Malkin's 3 Assists Lead Pitt to Game 3 Victory

Malkin's 3 Assists Lead Pittsburgh to Cut Detriot's Series Lead to 2-1

The Pittsburgh Penguins got the start they wanted again and this time it paid off. It was far from easy but the Penguins prevailed 4-2 over the Red Wings to cut Detroit's series lead to 2 games to 1. The Penguins got on the board first when Max Talbot scored from the middle of the circle to make it 1-0 at 4:48 of the first. This was Evegeni Malkin's first assist of his dominating night. Malkin joined WayneeGretzkyy and Mario Lemieux as the only NHL playerss to to get 12 plus goals and 20 plus assists in one NHL postseason. After this goal the Red Wings responded in a big way and controlled most of the first period. Less then 2 minutes after Talbot scored, Henrik Zetteberg between a fallen Fleury to tie the game at 1. Zetteberg is a power playoff performer year after year. He also plays a wonderful two-way game much to the pleasure of Coach Mike Babcock. A little less than 6 minutes later, Johan Franzen scored his 12th playoff goal to give Detroit a 2-1 lead in the game. Franzen was fed a deflected pass from Zetterberg and managed to flip the puck into the top left corner just over Marc-Andre Fleury's blocker. Only gifted goal scorers can put the puck top shelf like that and Franzen has proven to be that type of player. Dan Cleary also took a holding penalty at 14:46 of the first that led to Pittsburgh tying the score. Pitt has a powerful power play and Malkined a nice pass to Chris Letang that he kind of fumbled a bit above the right faceoff circle, he then corralled the puck and let go a slap shot that beat Chris Osgood to the stick side to tie the game at 2. This was a huge goal for Pitt because they could have lost their confidence being down in the first at home to the Wings who were in complete control of the period after Talbots first goal. Detroit outshot the Penguins 12-7 in the period.

The second period was all Detroit when they outshot the Penguins 14-4 and really could have taken control of this game. They did not because Fleury finally showed why he played so well during this playoff season. Fleury made a nice save on Zetteberg just about 2 minutes into the second with his right pad. Another huge moment in the game happened just about a minute later. Mikael Samuelsson had a clean breakaway on Fleury and did have him beat but he hit the right post with his snap shot. This was a huge break for Pitt as they were not generating much offense during this period. After Samuelsson hit the post, Nic Kronwall had another good chance that Fleury stopped. Doc Emerick and Ed Olyczk pointed out that the scoring chances in the period were 5-0 for Detroit. It did feel that they were going to take the lead but Fleury did stand tall.

The third period was a totally different one. Pittsburgh cameo out with guns a blazing when they realized that they really dodged a bullet with their uneven play in the second period. Chris Osgood make his first really good save of the third when Sidney Crosby had a glorious chance from the down near the right faceoff circle. Osgood denied him. If Pitt wants to fully come back and win this Series they need Crosby to start burying some of these chances. Pittsburgh got another break when Jonathan took an interference penalty about 10 minutes into the third period. During this power play, Malkin set up Sergei Gonchar with his 3 assist of the night. Gonchar blasted a shot from inside the blue line that beat Osgood clean to make it 3-2 Penguins. Crosby got the second assist on this goal for his first point of the Series. The Pens continued to carry the play, outshooting Det 10-3 in the third. Osgood was pulled for the extra attacker with about 1:10 left. Once this happened, Max Talbot scored his 2nd goal of the night and 6th of the playoffs into an empty net to make it 4-2.

The Penguins tonight showed why this is not going to be a short series. They overcame adversity and Fleury stepped up his game to give his team a chance to win, even when they were not at their best during the second period. All teams that make it this far have excellent goaltending and tonight it was proven on both sides. I still feel this Series will go at least 6 games and hopefully entertain us big time in the process. Thank you all for reading this, I appreciate it very much so.