Penguins survive in third overtime
DETROIT - Drama? You want drama?
Watch the Penguins, trailing, three games to one, in the Stanley Cup finals, take a 2-0 lead in the first period. Then watch the Red Wings storm back, put three pucks past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and find themselves less than a minute away from guzzling champagne.
Then wipe that all clean.
That's what happened last night at Joe Louis Arena, where the Wings and their fans could feel the Cup in their hands, only to have it snatched away by the refuse-to-quit Penguins. At 19:25 of the third period, grinder Maxime Talbot netted the equalizer to send the game into extra time.
And that's when the action got even more intense, finally culminating at 9:57 of triple overtime when winger Petr Sykora extended Pittsburgh's season. During the second overtime, Sykora had predicted to NBC's "Inside the Glass" reporter Pierre McGuire that he'd score the winning goal.
Sykora, during a four-minute power play, snapped a wrist shot past goalie Chris Osgood, putting an end to nearly 110 minutes of hockey.
"Nice to get a win like that to keep us alive," said Sykora. "We get to live another day."
Pittsburgh went on the power play when Detroit forward Jiri Hudler lost control of his stick in the offensive zone. With a swipe of his stick, Hudler sliced open the face of defenseman Rob Scuderi, giving the Penguins a four-minute man-advantage at 9:21.
They needed only 36 seconds.
With Sergei Gonchar back manning the point (the defenseman was injured when he tripped and slammed into the end boards in the second period and missed the first two overtime periods), Pittsburgh gained the zone. Then Sykora, set up by Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin fired his shot over Osgood's glove and into the net from the slot. It was Malkin's first point of the series.
"He wasn't ready to play," said Therrien of Gonchar. "They worked on it in the third period and overtime. He was not 100 percent, but we asked if he was OK to play on the power play. We saw him make a big difference."
In the first overtime, the Wings continued their wave-after-wave assault, putting 13 shots on the Pittsburgh goal while the Penguins managed only a pair on Osgood.
Talbot was the star of the third period for Pittsburgh, and Fleury was the superstar of overtime.There was Fleury stopping an off-wing wrister by Hudler. There was Fleury flashing his right pad to foil sniper Pavel Datsyuk. There was Fleury, pads down on the ice, to stop a wide-open backhander by winger Tomas Holmstrom from the slot. There was Fleury stoning forward Kirk Maltby, who rolled down the slot unchallenged, only to meet the unflappable Pittsburgh netminder.
Fleury, Fleury, everywhere.
"He was outstanding tonight," Therrien said of his goalie, who stopped 55 shots. "He was outstanding in overtime and both goalies obviously played really well.
"But, no doubt, Fleury, probably his most important win in his career."
But Osgood also stared down the only power play of the first OT after center Henrik Zetterberg was whistled for goaltender interference at 17:25. The Wings, however, killed off the dangerous Pittsburgh power play, keeping the game tied.
In the second OT, the closest the game came to ending was when Pittsburgh agitator Jarkko Ruutu rattled the post behind Osgood. At the other end, the Wings went on a late power play after Sykora was called for hooking. But the Pittsburgh penalty kill stood tall to send the game into triple OT, setting up Sykora's heroics.
In regulation, the Penguins, playing their strong forechecking style, scored their first goal against the Wings' top line and No. 1 defensive pairing. Winger Pascal Dupuis started the play in the corner by blasting defenseman Brian Rafalski and forcing a turnover. The puck came out to center Sidney Crosby, who made a quick dish to the slot for Marian Hossa. The right wing wasted no time, collecting the pass and flicking a wrister far post to beat Osgood at 8:37.
A Detroit gaffe led to Pittsburgh's second goal. Fourth-line forward Adam Hall, after some grinding along the wall, beat forward Johan Franzen out of the corner with the puck and caused a traffic jam in front. The puck came loose and Niklas Kronwall tried to clear it away, but the Detroit defenseman put a top-shelf shot into his net instead at 14:41. Hall was credited with the goal.
Despite a shaky first period in which the Wings looked uncharacteristically jumpy, Detroit had its chances. A hooking call on Brooks Orpik and a too-many-men call on the Penguins gave the Wings two straight power plays to open the game.
Later in the period, after Hossa had given Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead, Valtteri Filppula had a sparkling scoring chance in the slot. But Fleury got in front of Filppula's backhand attempt.
The best opportunity came late in the period when Darren Helm raced past defenseman Darryl Sydor for a breakaway. With defenseman Ryan Whitney in hot pursuit, Helm sprinted off and snapped a wrist shot, but the puck sailed wide of the net.
At the other end, after forcing a Rafalski cough-up, Crosby had a down-low look, but his backhander went wide of the net.
Datsyuk and Rafalski scored third-period goals to put Detroit ahead, 3-2. The Red Wings outshot Pittsburgh, 14-4, in the third. "Sure, you're disappointed," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "We had such a great third period. We were down going in but we came out with an opportunity to win the game in OT.
"We showed good resolve. We came out and played really hard. We had lots of opportunities."
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.
