"Finally," Crosby said. "It wasn't that the chances weren't there, it's just that finally one went in for us."

Crosby scored the first two goals of the game, giving the Penguins, who had been shutout in Games 1 and 2, some life in front of an energized crowd at Mellon Arena, where the Penguins are 9-0 in the playoffs and have won 17 straight games dating back to the regular season.

The game was basically a must win for the Penguins, who faced the prospect of falling behind 3-0 in the series.

"Nobody quit," said Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 32 shots on the night. "Everybody was confident and it showed tonight."

The Red Wings controlled play early in the game and held a big advantage in shots, but couldn't get the early lead.

"I think tonight we got off to a pretty good start on the road.  I thought we were under control," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "Then I thought they had a pretty good push after a timeout, scored a goal. ... They scored first, which helped them."

The Penguin got the all-important first goal late in the first period when Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart's pass for to Henrik Zetterberg misfired and Crosby pounced on the turnover in the Red Wings' zone. After getting the puck Crosby gave it up to Marian Hossa, got it back and then slid the puck past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood with 2:35 remaining in the first.

"Whether it was me or anybody else, we just wanted to get the first one. We wanted to get a goal.  Find a way.  Didn't matter who or when," said Crosby. 

"We were playing well until they got the first goal," Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski said. "That gave them a lot of momentum and got the crowd into it."

The Penguins were able to extend the lead to 2-0 by scoring their first power play goal of the series when Crosby tapped home a pass from Hossa in front of the net at 2:24 of the second period.

The Red Wings cut the lead to 2-1 in with 5:12 left in the second when Johan Franzen beat Brooks Orpik one-on-one on the left wing, skated on net and beat Fleury for a power play goal.

The Penguins got the two-goal cushion back at 7:18 of the third period when Adam Hall finished off a hard-working shift with linemates Gary Roberts and Maxime Talbot by bouncing the puck off Osgood from behind the goal line.

Mikael Samuelsson scored off a faceoff win with 6:23 remaining to make it a 3-2 game, but the Red Wings couldn't get the equalizer.

Game 4 is Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

"We realize how hard it was and how tough it's going to get," said Crosby. "So it feels good to come out of this game on the other side, for sure.  But we realize it's only one."

• Sidney Crosby capitalizes on a Brad Stuart turnover to score Pittsburgh's first goal of the series at 17:25 of the first period.
   
• Crosby scores off the rebound of a Marian Hossa shot at 2:34 of the second to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
   
• Adam Hall scores by bouncing a puck off Detroit goalie Chris Osgood 7:18 into the third to extend the Red Wings lead to 3-1.
   
• Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom has an open side of the net on a rebound and a chance to make it a 3-2 game, but his shot hits the post.
   
• The Penguins kill off a Detroit power play in the last five minutes while leading 3-2 to help preserve the win.

Orpik was credited with a hit on Kris Draper, two hits on Dallas Drake and another one on Dan Cleary in a span of 14 seconds according to the league's official play-by-play sheet.

"[He] gave a lot of momentum to the bench, and got the crowd so involved," said Pens coach Michel Therrien. "So that was pretty unique to see."

Said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby: "It's a big lift any time you're getting big hits and obviously the fans get into it.  You get energy from it."

Sydor gets in for Penguins

Defenseman Darryl Sydor, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, made his first appearance of the playoffs for the Penguins, replacing rookie Kris Letang in Game 3.

"I've been in the final before, so I know what to expect," Sydor told reporters before the game.

Sydor played a total of 13:31 in the game, picking no points and an even rating for the night.

He looked good out there.  He's been through some big games, won two Stanley Cups.  So he knows what it's like to play in big games," said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby. "Him and the rest of the guys who haven't played a lot, who have been staying after practice, working hard, getting skated pretty hard for the last two months here, they all realized that there might be an opportunity if their name's called.  And he's done a great job of making sure he's in good shape, and he looked great out there tonight."

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby

"I thought they did a pretty good job.  You have to give them credit.  They found a way to win a game.  I don't feel that we were dominated or anything.  But I thought they had some quality scoring chances.  Like I said, probably from 15 minutes gone in the first to probably five minutes left in the second, I thought they really had some opportunities."

Detroit coach Mike Babcock

"We're not happy about the way we played. We made some mistakes and they took advantage of it and scored some goals. They got the power play. They had the puck and we couldn't get it. They scored. If we just take care of that and keep playing good offense, we'll be all right."

Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg