Pens even series at home

After the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals made it seem as if Pittsburgh would be in for another disappointing end to a promising season, the Penguins came out in their first two home games of the series and showed exactly why they were able to make it to consecutive Cup Finals. Sidney Crosby finally got on the board, as he and Malkin both recorded a goal and an assist to help the Pens even the series with a 4-2 win on Thursday night.

Malkin opened the scoring with a power play goal, as the Penguins continued to dominate with the man advantage. They have now scored on a little over 44% of their opportunities with the man advantage. Detroit would score the next two goals, as Darren Helm scored in the closing minutes of the first period, followed by a goal in the first minute of the second period from defenseman Brad Stuart. At this point in the game, it appeared as if Detroit could be headed towards taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

However, it was at this point when the Penguins’ superior special teams play began to take its toll. About 8 minutes into the second period, Jordan Staal caught both Detroit pointmen offguard and beat them up ice to corral Max Talbot’s clearing pass. With the Detroit defensemen trailing him into the zone, Staal slipped the puck past Osgood to tie the game and give Pittsburgh a huge surge of energy in front of their home fans. Two minutes later, Crosby scored his first goal of the series, and would later assist on Tyler Kennedy’s goal.

In the 3rd, Fleury took the game over, turning aside all of Detroit’s chances to finish with 37 saves on the night. Detroit will hope to regain the services of injured center Pavel Datsyuk for Game 5, as he skated in the pre-game warmups, but did not play.