DETROIT — The Red Wings found a perfect way to move halfway to a repeat — beat the Pittsburgh Penguins back-to-back.

So much for Detroit being old, beaten down and needing a break. The Red Wings topped the Penguins 3-1 in Game 2 of the finals Sunday night and are two wins from holding onto the Stanley Cup.

Just as they did a year ago in winning the title for the 11th time and fourth in 11 seasons, the Red Wings took the first two games from the Penguins at home. This year posed a new challenge, sweeping a pair on consecutive nights three days after finishing the Western Conference finals.

Rookie defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, who watched that series clincher Wednesday night in the dressing room hours after having his appendix removed, scored the tying goal for Detroit in the second period.

Valtteri Filppula added the go-ahead tally 6:08 later, and Justin Abdelkader scored his second of the series in the third. The Red Wings left the ice in front of their cheering, towel-waving fans and headed for Pittsburgh with another commanding lead.

Game 3 is Tuesday night, and the odds favor the Red Wings' quest to become the NHL's first repeat champion since they did it in 1997 and '98. Teams that win Games 1 and 2 at home have captured the Cup 31 of 32 times.

Frustration boiled over for Pittsburgh with 18.2 seconds left, when Max Talbot stuck his stick in goalie Chris Osgood's midsection after he made his 31st save. That led to a fight between Evgeni Malkin and Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg that left both players' jerseys torn on the ice.

The Penguins, who dropped the opener 3-1 on Saturday night, played better in this two-game set compared to a year ago when virtually the whole roster experienced the finals for the first time.

Malkin had a strong first period and staked Pittsburgh to an early 1-0 lead. It just wasn't enough as Detroit — especially Zetterberg — bottled up captain Sidney Crosby and kept him pointless for the second straight night.

Crosby sent a perfect feed from behind the net to Bill Guerin, whose bid to tie the game in the second period was foiled when the puck struck the inside of the left post. Crosby was denied by the left post at the other end, less than 2 minutes into the third, a no-goal confirmed by video replay.

Crosby let out a disgusted spit from the bench as the announcement was made.

Just over a minute later, Abdelkader sealed the win with his second NHL goal and second in two nights. Not bad for a rookie who hails from Michigan.

Abdelkader carried the puck into the Pittsburgh end while Detroit made a line change and had it knocked off his stick by Hal Gill. Abdelkader stayed with the bounding puck while guarded by Rob Scuderi and took a whack at it — sending a shot fluttering past Marc-Andre Fleury's glove 2:47 into the third.

Osgood outplayed Fleury again in earning his 73rd NHL playoff victory, eighth on the career list.

Ericsson tied it 1-1 at 4:21 of the second after Darren Helm won a faceoff in the left circle.

Just 14 seconds after Malkin left the penalty box, Filppula backhanded in a rebound of Marian Hossa's shot. Fleury never saw the original shot through Tomas Holmstrom's screen, and couldn't stop Filppula's drive because Malkin pushed Holmstrom into him.

After shutting out the Penguins by a combined 7-0 score in the first two games of last year's finals, the nicked-up Red Wings bent but didn't break. And they did it again without injured forwards Pavel Datsyuk, their leading scorer in the regular season, and four-time champion Kris Draper.

The Penguins needed nearly 7 minutes before Kris Letang recorded the team's first shot, but Pittsburgh finished the period with a flourish — outshooting the Red Wings 9-0 to close the frame.

They took advantage when Niklas Kronwall was sent off for cross-checking Talbot, the only penalty called in the first.

During a scramble in front, Letang slipped the puck out of a scrum and into the slot to Malkin. The NHL's regular-season scoring champion — and playoff leader with 30 points — let go a drive that was batted in the air by defenseman Brad Stuart and past Osgood with 3:10 left in the period.

Malkin's power-play tally gave him seven goals in six games and 13 during the postseason, one behind Crosby for the league lead.

After going a club-record 13 straight games of allowing a power-play goal, the Red Wings were perfect in five short-handed situations the previous two games.

Stuart also was victimized on Pittsburgh's only goal in the series opener. He turned over the puck to Malkin, leading to a rebound score by Ruslan Fedotenko.