Stanley Cup Finals Game 3: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings

Pre-Game News:
Penguins looking to fix their faceoff.
Penguins need more from Crosby, Malkin.
Chris Osgood makes Conn-vincing argument for Cup playoffs MVP.
Is time catching up to Red Wing Kris Draper?

Game Notes:

• Period 1: Pittsburgh starts out flying as was expected.  Loaded up first line with Crosby, Malkin and Guerin.  Osgood has been solid under the Pens pressure.
• Not sure how I feel seeing the Penguins White Out.  I mean, I like it, but is very throwback to the old Winnipeg Arena days.
• Talbot makes a nice defensive play, puck comes back to the Detroit zone, Wings fail to clear and Malkin gets it to Talbot for a shot on Osgood.  
  
• The Wings started to take over offensively and Zetterberg scored on a nice set up by Leino.
   
• Pretty good back and forth periods.  Both teams had control. 
• Wish the Refs would put the whistles away.  Game 1 – 3 penalties total, Game 2 – 3 penalties total (not counting those that happened at end of 3rd).  Game 3 – 3 penalties through 20 minutes.
• 1st Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 7, Detroit 12
  Hits: Pittsburgh 14, Detroit 9
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 3
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 10, Detroit 13
• 2nd Period:  Good start to the period.  Both teams have had opportunities.  Best so far was by Detroit’s Samuellson on the breakaway.  Listen for that PING.
  
• Both teams have tightened up.  That was the first scoreless period of this series.
• 2nd Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 4=11, Detroit 14=26,
  Hits: Pittsburgh 10=24, Detroit 3=12
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 3=7, Detroit 1=4
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 8=18, Detroit 6=19
• 3rd Period:  Osgood stands tall in the face of good Pittsburgh pressure in first 3 minutes of the third.  It seems like guys have an affinity for the post as Talbot makes a PING of his own.
  
• 3rd Period Stats:
  Shots: Pittsburgh 10=21, Detroit 3=29
  Hits: Pittsburgh 12=36, Detroit 5=17
  Giveaways: Pittsburgh 2=9, Detroit 0=4
  Faceoffs: Pittsburgh 5=23, Detroit 5=24

Post-Game Thoughts:

• Excellent team effort by the Penguins tonight. Holding Detroit to 0 shots for 10 minutes (from 2 minutes to go in 2nd to 8 minutes into 3rd). Overall limited Detroit to just three 3rd period shots.
• I thought Talbot gave a heroic effort for the Pens.  He was fantastic.  Crosby was also very good.
• The biggest break came with the Wings up 2-1 and the Refs failed to notice that there were 6 Penguins on the ice.  Now if this was for a few seconds its understandable, but the 6th man was on the ice for 21 seconds.  Why exactly are there 4 officials on the ice?
•  I expected Hossa to step up and he didn’t.  Zetterberg was the best Wings player by far.
• Home clubs have won the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth consecutive season.

Post-Game News Conference:

Pittsburgh Head Coach Dan Bylsma:

Can you say what that win means for confidence and, secondly, Marc-Andre Fleury’s performance especially in that second period?
Well, you know, especially after the second period coming back in the third, playing a strong third, getting the power?play goal, obviously being down 2?0 in the series, we needed to get that win. But I think especially after the way we rebounded from the second and getting the win, you know, 2?1, now we have a chance to tie this thing up with Game 4.

How much were you able to take advantage of the line changes tonight? 
Well, you could see what Mike was trying to do with getting Zetterberg out there on the change every chance he could get. I think the one advantage we had tonight because they were trying to get Zetterberg out there so much, there were times when he got out there tired.  

The wings don’t have a lot of weaknesses, but they’re 14th in the playoffs in the PK. Is that an area that you’re hoping to exploit coming into this series, and you scored twice tonight on the power play?
I think one of the things the Wings do well in their PK is they pressure initial pucks into the zone. Their shrink in first 8 seconds they do very well. We feel we have to break that. Get that possession time and establish that zone time to kind of break them down.  Our guys did a great job tonight.  We broke the pressure when they did have loose pucks and did start to be aggressive again. We came up with good sticks and kept that thing alive. And I don’t know what time it was on the clock when we scored that, but it was well past 1:20 into that PK. They were tired. Our guys were tired. But the determination with the sticks and guys in front of that we got the big goal.

Detroit Head Coach Mike Babcock:

Can you talk about the advantage of them having the last change with what they’re trying to do with Crosby and Malkin when they’re home here?
It just makes it easier to get people on and off the ice smoother, and get what you want. But we had that for two games, too. So it works out.

It seemed as though they’ve been letting a lot of the interference on the forecheck go. And then all of a sudden there was a call. Did that surprise you?
No, they told us that they were going to clamp down on it. But I’d seen four from one particular guy on their team prior in the game that never got called. So that’s ?? you know, in a series they call what they think’s a penalty, and they’re trying to do the best they can just like the teams.

How frustrating was it for you earlier in the first period it looked like they had an extended time with six guys on the ice. Looked like you didn’t notice for a while. No one seemed to notice. Then you guys caught on. I saw banging the sticks there and no call. Must have been a frustrating moment there?
I mean, what do you want me to say? (Laughing). You know, I mean. See you guys tomorrow.

Happy 57th Birthday Gary Bettman.

How did the Commish spend his birthday? Being interviewed by his arch-nemesis Ron MacLean. Last line of the interview:

MacLean: “What would you tell the owners if they asked where the team should move to?”
Bettman: “I’d tell the owners before I’d tell you.”

Here is the video.