Pens’ stars are on a roll

June 6, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — As Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin burst into their zone on a 2-on-1 rush that resulted in a Crosby goal, the Detroit Red Wings must have been thinking, “What did we get ourselves into?”

How about this predicament: A tied-up Stanley Cup finals with three games to go and Pittsburgh’s showy young stars starting to take over as the series shifts back to Detroit for Game 5 tonight.

The Red Wings, suddenly looking tired and vulnerable, have lost every advantage except home ice since winning the first two games in Detroit last weekend. They couldn’t match the Penguins’ speed and scoring surges during a pair of 4-2 losses in Pittsburgh, and now it’s the defending champs who face a must-win game.

Advantage, Penguins?

“You don’t want to think about the Cup right now,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said Friday. “You want to think about playing the right way. Just try to carry the momentum over there and play the same way we did in Games 4 and 3.”

What must concern the Red Wings is they’re beginning to see how difficult it can be to control Crosby and Malkin during a lengthy series, something that wasn’t a problem when they beat Pittsburgh in six games last year.

Detroit matched shutdown specialist Henrik Zetterberg repeatedly against Crosby in the first three games, limiting him to an assist, but Malkin scored a goal and set up four others — three in Game 3.

When Zetterberg shifted his attention to Malkin in Game 4, Crosby had a goal and an assist, but Malkin did, too, giving him seven points in four games.

“Oh yeah, I think he’s a lot more comfortable,” Crosby said of Malkin, who didn’t have a point at this stage of last year’s finals. “He looks pretty energized, he’s physical. I think he’s back on. He’s flying out there. He looks great.”

Malkin has 35 points in the playoffs, the most since Wayne Gretzky had 40 in 1993. Crosby (31 points) and Malkin are the first teammates to produce 30 or more points each since 1994.