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Penguins Searching For Goals, Wins

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By IRA PODELL

The Associated Press

Published: May 28, 2008

PITTSBURGH - No wins, no goals, no venom.

The Pittsburgh Penguins need to change all that - and soon - against the Detroit Red Wings if they have any hope of making this Stanley Cup finals matchup come close to its marquee billing.

After two empty games in Motown, the Penguins returned to Pittsburgh on Tuesday in an 0-2 hole and with few answers on how to score against the stifling Red Wings.

"We need to find a way to hate that team," hard-hitting forward Gary Roberts said. "We haven't played any hockey against them the last few years. They play a game that they're not really in your face. They just play a puck-control game. They don't really make you that mad at them.

"After Monday night, hopefully we've built a little of that anger up and we can use that to our advantage."

The Red Wings outscored the Penguins 7-0 in taking the first two games of the series on home ice. The task becomes considerably tougher now for Detroit because Pittsburgh is 8-0 at the Igloo in the playoffs and has won 16 straight there dating to Feb. 24.

After getting back home early Tuesday morning following a 3-0 loss at Joe Louis Arena, the Penguins held an optional practice. No one was ready to call tonight's Game 3 a must-win, but the urgency wasn't lost on them, either.

"This is a big one," captain Sidney Crosby said. "We're at home, and we definitely want to make sure we don't give them the opportunity to go up 3-0 here and be one game away. We're pretty confident here. We just want to make sure that the desperation is there."

Detroit ended each of its previous three playoff series on the road, dispatching Nashville and Dallas in six games around a sweep of Colorado.

The Red Wings also eliminated Calgary and San Jose from last year's playoffs on enemy ice before dropping Game 6 at Anaheim in the Western Conference finals. At 25-12-4, Detroit tied for the NHL's second-best away mark during the 2007-08 regular season.

"You see it in the NBA - no one wins on the road at all," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "It's real important you look after home ice. Nothing is happening in a series until you've won on the road, after you've looked after business at home. So they're going to get regrouped and they're going to have their best effort. We've got to have our best effort in Game 3."

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