Two minutes and 34 seconds was all it lasted.

To the Detroit Red Wings, it felt excruciatingly longer.

Two hours, maybe. Two days?

Two men down, they were. In trouble, they were. Penalties 34 seconds apart last night, to Kirk Maltby and Andreas Lilja with Detroit holding a one-goal lead, infused both the Penguins and Mellon Arena a tremendous jump with half a third period yet to play.

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Then Henrik Zetterberg hit the ice.

"Ha," Jiri Hudler began to describe. This Czech, generously listed at 5 foot 10, plopped in what eventually became the winning goal ("... lucky, lucky," he explained).

But the moment of this 2-1, Game 4 triumph by Detroit came almost eight minutes later, when the Red Wings in general and Zetterberg in particular stomped a building's 17-game winning streak and perhaps the Penguins' Stanley Cup final heart in a matter of a couple of tantalizing minutes.

"It's not like 25 seconds," Hudler continued, referring to the 86 frantic seconds of a 5-on-3 penalty kill by his Red Wings mates. "It's a minute and a half. And when you see their lineup for the face off: Malkin, Crosby, Hossa, Gonchar. ... You're just hoping. Praying.

"They did such a great job, our killers."

Possibly even killed the Penguins in this Cup hunt, giving themselves a lead of 3-1 heading into Game 5 tomorrow night in Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa and Sergei Gonchar -- all-stars all -- managed just one goal, by Hossa, on their game-opening power play, and were shut down for the remaining five power plays totaling eight minutes and 34 seconds.

And the man charged with finishing off that fateful Penguins two-man advantage, if not the series, was a 5-11 Swede known by his single-letter nickname, his offensive skill and his motor, which ran for 23:12 of ice time. It was more than any other Detroit forward and only a handful of seconds from the most by any forward on this ice last night. Much of that time seemed to come in those tense third-period moments, too.

"Oh my God," Detroit's Dan Cleary said. "We knew the 5-on-3. ... this was it. 'Z' went out there 'Z' was incredible. Single-handedly, he killed almost a minute of time. Proved why he's one of the finest" two-way players in the game.

What Zetterberg did:

He blocked a slap shot by Gonchar, a specialist at that point-man shot.

He tied up Crosby at Chris Osgood's left post, preventing this Penguins captain -- the hockey player with arguably the finest stick skills on the planet -- from getting his blade on a puck that very well could've tied the score.

Even Crosby allowed of Zetterberg: "He made a good play on me to get my stick."

He stole a puck, ambled down the ice and took a backhand shot that hand-cuffed Marc-Andre Fleury, yet more importantly gobbled seconds off the clock.

He played a vital role amid a penalty kill where the Penguins had two giveaways and zero shots.

Detroit's only failure came on faceoffs, where the normally below-average Penguins managed to win all four draws ... but still couldn't use them to their advantage.

"I felt pretty good," added the man partly responsible for Detroit's 15-for-17 penalty-kill success this series. "Had good legs. It was a good day."

The reserved and modest Zetterberg was asked if that encompassed the finest play of his hockey career.

"What part?" he asked. Um, you know, that 5-on-3? "They had a good opportunity to tie it up. It's a challenge to play against such good players, especially when you're down two players and they have a lot of room. It's fun to have a chance to do it in a game."

Fun for Detroit when Z brings his A game.