Red Wings Push Penguins to Brink, Head Home

Team Can Win 11th Cup With a Victory in Detroit: Red Wings 2, Penguins 1

PITTSBURGH, May 31 -- The Detroit Red Wings wrecked the Pittsburgh Penguins' home-ice advantage and gave themselves a shot to hoist the Stanley Cup in Hockeytown.

Jiri Hudler snapped a third-period tie for the Red Wings, who rallied from an early deficit to beat the Penguins, 2-1, Saturday night and grab a 3-1 lead in the finals.

Detroit will get the first of three chances to win the Cup back home in Game 5 on Monday night.

The Penguins were a perfect 9-0 at the Igloo during the postseason and hadn't lost at home since falling in a shootout to San Jose on Feb. 24 -- a span of 17 games. Now they will have to figure out how to win at Joe Louis Arena to force the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 6.

Six teams have survived long enough to reach Game 7 after trailing 3-1 in the finals, but only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs -- who fell behind 3-0 to the Red Wings -- came all the way back to win. Pittsburgh would have to win twice in Motown, where the Red Wings are 9-1 during the postseason, to capture the Stanley Cup for the third time. Detroit is on the brink of title No. 11 and its fourth in 11 seasons.

"It never gets old, but we haven't won anything yet," captain Nicklas Lidstrom said.

Hudler set up the Red Wings when he smacked in a backhander from the bottom of the right circle with his back to the net 2 minutes 26 seconds into the third. Brooks Orpik's clearing attempt from behind the net was kept in by Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart, who sent the bouncing puck back down low.

Rookie center Darren Helm chipped it to Hudler, who snapped a drive off Marc-Andre Fleury's left arm and inside the post for his fifth of the playoffs. That was enough to hand Fleury his first home loss in 19 home starts, dating from Nov. 21.

"It feels good, especially in this building," Hudler said. "It's a lot of fun, obviously, in the Stanley Cup finals. It was kind of a lucky goal, but I'll take it."

Chris Osgood made 22 saves to improve to 13-3 in the postseason.

Pittsburgh had a golden chance to tie it just past the midway point of the third when Andreas Lilja's interference penalty on Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a five-on-three power play for 1:27. Crosby had the best scoring opportunity, but Henrik Zetterberg tied up the Penguins captain's stick at the right post and didn't allow him to get off a shot.

"I've been telling people for three years how good Zetterberg is," Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock said. "This isn't a surprise to me. He's just a conscientious good two-way player."

With less than a minute left in the advantage, Penguins Coach Michel Therrien called timeout to give his struggling power-play unit a rest. It didn't help. Evgeni Malkin put a shot off the outside of the net, and the red goal light switched on -- giving the home fans false hope. The Penguins didn't record a shot during the two-man edge.

"There's no doubt we needed to get that goal," Therrien said. "We didn't execute well. We got a good chance to tie up the game right there, and we didn't do the job."

The night didn't start out in the Red Wings' favor, even though an octopus splattered in the Pittsburgh end near the completion of the national anthem. Dallas Drake took a roughing penalty that led to Marian Hossa's power-play goal early in the first, before Lidstrom tied it for the Red Wings 4:15 later.

Back in the friendly confines of the Igloo, the Penguins scored for the fourth straight period on home ice after being shut out for two games. In an another encouraging sign for the Penguins, they beat Osgood with a power-play goal.

Sergei Gonchar let go a shot that Osgood stopped, but Hossa got to the rebound at the right post, deftly moved the puck from backhand-to-forehand and tucked it in at 2:51 on the Penguins' second shot. Hossa's 10th of the playoffs was Pittsburgh's second goal in 12 power-play chances in the series.