PENGUINS BACK IN SERIES AFTER GAME THREE WIN

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the hunt for the Stanley Cup after a game three home victory over the Detroit Red Wings.  Maxime Talbot found the net twice, and Sergei Gonchar scored the game winning goal midway through the third period, giving the Penguins a 4-2 win that cut their series deficit to a more manageable 2-1.  Game four will be back at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena on Thursday night.

Sports bettors who chose to lay the -180 on the home favorite Penguins were rewarded with a victory, while the six goals scored just managed to exceed the posted total of 5’.  The OVER broke a string of three consecutive UNDER games for both teams, including the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals.  It was also the first OVER in the past six head to head meetings in Pittsburgh between the teams (3 UN, 1 OV, 2 push).  7 of the last 10 matchups between the Pens and the Wings overall have also stayed UNDER the total. 

Maxime Talbot got Pittsburgh on the board first with his goal at 4:48 of the opening period assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.  Detroit quickly responded, however, as Henrik Zetterberg lit the lamp less than two minutes later to tie the score assisted by Ville Leino and Johan Franzen.  Franzen would then do the honors himself, scoring on the power play to give the Wings their only lead of the contest at the 11:13 mark set up by Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall.  The Penguins would strike back quickly as Kris Letang scored on the power play at 15:57 assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar to tie the score at 2-2. 

There was no scoring in the second period, due in large part to a solid effort in goal by the Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury.  Detroit kept the pressure on throughout the middle frame but couldn’t get a puck past Fleury despite holding a 14-4 shots on goal advantage.  For the first two periods, the Red Wings outshot Pittsburgh 26-11 and had only a tie score to show for it.  Gonchar’s game winner would come on the power play at 10:29 of the third period assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.  Talbot would ice the game by scoring his second goal into an empty Detroit net with: 57 seconds remaining to produce the 4-2 final result.

After the game, Penguins coach Dan Blysma singled out the hard work by the power play unit on the game winning goal:

"The Gonchar power play was an unbelievable job by a handful of guys out there, keeping the play alive and giving Gonch a chance.”

Pens’ center Talbot admitted that his team knew the urgency of this game:

"I don't want to say this was a must-win game, but everybody knows we needed to win this game.”

Talbot also praised the leadership skills of game 3 hero Gonchar:

"What a leader. Me and Sid were talking about him before the game. He sits across from us in the room and you could see it in his eyes that he was ready. So relaxed, so poised."

In the Wings’ locker room, coach Mike Babcock was nonplussed by the game three setback:

"I thought we had the second period pretty much ours. Then they came up and upped the ante a little bit in the first seven, eight minutes of the third. They got us on our heels a bit and we weren't able to recover. This series is where it should be.”

No early line was posted for game 4 due to the ‘questionable’ status of Red Wings’ center Pavel Datsyuk.   Datsyuk didn’t dress for game three, but the Wings are hopeful he’ll be able to return for Thursday’s contest.  After game 4 the series will head back to Detroit, with game 5 slated for the Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night.