And the performances don't get much larger than the one Talbot turned in during Pittsburgh's 2-1 victory over Detroit at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night as he scored both of the Penguins' goals to make the third Stanley Cup in franchise history – and the first since 1992 – possible.

"I don't have a good explanation about why this guy can come up big in tough situations or big games," Penguins rookie head coach Dan Bylsma said. "But he's done it enough to know that's what he can do.

"He's gritty, he's determined and he's not scared to go after it."

The Penguins got the jump on the Red Wings and Detroit, playing catch-up hockey, simply couldn't.

"I thought we got off to a decent start," Detroit winger Kirk Maltby said. "In the second period, it's not that we played poorly, but two mistakes led to two goals. Obviously, that's the end of it there. In the last two games, we played great in the third period, but the clock just ran out on us."

Which is why they made a point of treating the hours leading up to the opening faceoff the way they would any other game, at any other point in the season.

“No, I don't believe in that,” Babcock said. “You know, if anything, I'll probably be calmer and more boring. I believe that we're a prepared group, that we don't need to get them more excited. That's not the issue here. It's controlling your emotions so you're at the right level of activation so you can execute. That will be what we talk about.”

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.

They recognize and respect that the Red Wings are the defending champions, and that Detroit is 11-1 on home ice during these playoffs.

That’s why the Detroit Red Wings remain confident that Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m. ET) at Joe Louis Arena will go their way.

Having a day without practice gave Bylsma and his staff a little more time to contemplate not only what the Penguins must do to win at Joe Louis Arena, where they are 0-3 in the series, but how they can score some goals there.

The Penguins have gotten just two in the three games to date. If they don’t pick up the pace a bit in Game 7, their chances of earning the franchise’s first Cup since 1992 figure to fall somewhere between nominal and nil.

"When Fleury's on his game, like he was tonight, you can tell from the first stop he makes," Penguins forward Max Talbot said.

But it was one of Fleury's final saves during the Penguins' 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena – a victory that tied the series 3-3 and sends it to a Game 7 Friday night at Joe Louis Arena – that left the most lasting impression.

Lose, and the Penguins’ season is over. Win, and the series goes to a seventh and deciding game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit Friday.

A victory will give the Wings the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row, the first time that’s happened since Detroit won back-to-back Cups in 1996-97 and 1997-98.

The new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins isn't slated to open until the 2010-11 NHL season, but Pittsburgh fans are likely to rip apart Mellon Arena to throw pieces of the ancient barn at Detroit's Marian Hossa if the Red Wings down the Penguins to retain the championship they won on Pittsburgh ice a year ago and he gets to parade around their house with Lord Stanley's mug.

That time, Hossa, who led the final series in scoring, was a Penguin and left the ice dejectedly while the Red Wings celebrated.

But if history repeats itself, he will be front and centre at the party.

They probably won’t for a long, long time.

And even if they had, they would have been reminded of it by pretty much every interviewer with whom they spoke after the workout.

“I think he does (get respect) from the players,” Detroit right-winger Dan Cleary said. “I don’t think he has from the media, but I think he will now.