Stanley Cup Finals Game Three: In-A-Gadda-Da-Mellon, Baby

The Pittsburgh Penguins finally found their offense, and it was right where they left it after a 6-0 decimation of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals: the Mellon Arena.

The 17,132 fans in attendance tonight made the 20,000-plus fans at The Joe sound like a group of elementary school cheerleaders.

The home cookin' paid off for the Pens as they secured their first victory of the series and cut the deficit to 2 games to 1 in favor of the Red Wings.

Recap

During the longest pregame show in recorded history, Mike Milbury and Pierre Maguire offered their in-depth analysis of what the Penguins had to do in order to win this game. Too bad the crowd noise drowned them out and we only got to hear about half of what they were saying. Somehow, that kind of noise should be mandated to occur during every NBC/VERSUS pregame show until the end of time.

The Penguins got the first power play opportunity of the game, when "The Horse" was called for hooking just over a minute into the game. The power play came up empty, and the Pens were only able to manage a single shot on goal.

Jordan Staal was penalized shortly after the Wings' penalty ended, giving Detroit a chance with the man advantage. The Pens killed off the penalty as the "Mellonites" belted out chants of "Let's Go Pens."

Finally at 17:25 of the first period, 137 minutes of wondering if the Penguins would ever score again vanished. Sidney Crosby, who proved why is he considered by many as the best player in the game with his performance tonight, was able to beat Chris Osgood to make it 1-0 Pens.

In a Penguin-esque play, Detroit's Brad Stuart turned the puck over in his own zone. Marian Hossa corralled the loose biscuit and got a shot on the net. Surprisingly, the puck did not bounce away from the Penguins, but rather right onto the stick of Crosby who was able to pound it between the pads of Osjoke, and give the Penguins their first goal in what seemed like an eternity.

With 40 seconds remaining in the period, Brian Rafalski tripped up Evgeni Malkin, and the Pens went on the power play again.

Sidney Crosby made a sick pass to Hossa in the slot, but the shot sailed wide of the net. The first intermission came upon us with the Penguins leading, 1-0.

The Wings killed off the remainder of the penalty, but a hooking call on Niklas Kronwall would soon give the Penguins yet another power play.

Sidney Crosby again found himself in the right place at the right time and was able to shuffle a bouncing puck behind Osjoke to make it 2-0 Pens.

The next ten minutes consisted of Tomas Holmstrom and Hal Gill battling in front of the Penguins' net, and Gill being called for two consecutive cross-checking penalties.

The Wings capitalized on the second such penalty. The Horse deked around three Penguins en route to the front of the net, where he beat Fleury over the right shoulder to make it 2-1 Pens.

After the Wings' tally, the intensity level picked up. Gary Roberts (playing like he was 20 years old again) and Tyler Kennedy were flying around the ice, hitting anything in their paths. Kronwall and Holmstrom each delivered some big checks for the Wings.

The second period ended 2-1 Pens. If you felt secure about a one goal lead heading into the third period, you were kidding yourself.

After sitting through perhaps the most painful intermission on NBC to date, thanks to the pointless ramblings of Alex Ovechjoke, the third period picked up right where the second left off. Each team was carrying the puck through the neutral zone with ease and testing the opposing goaltender.

The Penguins' insurance marker came from an unlikely source: Adam Hall. Tyler Kennedy was annihilated by a Wing in the Penguins zone as the Pens were heading the other way. The puck was dumped in, and Gary Roberts responded by delivering an equally heavy hit along the corner boards.

Max Talbot came up with the loose puck and was able to work it in front of the net. After a few Mike Emrick yelps, you realized that the Penguins had put the puck in the net.

The replay showed that Adam Hall had actually shot the puck off of Osjoke's backside, and it careened into the net.

The Penguins had the insurance they were looking for, but with over 12 minutes still on the clock, Elvis hadn't even finished his last beer yet, and certainly was not preparing to make an early exit.

Edzo's boy, Mikael Samuelsson, came up with yet another huge goal at 13:37 of the third to cut the Penguins' lead to a single goal.

The Wings threw everything they had at the Penguins for the next two minutes, but they couldn't generate any decent scoring chances.

Then, at 15:42, Malkin took a terrible hooking penalty behind the Wings' net. You could feel the Primanti's sandwich you downed earlier in the afternoon starting to slowly work its way out of your stomach and into your throat as the Wings headed on the power play.

Marc-Andre Fleury came up big, with some help from his penalty killers, and the Pens were able to thwart the Wings' last ditch effort.

Ladies and gentleman, Elvis has just left the building.

The game ended, 3-2 Penguins. The series is now 2-1, in favor of Detroit. Game Four will be played on Saturday at the Mellon Arena.

Notes

- Adam Hall has been a stud on the PK throughout the last two rounds of the playoffs. It was great to see him finally cash in on a reward for all his hard work.

- Gary Roberts played perhaps the most physically impressive game of his career as a Penguin.

- Sidney Crosby was the best player on the ice tonight... finally.

- Fleury put up his best performance of the series, posting 32 saves, and hasn't lost a game at Mellon Arena in six months.

- The third period of this game should have its own holiday. That is what playoff hockey is all about. The pace was fast, the hits were big, and the suspense put everyone watching on the edge of their seats.

- Darryl Sydor looked a little rusty, to put it nicely.

- This was by far the most physically demanding game the Penguins have played during these playoffs. Any notion that the Western Conference couldn't play a physical brand of hockey are now null and void.

- Was Lidstrom even on the ice tonight?

- The Pens improved to 9-0 at home during the playoffs with the win tonight.

- Game Four is Saturday at 8:00 PM on NBC.