INSIDE HOCKEY

Why the Penguins Won: Last year in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins were forced to watch as the Red Wings paraded the hardware on their home ice. This year, with Pittsburgh once again down three games to two, the Cup was back in Mellon Arena, removed from its case, polished and ready to be presented – but this time, the Penguins forced its handlers to lock it away for a few more days. With Pittsburgh’s 2-1 win, the Final is down to a winner-take-all Game Seven Friday at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.

The win was all the more impressive as Pittsburgh recovered from a sound defeat in Saturday’s Game Five, a 5-0 loss that could have been demoralizing. And no Penguin bounced back with a bigger effort than 24-year-old goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was pulled after allowing all five goals in Detroit but stormed back with a 25-save performance Tuesday to earn the game’s first star. And some of those saves came at especially critical times for Pittsburgh, especially a steal on forward Dan Cleary’s breakaway attempt with just 1:40 remaining in a one-goal game.

“I think I’ve learned throughout my years that it doesn’t matter how many goals you give up in a game; it’s a matter of if you lose, you lose, so it doesn’t matter if I give up one or five,” said Fleury, whose big night came in front of his visiting parents. “I try to forget about it. Put it in the back, and the next day come to the rink with a smile on, try to be positive and confident for tonight’s game.”

Detroit’s stingy defense and goalie Chris Osgood allowed the Penguins only two goals – right on pace with their average in this series, where they’ve scored a total of 12 in six games – but those goals both came from the third-line players a team needs to win in the playoffs. Center Jordan Staal opened the scoring less than a minute into the second period, using his big, 6-4 frame to push into the Detroit zone on a two-on-one with linemate Matt Cooke, ripping a shot from the right circle, then following up to put home his own rebound. Five minutes into the third, winger Tyler Kennedy got Pittsburgh some insurance, going to the net as he had been all night – he and Bill Guerin led the team with six shots on goal – first trying a wraparound, then getting off a rebound shot that bounced off Osgood’s left pad and in.

That insurance goal wound up being the game winner, as the Wings’ Kris Draper scored just a few minutes later to make the second half of the third period very tense indeed for the Penguins and their 118th consecutive sellout crowd of 17,132. The Penguins gave the Wings two golden opportunities to even the score on the power play as the clock ticked down, but came up with two huge penalty kills, including one where shutdown defenseman Rob Scuderi cleared a near-goal by Henrik Zetterberg out from the blue paint behind Fleury.

“He’s a steady defender. He dives in front of a puck; he’ll pay the price in the corners to get a puck out or make a play defensively,” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. “He’s charged with our matchup situation on a lot of nights, and that’s something you can’t really put a value on if you’re not there in the trenches with him.”

All in all, the Penguins came through with a team effort fitting of a club desperate to stave off elimination and get its own shot at the Stanley Cup.

“We rely on each other, and teams don’t get to this point without each guy stepping up in their own way,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “Time after time I think we’ve proven that we’re a true team, and everyone’s contributing. It’s not going to be the same guy every night, but that’s why we’ve had success. In a big game like this, TK, Staalsy, they come up with some big goals, and these role players so to speak, we’ve depended on them all season long.”

Why the Red Wings Lost: The Penguins came out with a big push in the first period, outshooting the Red Wings 12-3 and getting two opportunities on the power play. But Osgood and the Wings managed to shut Pittsburgh down in the first, ending the frame scoreless and giving themselves a chance in yet another tight game.

“I thought [Osgood] was real good early. He had to be, because I thought they were better than us at the start of the game, probably for the first 32 minutes,” said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. “We went into the third period tonight down 1-0, and you’re set up pretty nice on the road for Game Six.”

But Pittsburgh continued to aggressively take the play to the Red Wings in their zone. They won more races to the puck, came out on top in more battles and kept the Wings’ chances to the outside. And by the time the Wings got back to their own puck-possession game in a frantic third period, where they outshot the Penguins 14-7, Fleury and his team tasted Game Seven and shut them down with simple, smart plays like chipping pucks out of the defensive zone when Detroit came on with sustained pressure.

“[Fleury] came up with the saves when they needed it,” said Wings center Darren Helm. “But I think everybody on their team played really well tonight. It was just the whole team was ready to go.”

Key Moment: In last year’s decisive Game Six, Fleury gave up a heartbreaker of a goal to Zetterberg that snuck underneath him, going in off his backside. This year, with 1:57 remaining in the second period of a 1-0 game, the Penguins’ young goaltender saw some luck start to go his way. Zetterberg made a dazzling in and out move, went to Fleury’s blocker side with the forehand and hit the post. The shot dropped into the blue paint behind Fleury, who plopped down and caught the puck beneath his pants.

And later in the game, there was little luck, just skill and the increasing confidence of the way he’d bounced back after his rough outing in Game Five, when Fleury robbed Cleary in the game’s waning seconds to preserve the win.

“You don’t like seeing their team have a breakaway like that, but I think myself, like a lot of guys, expected Flower to stop it the way he was playing tonight,” said Crosby. “He saved us many times, and I had all the confidence in the world that he was going to make that stop.”

What’s Next: For only the fifth time since the best-of-seven format began in 1939, home clubs have won each of the first six games of the Stanley Cup Final. So now that the Penguins have forced Game Seven in Detroit, with the winner taking home the prize, do they have reason to expect things to be any different than they’ve been in three losses at the Joe so far? At the very least, they’ve give themselves a chance in a scenario where anything can happen, with the championship decided on a single bounce or break.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” said Crosby. “We found a way to survive, that’s what we did tonight, and now it’s anyone’s game. Like every kid growing up, you play street hockey, you play on the outdoor rinks, you always dream of the opportunity to play for the Cup in Game Seven. We’ve got an amazing opportunity here.”

The Wings, meanwhile, remain confident as they return to their home ice with a second chance to clinch their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.

“It will be fun, and we’re looking forward to it,” said Red Wings captain Nick Lidstrom. “It’s something we fought for all year, to get that home ice advantage. You want to have that at the end of the season, and now we have that advantage.”