Penguins Get Unsurprising Game 3 Win, But It Won't Change End Result

So the Pittsburgh Penguins proved, for one game at least -- one desperate, gotta win, no tomorrow, backs against the wall kind of game -- that they can kinda sorta play with the Red Wings, and get a couple of bounces along the way.

It wasn't a terrible effort by the Red Wings last night, as they fell 3-2 to the Pens in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. But it wasn't one of their best, and against a fired up, playing-at-home Penguins team determined not to go down 0-3, it just wasn't quite good enough.

But the Red Wings' ceiling is far higher than the Penguins' right about now -- meaning that Detroit can play a whole lot better, and I'm not sure that Pittsburgh can raise their bar all that much. Which all adds up, to me, to a 3-1 series lead coming back to Detroit for a clinching Game 5 on Monday.

Ahh, the bounces. Detroit's Brad Stuart zipped a pass straight to Henrik Zetterberg ... but to Hank's skates, not his stick. And as Mickey Redmond would say, "Bingo-bango -- the puck ends up in the back of your net." The turnover was neatly and swiftly converted into a 1-0 Pens lead. Sidney Crosby scored it, added a power play goal, and the Red Wings played catch up. And they almost caught all the way up. More bounces: Pitt's third goal was purposely banged off Chris Osgood's legs and into the net.

The Red Wings waited too long to pull Osgood, however, and by the time they did, less than 30 seconds remained to mount an attack on the Pittsburgh net. There were chances to get the sixth attacker onto the ice with over a minute remaining, but perhaps coach Mike Babcock got a little, ahem, cocky, and put too much faith in his team's ability to score the tying goal while playing 5-on-5. Regardless, the Wings blew it.

But they have hardly blown the series. I doubt too many folks in Hockeytown are surprised by last night's result. Game 3 is a tough one for the 2-0 team to win, on the other team's ice -- although the Red Wings were 2-1 in that department going into last night.

Yes, the Penguins have a smidgen of confidence now -- at least they've seen the brick wall Osgood surrender some pucks past him -- but the Red Wings can still smell this latest Stanley Cup. Half the roster has won it before. You think they're going to let the Penguins off the hook here? Besides, even a Game 4 loss, while unseemly, wouldn't be disastrous. The Penguins don't look ready to beat the Red Wings in Detroit any time soon.

So the Penguins got off the schneide. They scored a few goals. The puck bounced their way. They were more aggressive. Looked comfy at home. Upped their confidence a bit. Now they're 9-0 at home in the playoffs. Good for them.

Detroit in five, that's all. Or six. But Detroit, nonetheless.