Detroit, MI -- (Sports Network) - Maxime Talbot was the unsung hero with two goals in the second period, but Marc-Andre Fleury came up with a sprawling save on Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom in the closing seconds, as Pittsburgh reversed its fate from a year ago and captured the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win over the Red Wings in Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena.

Fleury finished with 22 saves for the Penguins, who became the first road club to win in this series and avenged last year's painful six-game loss to Detroit in the final round. Pittsburgh claimed its third championship in team history and first since taking back-to-back titles in 1991 and '92 when the team was captained by current owner Mario Lemieux.

Pittsburgh also became just the third road team to win a Game 7 in the Cup Finals.

Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma became the 14th rookie head coach and just the second hired in the middle of the season to win a championship, joining Montreal's Al MacNeil (1971).

"I had dreams about this. I hoped this would happen some day," Bylsma said. "But good coaches have coached a long time and never gotten an opportunity like this. A lot of times your first opportunity doesn't come with a team that's this talented. I'm very fortunate in that regard."

Bylsma took over behind the bench after the Penguins dismissed Michel Therrien on February 15th.

Jonathan Ericsson scored Detroit's lone goal, while Chris Osgood made 16 saves in defeat as the Red Wings were denied a shot at their fifth title in 12 years. They were also the last team to win back-to-back titles, in 1997 and '98.

"I thought we looked out of gas pretty much all series," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. "I thought we competed, and I thought we tried. But I never thought we got to the level we'd have liked to."

Ericsson's one-time blast from the right point put the Red Wings on the board with 6:07 left in the third period. Detroit nearly tied the game with about two minutes remaining as Niklas Kronwall's wrister fluttered over the right shoulder of Fleury and clanged off the crossbar.

In the dying seconds and with Osgood on the bench, Henrik Zetterberg managed to get a shot through traffic that Fleury repelled with the right pad. Lidstrom spotted the rebound and Fleury lunged to his right to deny the six- time Norris Trophy winner and dethrone the Red Wings.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was a non-factor after absorbing a huge hit by Johan Franzen in the second period. He gingerly skated off the ice, appearing to favor his left knee, and went to the dressing room. Following the second intermission, Crosby was present on the bench, but took only one shift in the third because of obvious discomfort.

"It's a dream come true. It's everything you imagined and more," said the 21- year-old Crosby, who is the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup. "I would have loved to do it in four, it would have been a lot easier on the nerves.

"It was so painful," Crosby said of spending most of the third period on the bench. "I mean, being a captain and seeing what the guys are doing out there blocking shots. Seeing how intense it was, it was even more painful to see it go like that."

Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy given to the most valuable player in the playoffs. He finished with a postseason-leading 36 points.

Marian Hossa knows this feeling all too well.

The Slovakian sniper was on the losing end last year as a member of the Penguins. In his desperation to have his name etched on the Cup, Hossa was cast in the role of villain by Pittsburgh fans after he turned down a generous offer from the Penguins and signed a one-year contract with Detroit, believing the Motor City offered a better chance at achieving his goal.

In the end, Hossa was forced to watch many of the teammates he spurned celebrate the realization of a dream, while he endured a familiar nightmare.

"I don't regret it," Hossa said bluntly. "It could be different circumstances if I signed with Pittsburgh. They probably would've signed some other players and been a different team. We could sit here for hours discussing this. It could've been a different team, so I don't regret it."

Detroit set a physical tone early in the contest, while the Penguins came out a little tentative.

Pittsburgh had not fared well at Joe Louis Arena over the last two years in the Finals, getting outscored 21-6 as Detroit won five of the previous six games.

The first penalty of the game was assessed to Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart for breaking the stick of Malkin with a slash. Pittsburgh spent the majority of the power play in the Red Wings zone, but couldn't put the puck in the net.

A hero emerged in the second period for Pittsburgh.

Stuart went behind his net to play a dump-in and tried to make a pass up the middle, but the puck deflected off the skate of Malkin to the low slot for Talbot, who slipped a shot through the pads of Osgood at the 1:13 mark of the middle stanza.

The netminders exchanged impressive stops, with Fleury sliding to his right to deny a one-timer by Darren Helm in front and Osgood turning away a hard- charging Matt Cooke.

Talbot made it 2-0 shortly after a successful penalty kill by the Penguins. The gritty forward was joined by Tyler Kennedy on an odd-man rush. Talbot glided down the left wing, drifted into the circle and beat Osgood high on the glove side at 10:07.

"I was lucky enough to score two goals," said Talbot. "Every single guy on that team is a hero. We won the Cup together. It's an unbelievable feeling right now."

Detroit came with a push in the late moments of the frame and had a flurry of activity in the Pittsburgh zone at the outset of the third, resulting in Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton taking a tripping penalty with less than three minutes gone.

The Red Wings had a couple opportunities on the man advantage, but Hossa had a wrister go wide of the net and Fleury knocked down a bid from Lidstrom.

Game Notes:

Before Friday, the last team from a major sport to win a road Game 7 in the championship round was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated Baltimore in the World Series...The Penguins have never lost a Game 7 on the road (5-0)...Detroit is now 12-8 all-time in Game 7s, while Pittsburgh improved to 7-4 overall in this situation...The Cup was contested in a decisive seventh game for the 15th time in league history...Pittsburgh matched the 1971 Canadiens as the only clubs to win the Cup after dropping the first two games of the Final on the road; the only teams to win Game 7 of a Final on the road after the home clubs won the first six games and the only Stanley Cup champions to win two Game 7s on the road in the same playoff year. The Penguins recorded a 6-2 victory at Washington in the Eastern Conference semifinals...Detroit had won eight consecutive home playoff games and finished 11-2 at Joe Louis Arena in the postseason...The last team to win the Stanley Cup after making a coaching change during the season was the 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils, who replaced Robbie Ftorek with Larry Robinson...This marked the first repeat matchup in the Cup Finals since the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers clashed in 1983 and '84.