves, the Penguins might have been facing a deficit going into the 3rd. As it was, they had merely been outshot 26-11 at that point.
The Red Wings deserve some credit for bottling up the Boys of Winter in the 2nd period, but the Penguins clearly were not playing Dan Blysma hockey, and if they wanted to give themselves any chance in the series, they had to win the 3rd period and avoid going down in a 3-0 hole.
That's exactly what they did.
The Penguins came to play in the 3rd period, generating sustained pressure on Detroit and outshooting them 10-3. In an interesting statistic, the Penguins have actually outshot the Red Wings in the 3rd period of each game in this series so far.
It paid off for the Penguins last night when they may have had their most dominating power play of the year at the most important time.
About 9 minutes into the period, Red Wings' defenseman Jonathan Ericsson took an interference penalty on Pens' LW Matt Cooke. I actually thought the Penguins got a little bit of a break on the call -- not because it wasn't a penalty. It was the proper call. It's just that the officials have been overlooking a lot of that interference all series long. This play was along the boards, which I think makes it easier to see, but that type of obstruction has been happening all over the ice in this series and, while both teams have done it, Detroit has it down to a science. If they don't actually obstruct you for just 1 or 2 seconds, they do a great job of skating in your path to the puck. In other words, they aren't trying to beat you to the puck, they are just trying to slow you down until one of their teammates can get it.
NBC and Versus color commentator and former Penguins' coach Eddie Olcyzk likes to call these instances of 1 or 2 second obstruction "subtle interference". Truthfully, that's a load of you-know-what because it's either interference or it isn't. The NHL had cracked down on those type of plays all season long and, while there has been -- in this writer's estimation, anyway -- a gradual erosion of how frequently those calls were being made, I'd have to say the league had still done a pretty good job overall of cutting that type of interference out of the game.
Until the Cup Finals, that is, when the zebras have put their whistles away most of the time.
Nevertheless, on the ensuing power play that resulted from Ericsson's penalty, the Penguins absolutely dominated. They controlled the puck in the Detroit zone for about 90 seconds. They just wanted it more and, in the end, defenseman Sergei Gonchar teed up from the point and ripped a 50 footer past Osgood to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead with about 8 and 1/2 minutes to go.
Talbot and Crosby praised Gonchar after the game for his leadership and calmness in the room and on the ice. He's clearly a huge member of the Penguins' team, as recognized by at least one writer:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4226239
Meanwhile, that goal was the 2nd PP marker the Red Wings' awful PK unit permitted last night. The Pens' went 2 for 3 overall and are now 3 for 6 on the man advantage in the series. Clearly, Detroit struggles in that area, and the Pens' did a good job exploiting it:
The Penguins knew Detroit would try to press after that, but they did a great job limiting the Red Wings the rest of the way until Max Talbot sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with about 1 minute to play. Jordan Staal's line, with RW Tyler Kennedy and Cooke, were particularly good during that period. They were great all game, actually. They cycled the puck better than they have all series and were physical with Detroit all night. Cooke, especially, was big in this department. He leveled both Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader at different parts of the game.
Overall, the Penguins outhit the Red Wings by a whopping 36-17 margin.
To me, Pittsburgh's advantage in that department is noteworthy, because that's one of the ways the Anaheim Ducks gave Detroit so much trouble in round 2 -- by being physical with them. You can't go out of position to make a hit, but you can finish every opportunity you get and look to wear them down late in games, which is exactly what the Penguins did last night. LW Chris Kunitz had 11 hits alone.
The Penguins were able to prevail in game 3 in large part because the circumstances that did them in most in games 1 and 2 -- goaltending and bad bounces -- were reversed in game 3.
Fleury was much better last night, particularly in the 2nd period when Detroit dominated. He finished with 27 saves and no bad goals.
Osgood, on the other hand, was beaten cleanly by three bombs, one each by Talbot, Letang and Gonchar.
Letang's goal, in particular, was one Osgood has to have for his team.
Meanwhile, the Penguins also got a favor from the iron in this one, when Red Wings' forward Mikael Samuelsson hit the post on a semi-breakaway early in the 2nd. That was justice -- partial justice, anyway -- after all the posts the Penguins hit in games 1 and 2.
One other thing worth mentioning -- both of the Penguins' power play goals were, in part, a result of good face-off wins by Crosby. Sid has won about 63% of his draws in the last 2 games after both he and the team were miserable in that department in game 1. Overall last night, the face-offs went about 50/50, but Crosby has stepped up his play in the circle to help give the Penguins more control of the puck -- with help from his teammates, of course. As I have previously indicated in this space, that cannot be understated. Staal continues to have his trouble in the circle, but at least Crosby is giving the Birds a chance.
Speaking of Crosby, let me say one other thing -- while he got his first point of the series (a secondary assist) last night, he's having an incredible impact on the proceedings. I mentioned after game 2 that his mere presence and threat as an offensive force has generally rendered Zetterberg a defensive forward in this series. Sure, Zetterberg scored last night, but the Red Wings aren't even looking for that from him. They have the depth to let him key on Crosby, but it still speaks volumes to how dangerous Crosby is. Even not having the last change, Detroit was able to get Zetterberg out there a lot against Sid last night.
AND, the same is true, really, of defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who Detroit is also putting out there as much as possible against #87 by design. Lidstrom, the Red Wings' all world 2-way defenseman has no points in this series. He's not having any real offensive impact and, again, for the most part, that's intentional. Shutting down Crosby is a full time job -- one that Detroit coach Mike Babcock obviously doesn't mind having not one, but two of his best players look after.
The point is that Crosby, while currently struggling to get on the scoreboard, is having a huge impact in this series. He's keeping 2 of the best Red Wings' players from contributing half of their games. And, the positive part of it is that, even though Crosby hasn't contributed much to the cause in the way of points so far, you have to think he's going to get on the scoreboard at some point. That could be in the next game. It could be the entire remainder of the series. And that's something for Pittsburgh to look forward to.
In the meantime, the Penguins can look to Malkin to be the difference. The Red Wings aren't checking him as closely, and he has 5 points in the first 3 games of this series to show for it, including 3 helpers last night. Before the series, he was identified as a key for the Penguins since everyone knew the Red Wings would focus on Crosby. Unlike in last year's Stanley Cup Final when he was gassed, Malkin is making a difference this year. He could be the key to the Pens' chances the rest of the way. If he keeps producing, and if the other members of the Penguins' supporting cast -- guys like Guerin, Kunitz, Kennedy -- start getting on the scoresheet, Pittsburgh has every chance to win this series still.
But it starts with game 4, which the Penguins' desperately need to tie this series. Detroit is sure to come out strong after last night's performance, and the Penguins are going to need to reach deep in the tank to hold serve at their barn. The last thing they want to do is go back to Detroit for game 5 Saturday night down 3-1 and facing the prospect of winning 3 straight against the Red Wings or lose in the Final for the 2nd straight season.
Game 4 preview tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens.
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