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AP Photo MICO123
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
DETROIT (AP) -Chris Osgood picked a bad time to give up four goals for the first time this postseason.
The third one, in particular, might come back to haunt him.
Osgood failed to smother Maxime Talbot’s shot, allowing him to stuff a rebound into the net with 35 seconds left in regulation and Petr Sykora scored midway through the third overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals.
The Red Wings were less than a minute away from hoisting hockey’s prized hardware.
Instead of sipping and spraying champagne, they will travel to Pittsburgh for Game 6 on Wednesday night. If the Penguins stave off elimination again, they will play in Game 7 on Saturday night at Detroit.
Pittsburgh scored on two of its first five shots – at 8:37 and 14:41 of the first – to surpass Osgood’s goals-against average.
It’s hard to blame Osgood for the second goal, which was credited to Adam Hall after it caromed into the net when Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall failed to whack the puck into a corner.
Osgood had given up three goals in four games during this postseason, including a loss against Pittsburgh in Game 3.
Osgood shut out the Penguins in both Games 1 and 2, giving him 13 career postseason shutouts to rank among some of the game’s greats such as teammate Dominik Hasek, whom he replaced in the first round.
The NHL’s top-seeded team planned on starting and sticking with Hasek and keeping Osgood on the bench.
But when Hasek struggled against the Nashville Predators, Babcock benched the six-time Vezina Trophy winner in favor of Osgood during Game 4 of the first round.
Osgood lost for just the fourth time in 17 starts on Monday night.
Detroit drafted the native of Peace River, Alberta, in the third round in 1991 and after he helped the franchise reach the conference finals in 1996, he was Mike Vernon’s backup the next season when it won the Stanley Cup.
Osgood was the No. 1 goaltender for the 1998 Stanley Cup championship team. After being in net during early exits the next three seasons, he became expendable when Hasek was acquired going into the 2001-02 season.
The New York Islanders claimed Osgood on waivers, then traded him to the St. Louis Blues in 2003.
Osgood chose to come back to Detroit as a free agent three years ago following the lockout.
He has 51 postseason victories with the Red Wings, breaking Terry Sawchuk’s franchise record, and he’s another win away from joining the Hall of Famer in another category. Sawchuk is the only goalie in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup at least 10 years apart, winning titles in 1955 and 1967.
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