DETROIT — The Red Wings have been without a league MVP candidate as well as a veteran scorer and faceoff man for the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals.

Some teams might feel sorry for themselves and make excuses.

Not Detroit.

The Red Wings took a 2-0 series lead with a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday night despite playing without injured forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper.

Datsyuk is trying to return from a foot injury, and Draper is recovering from a sore groin.

In all, the Wings have lost more than 50 man-games to injury this postseason.

Rookie Justin Abdelkader, who wouldn't be playing if it weren't for the injuries to Datsyuk and Draper, scored his second goal in as many games on Sunday.

They are the first two goals of his NHL career, and both made the score 3-1.

Abdelkader became the first rookie to score in consecutive Cup finals games since 1981, when Dino Ciccarelli had goals in the first three games for the Minnesota North Stars.

Drawing it up

The Penguins fared considerably better in the faceoff circle in Game 2 than they did in the series opener.

Detroit won 71 percent of the draws Saturday, but Pittsburgh bounced back, winning 53 percent of them a night later.

The Game 1 faceoff domination by the Wings allowed them to repeatedly control the tempo. Pittsburgh's better showing in Game 2 allowed for a more sustained attack by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company.

30 and counting?

Evgeni Malkin, who had Pittsburgh's lone goal Sunday, became the first player with 30 points in a single postseason since Joe Sakic had 34 for the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.