Sykora's triple-overtime strike keeps Penguins alive

DETROIT, Michigan: Petr Sykora scored the winning goal deep into triple overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins spoiled the Detroit Red Wings' Stanley Cup party with a breathless 4-3 victory on Monday.

Trailing the best-of-seven series 3-1, the Penguins warned they would not go down without a fight and were true to their word, battling the Red Wings almost to a standstill before Sykora ended the pulsating contest with a stunning goal.

The Czech right wing set up a Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Wednesday when he rifled a power-play strike past Chris Osgood 9:57 into the third overtime period.

The game was the fifth-longest in Stanley Cup finals history and just the second home defeat suffered by the Red Wings this postseason.

"I've had a few tough games, no bounces, no real shots," Sykora told reporters. "It's nice to get over like that to keep us alive.

"We get to live another day, another game on Wednesday.

"I think if we come up with the win it's going to be a lot of pressure on them."

The Penguins stepped on to the ice knowing the odds of capturing the Cup were stacked against them.

Only once has a team erased a 3-1 deficit to claim the Cup and that was the Toronto Maple Leafs 66 years ago.

As is tradition during playoff hockey in the Motor City, an octopus, whose eight tentacles represent the number of games it used to take to win the Stanley Cup, was flung on to the ice just prior to the opening faceoff, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

With the Detroit Pistons out of the NBA title chase, the Red Wings had the stage to themselves, creating an electric atmosphere inside the Joe Louis Arena with the Stanley Cup in the building and the champagne on ice.

Own goal

The Penguins waited almost nine minutes to get their first shot on the Detroit net and a few seconds later were ahead on their second, Marian Hossa taking a feed from Sidney Crosby and finding Osgood's top corner.

After sealing shutouts in the opening two games of the series, the goal was the first surrendered on home ice by the Red Wings in the finals.

Pittsburgh added a second before the end of the period when Detroit's Nicklas Kronvall stunned the crowd with an own goal trying to clear a pass from Penguins right wing Adam Hall, who was credited with the score.

The Red Wings launched their fightback in the second, Darren Helm notching his second goal of the playoffs to pull Detroit within one of the visitors.

Trailing 2-1, the Red Wings launched an all-out assault in the third period, Pavel Datsyuk and Brian Rafalski scoring less than three minutes apart to spark premature Stanley Cup celebrations among the home fans.

But with netminder Marc-Andre Fleury pulled in favor of an extra attacker, the Penguins' desperation was rewarded when Maxime Talbot jammed the puck past Osgood with just 35 seconds remaining to give Pittsburgh a lifeline.

Fleury was spectacular in the Pittsburgh net, facing 55 shots, and was particularly brilliant in the first overtime period when the surging Red Wings outshot the Penguins 13-2.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/04/2008 page24)