Similar to last year, the Penguins were down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals heading into Game 3. Similar to last year, the Penguins won Game 3 to avoid a must-win situation.
It was far from an easy task, however, for Pittsburgh as netminder Marc-Andre Fleury had to make 27 saves on 29 shots to keep his team in the series. Fleury’s teammates managed just 20 shots on Detroit’s Chris Osgood, but Osgood let three pucks go in the net.
Maxime Talbot scored the first goal of the game for the Penguins before Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen scored for Detroit. Kris Letang’s power play goal with 4:03 left in the first period leveled the score at two heading into period two.
The game stayed scoreless until the 10:29 mark of the third period when Sergei Gonchar’s shot from the center point beat Osgood for a 3-2 Penguins lead. Maxime Talbot added an empty-netter to seal the victory for Pittsburgh, who will be hosting Game 4 on Thursday night.
