DETROIT -- The hangover is gone. The party is back on.

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood peaks in the Stanley Cup playoffs, particularly the final -- "It's fun. I enjoy it a ton," he said yesterday -- and it shows.

He is on top of his game as Detroit heads to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final against the Penguins tonight at Mellon Arena. That puts him a long way from a midseason benching.

Osgood and the Red Wings are 2-0 in this series after he gave up one goal and made 31 saves in each of the first two games at Joe Louis Arena. It was the seventh and eighth time in 18 games this postseason he has allowed one goal or less.

In his career, he is 10-2 in the Cup final with a 1.47 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and two shutouts in 13 appearances. That includes a 6-2 showing against the Penguins a year ago, when he helped Detroit win the Cup in six games.

Osgood had won the Cup twice before, in 1997 and '98, but beating the Penguins last year was such an exhilarating ride that he wasn't himself at the start of the 2008-09 season.

"By no means did I enjoy the first half of the season," Osgood said. "It was a struggle. I wasn't mentally prepared to start the year. I know that sounds bad, but that's the truth."

Osgood was winning -- he was 12-2-3 through the middle of December -- but coach Mike Babcock and general manager Ken Holland could tell their goaltender was off.

"We were concerned because Ozzie wasn't being Ozzie," Babcock said. "He was always there for the coaches to talk to. He was a guy who knew everything that was going on on the team. We used him as a resource. Well, this year in the first half he didn't talk to us.

"When you're the last line of defense, it becomes obvious to everyone that you're not playing very well. So we did a number of different things to try to get him to get his game back."

It wasn't working.

Osgood's head hadn't caught up to the present. He was still caught up in last year's final.

"Enjoyed it too much," he said. "That's the truth.

"Physically, I did everything I needed to do. Mentally, you go from playing in a great series against Pittsburgh in the final, and these games are huge. You're playing triple overtime [in Game 5] and you lose; you go back to Pittsburgh and win Game 6, that's real difficult. And you come down to the last shot [by Sidney Crosby] and the puck's on your side.

"You wonder, 'How am I going to get up for a game on Tuesday when it's snowing against Minnesota at home in Detroit or on a Thursday?' That's something I had to work my way through. It's amazing. At 36, I've played a long time. You still have things that you have to learn and adjust to."

The Red Wings responded by giving Osgood a 10-day break after he gave up 12 goals in three games in December. He practiced but sat out eight games.

He returned Jan. 3 and got a 3-2 shootout win against Minnesota -- on a Saturday, not a Tuesday or Thursday. He was 14-7-4 after his break.

"I thought when we had about 10 games left [in the regular season], might have been before that, the results started to show, and he's carried that on through the playoffs," Babcock said.

Osgood has been steady in the playoffs for years -- with Detroit, which drafted him in the third round in 1991 and during seasons away with St. Louis and the New York Islanders. His win in Game 2 gave him 73 in the playoffs for his career, moving him ahead of Hall of Famer Jacques Plante into eighth place all time in the NHL.

Osgood's teammates notice the rebound control as well as the anxiety control.

"He didn't have a great regular season, and I'm sure he's the first one to tell you that, but he's been responding here in the playoffs," Red Wings defenseman and captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He's very calm and collected. He comes out and challenges the shooter.

"He brings confidence to our whole team when he plays the way he has been now."

Regardless of the outcome of this final, Osgood promises he'll come back stronger this time.

"Going into next year, I'll know how to approach it differently," he said. "In regards to what happened this season, I can guarantee that's not going to happen again."