Sidney Crosby (and Adam Hall) Does It All

Breathe in...breathe out. That game last night was the difference between watching Detroit celebrate on your home ice or tying the series up on Saturday night. It looks like we'll be hoping for option 2, as the Pens win a thriller in game 3. The big news before the game out of the Pens camp was the replacement of Kris Letang by Daryl Sydor. Good move coach "T", it worked nicely. The passion to win along with the fear of losing was in the building and it made for some crazy noise inside the Igloo. Game 3, was on, and everybody in Pittsburgh could feel it.
The first period started off kind of like what we saw in Detroit. They were owning possession and were getting shots on net while the Penguins were trying to survive by clearing the puck to center. Then at around the halfway mark, you could see it. The momentum, the possession, the will to live had been turned to the Pens side. The Penguins were throwing up some great shots that were only finding pads and posts. Then it came, a turnover by the Red Wings and Sidney Crosby was on the puck before Henrik Zetterberg knew what had hit his skate. A sweet little drop pass to Marian Hossa off the turnover created a shot that would rebound right to Crosby who buried it 5 hole by Chris Osgood. 1-0 Pens. HUGE. The Pens got one last good shot on net from Marian Hossa, but his arm was too busy being tore off from a Detroit defensemen. That would do it though, period ends.
Period two, the Pens started the period on the power play and Sidney Crosby skated through about 900 Red Wings before unleashing a wrist shot that would find more pipe than a water sanitation center. Evgeni Malkin woke up for a second and found himself wide open a top the left circle and he unleashed a slap shot that would of made Ron Francis blush. Luckily, Osgood was in the way and the rebound caromed off of him and the Red Wings cleared the zone. It didn't matter, the Pens were OWNING Detroit and the Pens flew back into the zone. Sergei Gonchar threw one on net that bounced around to Ryan Malone, couldn't bury it. Then Marian Hossa got the rebound, couldn't bury it. Then there was Crosby who got Hossa's rebound and said "I got this." Buries it, 2-0 Penguins. After that, the only thing worth mentioning was Crosby flying through the air on a Kris Draper hip check. I like how Eddie 'O on NBC decided to let everyone know that Crosby didn't "whine" or "pout" but simply kept playing on. Derrrrrrrr Eddie. After a Hal Gill trip, hook, or whatever it was put Detroit on the man advantage and Johan Franzen lost consciousness skating through 3 Penguins before letting the puck meet the mesh behind Marc-Andre Fluery. That made it a 2-1 game.
The start of the 3rd showed that the Crosby, Dupuis, Hossa line was one track for pure dominance at even strength. Hossa picked up the puck from behind the net on the back hand and unleashed on that found Peter Piper. Then the insurance came. Andres Lilja had his back to Gary Roberts. That's mistake hockey 101 right there. Lilja gets beat down to the ice by a 42 year old god. The puck worked it's way over to Adam Hall who found the side of the cage before picking the puck back up again and did his best Michael Jordan, Larry Bird McDonald's bank shot commercial. The puck found Chris Osgood and then it found itself underneath the net cam. Goal, 3-1 Pittsburgh picked up some nice health insurance. After that Tomas Holstrom had a shot on net that would find the post and the Pens took a huge breath. The next part of the period was pure NHL hockey and somebody from the Detroit bench must have made a face at Brooks Orpik. The dude, went OFF!

Handing out checks like it was the first of the month.

Detroit would be the first to settle things down with some passes and a goal from Mikael Samuelsson that netted a score at 3-2 and chance for the Wings to tie it up before regulation.Especially when Evgeni Malkin gets called for a hooking penalty with less than 5 minutes remaining. The Penguins, stepped up once again and killed it off and the Pen's would soon kill off an empty net attack before take the game and changing the series. Breathe in. Breathe out. Sleep, eat, repeat Saturday.