Pittsburgh Penguins Find Back of Net, Victory Lane in Game Three

Sidney Crosby had a huge game, and his team needed it.  Not only did he get the first two goals of the game for his team, they were the first scores of the series.

Big-time players come up big-time in big-time games.  The Sharks apparently have no big-time players.  (No, I'm not bitter or anything.)

With his team's collective backs to the wall, Crosby tickled the twine just before the end of the first period to answer any questions the young team had about whether they could even score.  Then about two and a half minutes into the second, he did so again to answer any questions about whether this team could compete.

From that point on, the veteran Detroit Red Wings outscored the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1.  Too little, too late.

Perhaps most encouraging for the Pens was Adam Hall's workmanlike goal in the third that stood up as the game winner.  He was battling for control of the puck with Detroit goalie Chris Osgood by the stick-side post, and when it was knocked behind the net, Osgood skated back into position.  Hall then made a veteran play, firing the puck off the back of the now turned Osgood and into the net.

At that point, the Wings had narrowed the gap on a power play goal by Johan Franzen, who still leads the league in that category this playoffs despite missing six games with concussion-like symptoms.  Apparently, he was undeterred by the cheap shots he received from Gary Roberts and Company.

(This is exactly why most teams say "upper body" and "lower body" when talking about injuries in the playoffs.  It is also why every team needs a true enforcer--if I was a Wing, Roberts would have had to be carted off on a stretcher.  I'm not saying you don't go after the guy, but make a hockey play, don't just punch him in the head.

If you are wondering why hockey is a fringe sport, it is this kind of deliberate intent to injure that brings the game disrespect.  I am listed as one of the top seven writers on the NHL and have written just a couple NFL articles, but I got more hits on those two articles than my ten most read hockey articles.  But I digress.)

Had Hall not scored before Mikael Samuelsson got the Wings' second goal, the Pens season would have been hanging by a thread.  Now they are very much back in the series.

Should the Pens win Game Four, who knows what could happen?  Thanks to Sidney Crosby, that is a possibility.