Author: Matt Pelc | Article Posted at: June 2, 09 - 12:30 pm

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings

Game 3: Red Wings at Penguins (DET leads 2-0)

We all knew that we would be getting a repeat of last years Stanley Cup Finals, but what we did not know was that it really would be a repeat.

Last season the Pittsburgh Penguins went into Detroit for the first two games and dropped both of them, this year has had similar results.

One thing that is different, however, is that the Red Wings have not dominated like they did last year in the first two games. A pair of shutouts was the results last year, but bad bounces and bad luck have been one of the major reasons the Penguins head back to Pittsburgh down 2 games to none.

Another similarity has been the absence of the playoff-leading scorer Sidney Crosbys scoring, who has a pair of donuts to go with the two losses.

Perhaps the home crowd will spur the Pittsburgh Penguins on to victory, as it did in Game 3 last year. This will be a must win for Pittsburgh, going down 2-0 is bad enough, only one team has come back after being down 2-0 in a Stanley Cup Final and overcoming a 3-0 deficit to the vaunted Red Wings is more than likely not happening.

Crosby and rest of the Penguins rested on Monday as they prepared for their third game in four days.

Crosbys biggest problem has been being tormented by Henrik Zetterberg for a second straight season. Detroit has had the home team privilege of having the last line change and has allowed coach Mike Babcock to employ Zetterberg’s line to torment the star.

Now as the scene shifts back to Pittsburgh, Penguins’ coach Dan Bylsma will have the last change and will look to get Crosby out against inferior lines to jumpstart the offense after the Penguins have scored twice in two games in the pair of 3-1 losses.

The frustration boiled over for Pittsburgh late in the game when Evgeni Malkin attempted to send a message to Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings that Crosby and the Penguins would not be pushed around as he attacked Zetterberg. In addition to getting a five minute fighting major, along with Zetterberg, Malkin was assessed an instigator penalty.

This caused some controversy following the game when Bylsma acknowledged the fact that he thought Malkin would be gone or Game 3 since in the rule books it states any player assessed an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of a game is suspended for the next one.

Shortly after the game, the NHL stated that Malkin did not “meet the qualifications of the rule.”

Back to the 2-0 hole Pittsburgh finds themselves in. It will be much easier to navigate now that they have Malkin, but they know they can come back from a 2-0 deficit as they did when they dropped the first two games in Washington in the second round before winning four of the next five to take the series in seven on the Capitals’ home ice.

No one has come back from a 2-0 deficit in the cup finals since the Chicago Blackhawks stumbled against the Montreal Canadiens in the 1971 final.

On the injury front for the Red Wings, Pavel Datsyuk, who has missed the last five games of the Chicago series and the first two games of this series. It had been hoped that Datsyuk could come back after Monday’s day of rest, but the finalist for the league MVP does not appear to be anywhere near ready to go.

The Red Wings have missed center Kris Draper’s dominance in faceoffs, but have received a spark from Darren Helm, whom some are calling a “young Kris Draper.” He took part in the pre-game skate prior to Game 2, but could not go and figures to test it again in the pre-game skate before Game 3.

The Pittsburgh Penguins should not count their chickens before they are hatched. Clearly hoping that being in their own building will wash away the hops, skips and luck that has given Detroit the series lead, they have struggled their against the Detroit Red Wings.

They lost 3-0 there in the regular season to Detroit and dropped two of the three Finals games in Pittsburgh last year, including Game 6 when the Red Wings paraded their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years in front of the fans clad in Penguin white.

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