PITTSBURGH -- It wasn't so much that they solved rookie goaltender Jared Coreau, the Pittsburgh Penguins insisted. They simply did what they are good at doing.

"You've just got to stick with it in games like this. We did, and got rewarded," winger Phil Kessel said.

Kessel scored twice Saturday as Pittsburgh erased a two-goal deficit with four third-period goals in a 5-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena.

Coreau, making his NHL debut, stopped everyone but Kessel through two periods, and Detroit took a 3-1 lead into the third.

Then the Penguins poured it on to improve to 5-6-1 when trailing after two periods. Their five wins in such situations are tied for most in the NHL.

Nick Bonino scored at 2:05 from above the right circle, Justin Schultz tallied at 6:28 from the left circle and Kessel scored on a delayed penalty on a back-door pass from Carl Hagelin at 10:54 to give Pittsburgh its first lead, 4-3.

Matt Cullen was awarded an empty-net goal with 41 seconds remaining because it was ruled he was tripped on his way to the net.

"It seems like we've had a couple of these -- down two goals or whatever it may be -- and come back. I think we know we have the talent and the skill. We just believe," said Penguins winger Conor Sheary, who had a goal overturned in the third period because on review it was determined that Patric Hornqvist had interfered with Coreau.

Coreau, 25, an undrafted fourth-year pro out of Northern Michigan, made 31 saves for Detroit, which had earned at least one point in its previous five games.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves to improve to 7-2-1 at home and win his second start in a row for Pittsburgh, which had been alternating victories and losses for six games before the comeback gave them two wins in a row.

Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielson and Dylan Larkin gave Detroit a 3-1 lead through two periods, with Kessel the only Penguins player to beat Coreau to that point. Then came the barrage.

"I thought he made some good saves," Kessel said of Coreau. "He's a good goalie. He's big. He moves well. We just found a way to get a couple of pucks past him."

Coreau got a baptism early when on the Penguins' second shift, Sidney Crosby's line manufactured a series of chances, ending with Coreau making a sliding belly-flop stop on a laser by Crosby from the inner edge of the right circle.

"Well, at first I didn't really realize it was him until the refs said, 'First game against Sid the Kid,'" Coreau said. "So that's when I realized it. It felt pretty good. That's a really good player."

The rookie made nine saves before his teammates gave him a 1-0 lead. Zetterberg, coming down the slot on a three-on-two created when Crosby tried to bull his way through a wall of Red Wings at the other end, took a feed from Anthony Mantha and beat Fleury with a backhander high on the glove side at 13:31 of the first.

That stood until Nielsen whipped a shot from the left circle past Fleury and inside the far upper corner for a 2-0 lead at 8 minutes of the second.

Less than a minute later, Coreau stopped Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin on a short breakaway to keep his shutout alive.

Kessel broke up the shutout bid when he one-timed a threaded pass from Malkin inside the left post to pull the Penguins to within 2-1 at 11 minutes of the second. The assist gave Malkin a 10-game home point streak.

Two seconds after a Detroit power play expired, Larkin increased the lead to 3-1 when his shot from the right point got past Fleury, who was screened by Riley Sheahan at 18:14 of the second.

"I thought we started pretty good," Zetterberg said. "In the third, when they scored the second one, we started to panic a little bit instead of playing with poise and staying calm. We have the puck and then they have the puck. It's a tough team to give away chances to."

NOTES: Detroit G Jared Coreau, 25, a fourth-year pro, made his NHL debut Saturday. G Petr Mrazek is expected to start Sunday against the New York Islanders. ... The Red Wings recalled D Brian Lashoff and F Tomas Nosek from Grand Rapids of the AHL, but both were scratches. ... Pittsburgh activated LW Chris Kunitz from the injured reserve list and he was in the lineup after missing six games because of a lower body injury. F Tom Sestito was returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. ... Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury started for the second straight game for the first time since Nov. 19 and 21. ... The Penguins scratched Fs Tom Kuhnhackl and Jake Guentzel, and D Steve Oleksy. ... Pittsburgh, celebrating its 50th NHL season, honored players, staff and executives -- including six Hall of Famers -- from the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup teams in a pregame ceremony.