The Detroit Red Wings lost the third game of the Stanley Cup Finals last night, falling 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The series now stands at two games to one with Detroit in the lead.

Well, that wasn’t completely unexpected, was it? Despite the Wings’ dominance in the first two games, I never really expected them to sweep. I knew the Pens had it in them to make this a series. That doesn’t mean the loss is any less disappointing, because it’s not. Particularly because of how it happened.

The Wings started out fairly well, I thought. They outshot the Penguins 9-1 at one point and seemed to be relatively in control despite the fact that Pittsburgh’s play was much improved even at the onset.

The obvious turning point of the game was Brad Stuart’s poor pass off the skates of Henrik Zetterberg late in the first. The Penguins quickly turned that gaffe into a goal and didn’t look back until the third period. Some distributions of blame on that sequence: first, Stuart should have made a better pass. Second, Zetterberg could have done a better job of receiving it. Third, Chris Osgood didn’t cover the post as fully as he should have.

It was just a one-goal game at that point, which makes the Wings’ second period performance all the more disappointing. The second was Pittsburgh’s period, even though both teams got one goal. They jumped out to a two-goal lead early in the period and the Wings failed to show any urgency for the majority of the second twenty. Johan Franzen’s incredible personal effort leading to his goal was one of the few highlights.

The third period was far better as the Wings finally seemed to realize what they were up against. Their cause was not helped, however, but a poor decision by Osgood to overplay the puck in the midst of chaos caused by an aggressive Pittsburgh forecheck. Adam Hall was able to bank the puck in off Osgood and return his team to a two-goal lead.

The deficit proved to be too much. Despite expending enormous effort for most of the rest of the period, the Wings were only able to put one more puck in the net. How painful was it to see them get chance after chance only to have the puck bounce just the wrong way? How about Tomas Holmstrom’s gifted goal turn out to be a shot off the post? It was one of the most exciting stretches of hockey I’ve seen in a while, but it wasn’t all that fun to watch. Too many painful moments.

I knew the shutout streak couldn’t last, but it was still disappointing to see the Pens finally crack Osgood. I think I started to develop a bad feeling about the game at that point. Had it been anyone but Sidney Crosby, I probably would have brushed it aside, but it seemed to galvanize the Pens. It also didn’t help that it came off such a bad mistake, which made the Wings look human.

Pavel Datsyuk looked strong last night, but I thought Henrik Zetterberg was a little weak. The Pens’ advantage with having the last chance paid off at least in part, I think. By the way, Datsyuk is playing with an edge that’s fun to watch, but it’d be more fun if he were scoring goals or racking up assists.

Aside from a nice recovery play early in the game, Brad Stuart had a rough night. He was outplayed by Andreas Lilja, to give you an idea.

Johan Franzen looks like he’s back to form and then some. He really should have had a couple goals last night.

Here’s hoping Tomas Holmstrom is okay. He really took a beating last night from the Pittsburgh defense. Hall Gill was especially hard on him, taking two separate cross-checking penalties. Gill was responsible for a bit of unwhistled interference that led to Homer flying into the net and landing on his back in the third period. He did not return to the ice after that.

Valtteri Filppula looked strong again. He’s having a good series so far.

Jiri Hudler was missing the net like Mikael Samuelsson last night.

Nik Kronwall’s tendency to step up to make a big hit hurt him a couple times last night. I love that he plays with an edge, but it’s a high risk strategy.

The officiating wasn’t bad. Therrien’s whining didn’t work as well as he hoped it would.

I should point out that Therrien’s decision to put Darryl Sydor in paid off fairly well. He had a strong game after not playing since March 31st.

I think part of the Wings’ problem last night was that they sort of stopped taking the Penguins seriously. They didn’t play a horrible game, but they were nowhere near the level of perfection needed to beat the Pens. Pittsburgh put on a very good performance and finally showed why they are one of the most skilled teams in the League, but part of their success last night was attributable to Detroit’s lack of urgency through the first forty.

The third period should be a good sign of things to come for Game 4. If Detroit can pick up where they left off there, we should have an incredble game Saturday.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, last night was not all that surprising. I think most of us expected a hard-fought, close series. Pittsburgh confirmed that it can skate with the Wings last night, but this thing is far from over for both sides. I can’t wait for Saturday night.