Talbot provided something extra

DETROIT - With less than a minute remaining in regulation, the Red Wings and their fans were just a heartbeat away from ending the game, closing out the Penguins, and welcoming the Stanley Cup to Joe Louis Arena.

Pittsburgh forward Maxime Talbot made sure that didn't happen.

With goalie Marc-Andre Fleury off the ice for an extra attacker, coach Michel Therrien tapped Talbot as his extra skater.

"It's a feeling," Therrien said. "Coaches get feeling sometimes. It's rare. It doesn't work all the time. But I love Talbot's game. He was on the puck. He's got a lot of energy. You want to put the puck at the net, and he's always around the net."

Despite the six-on-five deficit, the Wings had several chances to clear the puck. Henrik Zetterberg had one attempt. Johan Franzen had another, but his tap off the boards never made it over the blue line.

Instead, Sidney Crosby picked off Franzen's clearing attempt and moved it down the wall to linemate Marian Hossa, who threw the puck at the net. The puck hit traffic in front, but Talbot was in position to tap a shot past goalie Chris Osgood, silencing The Joe and sending the game into overtime.

"When you get that close, it's a little tough," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "Naturally, you feel bad for a bit and feel bad for yourself. But it's the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's not supposed to be easy."

In the third period, prior to Talbot's goal, the Wings had wiped out Pittsburgh's 2-1 lead. First, Pavel Datsyuk tied the game with a power-play goal at 6:43. Then defenseman Brian Rafalski took a cross-ice pass from Franzen and whipped a shot past Fleury at 9:23.

"It's definitely tough when you start the way we did," said Crosby. "We're up, 2-0, and feeling pretty good. We're pressing for the third one and just couldn't get it. We allowed them to get back in the game. They scored the third one late.

"Then it was basically just survival. Hold on for as long as you can and keep battling. Max got a huge goal. We were 30 seconds away from the end of the season. We're just happy that we're still able to fight here."

End of the line?

This may well be the last days in a Pittsburgh uniform for a score of players.

Up front, Marian Hossa is the biggest name among those Penguins scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency July 1. Other forwards entering UFA status are Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, Jarkko Ruutu, Pascal Dupuis, and Adam Hall. Defenseman Brooks Orpik can test the open market, as can goalie Ty Conklin.

With Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero needing to re-sign RFA goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and also tuck away money for forwards Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal at the conclusion of 2008-09, the belief among rival GMs and player agents is that the Penguins will not be able to afford most of their UFAs.

"I'm hoping it's not," Malone said yesterday when asked about perhaps playing his final game as a Penguin. "Right now, it's about the game. That's our goal. We've got to win three games and take one game at a time."

Hainsey on the market

Former UMass-Lowell standout Ron Hainsey will not re-sign with Columbus prior to July 1. Instead, the native of Bolton, Conn., will test free agency. Given the high demand and short supply of young, mobile, puck-moving defensemen, the 27-year-old Hainsey could command as much as $5 million a year . . . Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang, a close friend of Luc Bourdon, who was killed in a motorcycle accident last week, attended the former Vancouver prospect's funeral yesterday. The Penguins recalled defenseman Alex Goligoski from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as a precaution. Neither played last night, as Darryl Sydor played his third straight game . . . Holmstrom, sidelined for Game 4, was in the lineup last night . . . Touch-up icing was a significant topic at yesterday's general managers' meeting. All the GMs, according to Boston's Peter Chiarelli, like the puck pursuit that touch-up icing creates. But Chiarelli said the rule could be tweaked to help eliminate serious injury.