Penguins win in triple OT to extend series

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 2, 2008 at 10:52 p.m.

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So much for owning home ice, for experience, for boasting a gaggle of future Hall of Famers.

It didn't help the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night against a Pittsburgh Penguins bunch that hardly is intimidated.

The Penguins, showing there is something to be said about youth, turned to 23-year-old goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who was brilliant as the Red Wings came at him in waves.

Fleury held on, finished with 55 saves, and the Penguins staved off elimination in the Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-3 triple- overtime win, pulling to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and sending it back to Pittsburgh for Game 6 on Wednesday.

Petr Sykora, who had no goals and one assist in the Penguins' previous eight games, ended the fifth-longest game in Finals history with a power-play goal.

He beat Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood at 9:57 of the sixth period with a shot from the right circle with Jiri Hudler serving a double-minor for high-sticking defenseman Rob Scuderi.

"I've been frustrated the last few games," Sykora said. "Nothing really has been going in for me. So now we get to live another day. We're going back home and we have nothing to lose. I think it's going to be a lot of pressure on them."

The red-clad sellout crowd was ready to celebrate with time winding down in regulation. The Red Wings had overcome a 2-0 first-period deficit to take a 3-2 lead, and the Cup had been removed from its crate and was being polished for presentation.

Then, with 34.3 seconds to play, Penguins forward Max Talbot knocked the puck inside the right post with the second whack of his stick, and suddenly the contest was tied 3-3.

"Maybe I'm going to think about this goal when all of this is going to be over, but right now, there's more hockey to be played," said Talbot, who became the Penguins' sixth skater when Fleury vacated his net with more than a minute to play.

"I love Talbot's game," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "He was on the puck. He's got a lot of energy. It was more of a feeling (putting him on the ice) than anything."

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 14-4 in the third period and could have secured the Cup if not for Fleury.

"It was tough, but I knew we weren't going to quit," Fleury said. "We were going to continue to go at them and we finally got the tying goal. I just wanted to make saves and give us a chance to win. We were confident, we played hard and we came out with the win."

Detroit did everything but score in the first overtime. The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 13-2 in the period but had to kill off a late interference penalty to Henrik Zetterberg to keep the score tied.

"The big answer for us was Marc-Andre Fleury," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "I mean, he was the difference. He held us in there, allowed us to keep battling and holding on. A big part of this win goes to him."

The Red Wings killed off another interference infraction, this one to Daniel Cleary early in the second overtime, but failed to convert on their own man advantage late in the period when Sykora went off for hooking.

"You were that close, and then . . . oh, tough," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said of his team's inability to close the deal in regulation. "I think it's natural to feel bad for us for a bit and feel bad for yourself.

"But it's the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be a battle and, obviously, we're in one."

The Red Wings trailed 2-0 after the first period and wiped out a 2-1 deficit in the third on goals by Pavel Datsyuk on a power play and defenseman Brian Rafalski.

Datsyuk, held to one assist in the first four games, was stationed between the faceoff circles when he redirected Zetterberg's hard pass between Fleury's pads at 6:43.

At 9:23, Johan Franzen passed to Rafalski for a one-timer in the right circle to put the Red Wings in front for the first - and last - time.

The Red Wings pulled to a goal by Darren Helm at 2:54 of the second period after a turnover by Scuderi.

The Penguins killed off two early power plays and outhustled the Red Wings throughout the first period while building their 2-0 lead on goals by Marian Hossa and Adam Hall.

NUMBERS GAME

4 octopi tossed onto the ice before the game, one for each Red Wings win needed in the Stanley Cup Finals to capture the trophy.

NO WIMPS ALLOWED

Hockey players are a different breed, willing to play regardless of injuries and pain.

Two Penguins players, defenseman Sergei Gonchar and left wing Ryan Malone, were perfect examples of that Monday.

Gonchar appeared to hurt his shoulder late in the second period when he crashed hard into the boards behind the Red Wings net. He left for the trainer's room and later returned to take five shifts in the third period, then returned for the power play in the third overtime.

Shortly after Gonchar was injured, Malone was hit in the face by a slap shot off the stick of teammate Hal Gill.

Malone bled profusely as he skated off the ice, but he also returned, with a big gash near his nose and cotton in his nostrils.

READY FOR PENSION?

You have to wonder if the end of the line is near for Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, the league's oldest player at age 46.

A veteran of 24 NHL seasons, Chelios has been a healthy scratch for every game in the Finals. He missed one playoff game against the Avalanche because of a leg injury and played in Detroit's next five games before being scratched again for Game 1 in the conference finals against Dallas.

Yet Chelios, a surefire Hockey Hall of Famer, insists he isn't angry.

"By no means am I upset," said Chelios, who won Cups with Montreal in 1986 and Detroit in 2002. "Everybody wants to play."

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