The Detroit Red Wings gave Marc-Andre Fleury flashbacks.

And, they weren’t good.

Johan Franzen scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and Chris Osgood made 31 saves, helping the defending champions beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 Saturday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Franzen and Brad Stuart had goals that bounced off Fleury, who sat on a shot that trickled in for Detroit’s series-clinching goal last year.

QUICK ANALYSIS

The Penguins and Red Wings played a pretty even contest in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, but Detroit was able to convert on a few lucky bounces off of the backboards to win the game, 3-1, and take an early lead in the series.

The game was a back-and-forth affair as both teams traded hits, shots, scoring chances, momentum swings and each squad dominated the play at times. Pittsburgh outshot and out-chanced the Wings in the second and third periods but just couldn’t get the puck into the goal. There were a lot of good things that the Penguins can take away from this game and build on as the series continues.

Pittsburgh will have to quickly put this setback behind them and get ready for Game 2, which is less than 24 hours away. The Penguins have been a resilient team all season. They’ll try to tap into that magic Sunday night and try to leave Detroit with the series even at 1-1.

DETROIT (AP) — Mario Lemieux can achieve another first in these NHL finals, the first former player — and Hall of Famer — to also win the Stanley Cup as an owner. His Pittsburgh Penguins’ chances may be determined by how well an extended member of the Lemieux family plays: captain Sidney Crosby.

Lemieux, talking before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals against Detroit on Saturday, said Crosby, who has lived with the Lemieux family for four years, is more like a son than an employee.

“He’s been unbelievable throughout the playoffs,” Lemieux said of Crosby, who took a league-leading 14 playoff goals into the finals. “I think he’s on a mission to hopefully achieve his goal of winning a Stanley Cup, in Pittsburgh. He’s been dreaming about it since he was a little boy. Sure, we talk about hockey all the time, before and after dinner, and different things I see from the top. We talk a lot about the game, when he’s not sleeping or practicing.”

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Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby is made for the stage he will once again occupy beginning Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, RDS, NHL Radio).

The biggest stage — the Stanley Cup Final — is usually about the biggest players. And there is nobody bigger than Crosby, who this spring has willed his team to a second-straight Final with a postseason for the ages. His 28 points are tied — with teammate Evgeni Malkin — for the Stanley Cup Playoff scoring lead. That total, in 17 games, is nine points better than anybody on the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh’s opponent in this rematch of last year’s Final.

Friday was media day at the Stanley Cup final, the final pause to reflect before the skates hit the ice in anger.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, naturally, found himself playing the position where the National Hockey League likes him most.

Centre on the ice, centre stage off the ice.

As Crosby addressed many subjects, surrounding him, the room was adorned with oversized photos of Lord Stanley’s many conquering heroes.

Everywhere, Crosby could witness the feelings he longs to desire.

Don’t be fooled by the scraggly semblance of a beard that strains to cover chunks of Sidney Crosby’s 21-year-old face.

He’s most definitely still Sid the Kid, but with a tough loss to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals under his belt, the young Pittsburgh Penguins captain has the experience that could make a difference in the rematch.

“There’s no surprises this year,” Crosby said Friday. “We know what to expect. Even a simple thing like today, coming in we know what to expect.”