"They didn't have to show me," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said when asked about the character of his team. "I know my team. I know the character of those guys."

The Penguins were on the ropes in more ways than one Monday night at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. They were facing elimination, they lost two players - defenseman Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Malone - for part of the game, and they were under siege and behind in the third period. But they still found a way to win, cut Detroit's lead in the series to 3-2 and keep their hopes alive.

We were 30 seconds away from not playing for the rest of the season," said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. "So we're just happy that we're able to fight here on Wednesday night."

Sykora's game-winning goal came while the Penguins were on a four-minute power play after Detroit's Jiri Hudler caught Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi with a high stick.

Evgeni Malkin, who picked up his first point of the series, sent a pass from behind the goal line to Sykora, who beat Detroit goalie Chris Osgood with a shot from the right faceoff circle.

"Yeah, I got a tough few games the last few games," said Sykora, who hadn't registered a point in the series until Monday night. "No bounces, no real shots on net, and it's nice to get over that to keep us alive."

Also picking up an assist on the play was Gonchar, who was injured late in the second period after slamming into the boards. He returned to the game for the first time when the Penguins went on that power play in the third overtime.

"During the first two overtimes I was getting treatment and started to feel better and better," said Gonchar. "So I decided to give it a try. It worked out well."

The Penguins got a spectacular performance from goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 55 shots, including 24 in the three overtimes.

"He was outstanding tonight.  He was outstanding in overtime, and both goalies obviously played really well," said Therrien.  "But no doubt Fleury, probably his most important win in his career."

"It’s pretty tiring, what can I say?" Fleury said. "I still think you win as a team, you lose as a team. I just tried to do my job."

The Penguins blew a 2-0 lead in the game but struck with 35 seconds left when Maxime Talbot scored during a scramble in front of the Detroit net to force the overtime sessions.

The Red Wings, who scored once in the second period and twice in the third to take a 3-2 lead in the game, were dominant through a good part of the game and ended up with a 58-32 shots advantage, including a 24-14 advantage in overtime.

"In the end, they scored, and we never scored on our chances in overtime. So that's the game," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock.

• The Red Wings are about a minute away from the Stanley Cup, but the Penguins pull goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and Maxime Talbot scores with 35 seconds remaining to force overtime.
   
• Detroit's Jiri Hudler is penalized four minutes for high sticking at 9:21 of the third overtime and Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora scores 36 seconds later to give the Penguins a 4-3 win.

"Just between the periods, something stupid I said:  Just guys, I'm just going to get one.  So just don't worry about the game.  I'm going to get a goal," Sykora said. "And luckily, I got a great pass from Gino [Evgeni Malkin]. I missed it one time before, probably by 20 feet.  And it was kind of a lucky play.  It hit the ref and went behind the net and Gino got it, made a beautiful pass.  I tried to put it upstairs, and the puck went in."

Sykora also went public with his prediction, also telling NBC's Pierre McGuire during the game that he would score the OT winner.