'Can't happen': Penguins' huge rally spoils Coreau debut

Pittsburgh — It appeared as if this was going to be a great story for goalie Jared Coreau in his first NHL start.

Then the Pittsburgh Penguins went ahead and spoiled it.

The defending Stanley Cup champions rallied with four third-period goals and defeated the Red Wings 5-3 Saturday night.

Nick Bonino, Justin Schultz, Phil Kessel (second of the game) and Matt Cullen (empty net) scored in the third period, erasing a 3-1 Red Wings lead.

BOX SCORE: Penguins 5, Red Wings 3

“I was doing my job in the first two periods and did pretty well staying within my game, I didn’t lose my net,” Coreau said. “The start of the third, I chased a few pucks out of the net. I felt good physically and I wasn’t tired or overanxious. Just (have to) close out the game.”

Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin provided the offense for the Red Wings (11-11-3), who have have lost three of their last four games (1-1-2).

The third-period collapse was difficult to take for a team that had been playing better defensively.

“It can’t happen, we have to be better playing with the lead,” Nielsen said. “Lately we’ve been very good defensively, so it’s kind of disappointing we go out and do this. I thougth we were kind of over that. You can’t give points away like that.

“We put ourselves into trouble a lot by making pretty plays to make passes instead of just going north and make them chase us. A lot of it is on ourselves.”

The Penguins swarmed and pressed in the final 20 minutes and the Red Wings didn’t have much of an answer.

“They pushed and we didn’t get the puck out when there were times maybe we could have,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “There were times we could have made a hard play to get it out and we didn’t.

“In the end, we didn’t execute good enough to win.”

Kessel broke a 3-3 tie at 11 minutes, 54 seconds of the third period, former Michigan standout Carl Hagelin finding him alone near the post.

Bonino cut the Red Wings lead to 3-2 just 2:05 into the third period.

Bonino snapped a shot from near the high slot that Coreau didn’t appear to get a good look at through a maze of bodies.

Schultz tied it 3-3 with his second goal on a delayed penalty a little more than four minutes later. The Penguins worked the puck to Schultz near the right circle, and he slapped a shot past Coreau at 6:28.

“Going into the third (period leading) 3-1 and coming out we had a few breakdowns and some turnovers,” Larkin said, “we didn’t have an answer for their storm.”

Coreau (32 saves) was sharp early, stopping Sidney Crosby on a quality scoring chance in the opening minutes.

Crosby denied Evgeni Malkin on a partial breakaway in the second period, but Malkin earned some revenge when he found Kessel skating in alone after a Red Wings change and Kessel converted for his seventh goal, cutting the Red Wings lead to 2-1.

But the Red Wings restored a two goal lead on Larkin’s eighth goal at 18:14 of the second period.

“He (Coreau) played real well, we put him in a tough spot, you’re going against the Stanley Cup champs,” Blashill said. “They’re a great team, they have a great offensive team, but we have a lot of belief in Jared.

“He should be real proud of the way he played. The outcome wasn’t what he or we wanted but it’s a good stepping stone for him.”

Coreau didn’t like the outcome, but will learn from it.

“Some areas to improve on,” Coreau said. “I felt I could play in this league and the guys played real good in front of me.”

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter.com: @tkulfan