DETROIT (Ticker) -- Jordan Staal recorded his second career hat
trick and set up Ruslan Fedotenko for the game-winner with 71
seconds remaining in overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied
for a 7-6 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday in a
rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Finals.
Captain Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh
and Maxime Talbot and Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist
apiece for the Penguins, who fell in six games in June as the
Red Wings notched their 11th Stanley Cup title in franchise
history.
"Yes. I don't want to be overconfident, but it feels good,"
Crosby said of defeating the Red Wings.
In overtime, Staal lifted Pavel Datsyuk's stick to steal the
puck in the neutral zone and skated across the the blue line
before feeding Fedotenko in the right faceoff circle. The
Russian unleashed a shot that beat Chris Osgood for his third
goal of the season.
The second overall pick of the 2006 draft, Staal did most of his
damage in the third period. The 20-year-old scored 8:09 into
the session, and then tallied again with 4:09 and 23 seconds
remaining to tie the contest at 6-6.
"It seemed like everything I touched went in," Staal said.
"Everybody just keeps working hard and playing to the end. We
always know there's a chance to win if we keep working."
"(Staal's) always in the shadow, but he's a good player, maybe
underrated," said Detroit's Marian Hossa, who recorded two
assists against his former team. "He plays with power and takes
the puck well to the net. He's good defensively."
Miroslav Satan and Matt Cooke had two assists apiece for
Pittsburgh, which won its fourth straight by rebounding from a
three-goal deficit in the third period.
"At 5-2, it looked tough for us," Pittsburgh coach Michel
Therrien said. "That's a team that's been playing well
defensively. It's tough to generate offense against them. That's
why you have to be impressed with the way we came back."
"You can't let things like that happen," Detroit coach Mike
Babcock said. "After two periods, I thought we did a lot of
real good things. Then they got momentum when (Malkin) scored on
the 5-on-3. You can't give up seven goals and expect to win."
Jiri Hudler recorded a goal and two assists and Johan Franzen,
Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg netted one power-play
tally apiece for Detroit, which went 3-for-5 with the man
advantage.
Pavel Datsyuk scored and veteran Darren McCarty notched his
first goal since March 2006 for the Red Wings.
Six-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and
Mikael Samuelsson had two assists apiece, but Detroit saw its
modest two-game winning streak come to an end.
"I thought it was going to be over when Hudler scored (to make
it 6-4). Then we self-destructed," Babcock said. "Tonight they
had an edge, but it wasn't a lack of preparation. It was a lack
of poise and good judgment in the third period."
"I was mad at myself for letting them get that one," said
Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 28 saves. "Some nights, I
make all the saves and we can't score. Some nights, we score all
the goals."
Osgood turned aside 27 shots.