PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins' fresh legs and fast feet changed the Stanley Cup finals in a flash, and now a series that looked to be over is only getting started.

Jordan Staal's short-handed goal during back-to-back Detroit power plays started Pittsburgh's comeback, and the Penguins scored three goals in less than 6 minutes of the second period last night to win 4-2 and tie the series at 2.

Evgeni Malkin, enjoying the best postseason scoring run since Wayne Gretzky's in 1993, and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist each to help rally the Penguins from a 2-1 deficit a year to the day Detroit raised the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh by winning Game 6.

Tyler Kennedy also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury, with his second successive excellent game, made 37 saves. All the Penguins' goal scorers are 22 or younger — Sid isn't their only kid — and it may have made a big difference as the older Red Wings played their fourth game in six nights.

"It seemed like all their guys were really slumped over tired and looked like they were frustrated, really," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "When you see that you just kind of feed off of it."

Game 5 is tomorrow night in Detroit, with Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night after the series' first two-day break. Game 7 would be June 12 in Detroit.

"It's a race to four (wins) now," Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis said.

The Red Wings certainly lost all the races in Game 4, done in by a bad second period and dreadful special teams. Pittsburgh has converted on 4 of 9 power plays, and this game swung when the Penguins scored — and the Red Wings didn't — during 3:59 of continuous Detroit power-play time. Detroit was 0 for 4 with the man advantage.

On the Detroit bench, a sour-faced Mike Babcock had the look of a coach wondering if the compressed schedule is favoring the younger Penguins.

"We were playing all right, but the power play hurt us for sure," Babcock said. "It sucked the life out of us."

DETROIT 1 1 0 — 2

PITTSBURGH 1 3 0 — 4

First Period—1, Pittsburgh, Malkin 14 (Letang, Staal), 2:39 (pp). 2, Detroit, Helm 4, 18:19. Penalties—Kronwall, Det (tripping), 1:12; Eaton, Pit (cross-checking), 11:09; Ericsson, Det (high-sticking), 16:27; Guerin, Pit (high-sticking), 16:37.

Second Period—3, Detroit, Stuart 3 (Zetterberg, Rafalski), :46. 4, Pittsburgh, Staal 3 (Talbot, Eaton), 8:35 (sh). 5, Pittsburgh, Crosby 15 (Malkin), 10:34. 6, Pittsburgh, Kennedy 4 (Crosby, Kunitz), 14:12. Penalties—Malkin, Pit (hooking), 5:44; Orpik, Pit (tripping), 7:43.

Third Period—None. Penalties—Kronwall, Det (hooking), 18:27; Cleary, Det (tripping), 20:00; Orpik, Pit (roughing), 20:00.

Shots on Goal—Detroit 19-9-11—39. Pittsburgh 11-11-9—31. Power-play opportunities—Detroit 0 of 4; Pittsburgh 1 of 3. Goalies—Detroit, Osgood 14-6-0 (31 shots-27 saves). Pittsburgh, Fleury 14-7-0 (39-37).

A—17,132 (16,940). T—2:31.