Gonchar helps confident Penguins close in on Wings

PITTSBURGH - Sergei Gonchar said it once, then repeated it again a few seconds later as he tried pumping some confidence into some discouraged teammates: It's not over.

Thanks to Gonchar's power-play goal midway through the third period that revived the Penguins after Detroit pressed for the lead and Marc-Andre Fleury's strong work in goal, the Stanley Cup Finals are far from over for Pittsburgh following a 4-2 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Game 4, which could have been an elimination game for Pittsburgh, will be Thursday night. Either the defending champion Red Wings can take a stranglehold 3-1 advantage, or the Penguins can make the Finals a best-of-three after losing the first two in Detroit.

"This series is where it should be," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Gonchar's slap shot from center point off Evgeni Malkin's pass sailed past Chris Osgood as Bill Guerin and Sidney Crosby screened the goalie, Pittsburgh's ninth consecutive shot to start the third after being outshot 26-11 in the first two. The Penguins were 2-for-3 with the man advantage, with defenseman Kris Letang also scoring in the first.

"The (Gonchar) power play was an unbelievable job by a handful of guys out there, keeping the play alive and giving Gonch a chance," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

The decisive power play was created by an interference call on Jonathan Ericsson, with Babcock saying, "At that point, they took over. They got the power play in the third and we didn't."

Fourth-line center Max Talbot scored twice, including an empty-netter, as the Penguins prevented the Red Wings from moving to within a victory of their fifth Stanley Cup since 1997.

"It's great to be back in this series," said Fleury, who shook off two unsteady games in Detroit.

It's also a repeat of last year, when the Penguins won 3-2 in Game 3 after losing the first two on the road. Detroit went on to win in six.

The way they played for much of Game 3, with Henrik Zetterberg and John Franzen scoring in the first to give them a 2-1 lead, it looked like the Red Wings were trying to win this one in three.

"I don't want to say this was a must-win game, but everybody knows we needed to win this game," Talbot said.

Malkin assisted on the first 3 Penguins goals, giving him 33 points in 20 games, the most in the playoffs since Joe Sakic's 34 in 22 games for Stanley Cup champion Colorado in 1996.