No real surprise that as the Pittsburgh Penguins got themselves back in the Stanley Cup final, the young captain was right in the thick of things.

Sidney Crosby scored a pair and the Penguins hung on to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at the Igloo, meaning we won't have to spend the next three days talking about the likelihood of a four-game series sweep.

Nope, no sweep here. And thank goodness.

Glad to see Penguins head coach Michel Therrien finally heeded our advice to put Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together on a line, though he only did it after his team had been outshot 9-1.

Still, at least Therrien made the decision before it was too late. As a result, the Penguins have an opportunity to even the series on Saturday night, if they can play the way they did in Game 3 (or better).

Crosby set the tone for the contest when he took advantage of a Brad Stuart give-away (a hard pass off the skate of Henrik Zetterberg) with 2:35 left in the opening period and gave the Penguins their first goal (and lead) of the series.

For those of you scoring at home, the scoreless drought nearly reached 138 minutes.

When the red light went on, it was as though the weight of the world had been lifted off the Pens' shoulders.

"It just finally went in for us," Crosby told reporters after the game. "And it felt good to get one in, to get the first one and get momentum and start off the game."

But what was the biggest difference, compared to the first two games, when the Red Wings seemed to have the puck and controlling the play for what seemed like 85 to 90% of the time?

"I think we moved our feet a little bit more," said Crosby. "Got pucks deep. Didn't turn the puck over as much. And I think defensively we did a better job of being a little more patient. I think first couple of games we got caught running around a bit and weren't in our position. When you're in positions you create turnovers and create opportunities.

"So I think we just did a better job of playing positionally, and that's the reward you get right there."

And what a reward it is.

However, the heat is still on to hold serve again Saturday to send the series back to Motown for Game 5.

Since most people were hopping off the bandwagon and calling for the domination to continue, we should at least let the Penguins enjoy the victory...for a few hours anyway.

"That was a huge challenge for us," Therrien told reporters in his post-game address. "We're glad we finally got the first win. We have to make sure we stay focused playing the right way, playing our system, and bring your work ethic, bring your character."

It's a lengthy checklist, to be sure, but if the Penguins continue to follow it this series might just turn out to be as exciting as we were predicting it would be before the Red Wings jumped out to a 2-0 series advantage.

Game on.