Holmstrom has made a living on scoring from close quarters, and did so again without infringing on the crease. Holmstrom passed the puck out front to fellow Swede Henrik Zetterberg, who squeezed a shot between Fleury’s pads. As the puck trickled tantalizingly close to the goal line, Holmstrom slammed it in at 11:18.

He was called for interference on Fleury in the first period Saturday, negating a goal by captain Nicklas Lidstrom. That’s about the only thing that has gone right for the Penguins, who entered the finals 12-2 in the playoffs.

Now they are the fourth team this year to fall behind 2-0 to the Red Wings, who are 9-1 at home.

Osgood was as steady as he needed to be on a night he didn’t see a whole lot of work.

“My focus was to win the two games at home,” he said. “Not ever did I ever think about getting two shutouts in a row against that team.”

Malkin has disappeared since a hard hit from Philadelphia’s Mike Richards in the opener of the East finals. The MVP finalist has one goal and one assist in six games and appears to be tiring at the end of a long season.

Crosby hasn’t figured out how to get free of Detroit’s top line of Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Holmstrom, and the 20-year-old captain showed frustration as he sipped water from a bottle on the bench.

“They do a good job of definitely clogging up the neutral zone and holding up,” Crosby said. “As players, you have to battle through that sometimes and hope they get the calls.”

More frustration and some chippiness led to late-game scuffles. The first was precipitated by Roberts’ driving glove hand to the face of Johan Franzen, who returned after missing six games following recurring headaches. He was back on the ice for his next shift and took a roughing penalty.

Notes: Only the 1971 Chicago Blackhawks failed to win the Cup after taking the first two games at home. ... The Penguins are 4-4 on the road, including three shutout losses. ... Franzen logged 16 minutes, 21 seconds of ice time in 26 shifts.

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