by Angie Carducci , Inside Hockey

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Why the Penguins won: Down two games to none, the Penguins nonetheless felt they had played well in Detroit and returned home for Game 3 with their confidence intact. Pittsburgh got off to a strong start in the first 10 minutes, getting a goal by Max Talbot that gave them a 1-0 lead — the Penguins are 8-0 in the playoffs when the spark plug forward scores. But the Red Wings, executing their attacking, puck-possession game with precision, had the better of the next 30 minutes. After two periods, the Penguins were fortunate to find themselves tied at 2 with the Wings, who were outshooting them 26-11.

Defenseman Kris Letang got very involved in the Penguins' offense. (Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)

Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury kept the Wings off the board during the second period, despite Detroit outshooting Pittsburgh 14-4. With its season essentially on the line — rallying from a 3-0 series deficit against the mighty Red Wings would have been a near-impossible task — Pittsburgh played with desperation in the third. The Penguins took the play to the Wings, getting the first seven pucks on goal and forcing them to defend; Detroit finished the period with only three shots. Forward Matt Cooke drew a crucial power play midway through the period by keeping his feet moving and forcing interference, and the Penguins got the go-ahead goal, then added an empty netter for good measure. Star forward Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins' most dominant player in this series so far (though it had yet to show on the scoresheet), set up all but the empty net goal for a three-point night.

"We talked after the second; we didn't have a very good second period, and they were very good," said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. "We needed to calm down and get back to our game; we've played it for 40-plus games here. We did a good job of starting and built momentum with that, we had some chances and then got the power play."

Most importantly, in a series where the Penguins had gotten little but bad breaks and bounces in the first two games, some of the luck finally started to turn their way. They got three power play opportunities to Detroit's two and converted on two of them — critical against the Wings, who have few weaknesses but have not excelled on the penalty kill.

Shots that had been ringing off posts or going wide earlier in the series found their way past goalie Chris Osgood. Pittsburgh even managed to get away with an infraction when it inadvertently fielded too many men on the ice for an extended period of time.

"We didn't have any luck in the first two games, and maybe our luck is turning around right now," said defenseman Kris Letang, who scored the Penguins' second goal and added an assist on Talbot's opener. "All the good teams have luck, and I think we are creating our own luck."

Why the Red Wings lost: Through the first two periods, the Red Wings essentially did everything they needed to to win. But after a second period in which they dominated the Penguins but couldn't find a way to score, the Wings found themselves facing a determined Pittsburgh club to start the third.

"We really had great opportunities in the second, probably as many as we've had at any period of time, but we didn't score," said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. "They had a better push at the start of the third period than we did, no doubt about it. Then they got the power play there and at that point, they took over."

Detroit also lacked one advantage on Pittsburgh's home ice that it had in the first two games at Joe Louis Arena — the ability to make the last change to get the matchups it wanted. At Mellon Arena, that opportunity fell to Bylsma, who used it to get his star players away from matchups that hadn't been going well for them in Detroit, particularly against tenacious forward Henrik Zetterberg. That forced Babcock to put players like Zetterberg and defenseman Nick Lidstrom out more often, and enabled the Penguins to grind them down.

"You could see what Mike was trying to do with getting Zetterberg out there on the change every chance he could get," Bylsma said. "I think the one advantage we had tonight was, when they're going after the matchup that hard, it causes situations where they are going to have to put them back out being very tired."

Key moment: With the teams tied at 2 since the latter part of the first period, the third period almost took on the feel of a Game 7 — for Pittsburgh, it was essentially a one period winner-take-all to avoid facing elimination in Game 4. The Penguins came out with desperation, and forcing the Red Wings to deal with their attack and their speed led to an interference call on Jonathan Ericsson at 9:06 of the third.

That's when the Pittsburgh power play, which had been struggling of late, came through in a big way. And unsurprisingly, it was its quarterback, defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who led the charge. The power play unit was in the midst of a terrific shift, getting to loose pucks and putting second and third opportunities on Osgood. Late in the shift, Malkin got the puck from the half-wall to center point, where Gonchar fired a slapshot to give Pittsburgh the lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

"What a leader," said Talbot of his alternate captain Gonchar, who has battled through two potentially season-ending injuries this year, including one in the second round against Washington. "Right before the game, me and Sid (Crosby) looked at him across from us in the dressing room, and he's just so calm, so relaxed and so poised. You look in his eyes and you know he's ready, and he kind of gives you that confidence. What a shot; he definitely got a huge goal for us tonight."

What's next: Now down 2-1, the Penguins are right back in the Stanley Cup Final with a chance to tie the series in Thursday's Game 4, also at Pittsburgh.

"I don't want to say it was a must-win, but I think everybody knows that we needed to win this game," Talbot said. "It feels great, definitely. It's a big win for us."

Pittsburgh has some momentum on its side and positives to build on, including Fleury's strongest performance of the series so far (27 saves on 29 shots), the improvement of the power play and finding a way to beat Osgood three times, twice more than they managed to beat him in either of the first two games.

The Red Wings, meanwhile, will need to regroup and come back with a strong effort on Thursday. And they'll need to limit Pittsburgh's chances with the man-advantage.

"We had some good moments in this game, but I thought that our special teams were the difference," said Lidstrom. "Their power play worked really well for them."

"I think in (our) two games at home, one of them could have gone the other way too," Babcock said. "So I think there's two good teams playing hard, and this series is where it should be."