The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday night at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals.  The home team has held serve in each of the first 6 games of the Stanley Cup finals.  The Penguins took a 1-0 lead just 50 seconds into the 2nd period on Jordan Staal’s 4th goal of the playoffs.  Tyler Kennedy increased the Penguin lead to 2-0 with his tally a little over 5 minutes into the 3rd period.  Kris Draper got the Red Wings on the board with his 1st goal of the playoffs 8 minutes into the 3rd period.

Penguins goalie made 25 saves and held off a barrage of shots from the Red Wings in 3rd period – 14 in all.  Chris Osgood had a good game for the Red Wings – 29 saves on 31 shots on goal – but it wasn’t enough.

Game 7 will be in prime time on NBC on Friday night – June 12th.  The odds are in the home team’s favor, so that should be good news for the Red Wings.  The Red Wings are 11-1 at home during the playoffs this year and they have outscored the Penguins 11-2 in the 3 games played in the Stanley Cup Finals thus far this year.  Since 1987, in Game 7 Stanley Cup games, the home team has won all 6 contests – no road team has raised the Stanley Cup after a Game 7 win since the Montreal Canadiens did so in Chicago way back in 1971.  But then again – that’s why they play the games.  Stay tuned as we keep you posted on the latest NHL/Stanley Cup updates over the next few days…