Pittsburgh’s youth wins over Detroit’s experience

The Penguins grew up Thursday, making the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings look old and spent in a game that might trigger the beginning of the end of Detroit’s dynasty.

The Penguins’ young legs carried them to successful two-on-one rushes, a power-play goal and the first short-handed goal scored against Detroit in 20 playoff games this spring.

Their relentless effort, cheered by a towel-waving crowd inside Mellon Arena and several thousand people watching outside on big-screen TVs, fueled a 4-2 victory that tied the finals at 2-2 and stood as a compelling coming-of-age statement.

“If anything, I think we swung the momentum to our side,” said Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, in the penalty box and the happiest man in a raucous arena when Jordan Staal dodged Brian Rafalski to score the short-handed goal that tied the score at 8:35 of the second period.

“If it was up to us we’d like to get right back at it [today].”

Whoa. Not so fast.

But his point is a good one.

The Penguins looked fresh and energetic. The Red Wings, playing their fifth game in nine nights -- and facing a sixth in 11 nights Saturday when the finals return to Detroit -- looked like their fathers and older uncles.

“I don’t care how we made them look,” said Penguins center Maxime Talbot, who made a nice play along the boards to get the puck to Staal for the short-handed goal.

“Is it a statement? I don’t know. We wanted to win that game and we’re two wins away from the Stanley Cup.”

They’re now that close because Evgeni Malkin, dominating the game and the finals with his size, skill and reach, scored Pittsburgh’s first goal, during a first-period power play, and fed Sidney Crosby on a two-on-one for Pittsburgh’s go-ahead goal, at 10:34 of the second period.

Crosby, held to one assist in the first three games, had a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh’s three-goal blitz in a span of five minutes 37 seconds during the second period. He converted Malkin’s feed for a 3-2 lead and passed to Tyler Kennedy for the finale, at 14:12.

It was a warning to the Red Wings that he won’t be shackled anymore, though he downplayed that notion.

“I’m just trying to battle,” Crosby said. “That’s what it comes down to. . . . You just fight for those chances and when you get them you try to take advantage of them.”

He capitalized on them with surprising ease.

Detroit center Henrik Zetterberg, who had shut Crosby down so effectively in the first few games, was just another bearded guy out there Thursday, as helpless to stop Crosby as any fan sitting at home sentenced to watch Versus’ telecast of this magnificent and potentially power-tilting performance.

“The biggest thing was Sid. You look at Zetterberg the last couple of games, he looked so tired out there,” Orpik said. “He’s chasing Sid around there the whole time and that takes a lot out of him.

“Maybe Sid not scoring as much keeps Zetterberg off the scoreboard because he’s so drained.”

Staal’s short-handed goal seemed to sap whatever energy the Red Wings had left, but Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock waited until after Crosby’s goal, 1:59 later, to call a timeout.

“I always have a concern any goal can swing the momentum,” Babcock said. “You never know what shift or what play or anything can turn the momentum one way or the other in your favor.

“We had the game going pretty good. The crowd was pretty quiet. We were playing all right. Then our power plays hurt us for sure, sucked the life out of us.”

Babcock agreed that Zetterberg and Johan Franzen didn’t have much jump Thursday and said he’d change the team’s off-day routine to give his players more rest. Babcock had them practice on the previous off day, Wednesday, and regretted it.

“We’re obviously not doing that [today] because it didn’t work,” Babcock said. “And that’s how scientific that decision is being made.”

Sometimes gut feelings are more accurate than the most detailed, computer-generated analysis. The Red Wings’ feeling Thursday was not a happy one.

“This deep in the playoffs when the momentum shifts, you’ve got to be ready to answer the bell, whether it’s defensively or power play or whatever,” winger Kirk Maltby said.

“We came out strong in the third but when you don’t get one early or at least in the first half of the period the clock’s your enemy and you start running out of time.”

The Red Wings, as a team, may be running out of time. That’s another gut feeling.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com