Fleury made it onto the ice without mishap for this year’s Game 1 on Saturday night. But despite playing well over all, he made some new gaffes of a more serious nature that ultimately spelled the difference in Detroit’s 3-1 win at Joe Louis Arena.

Fleury’s first faux pas came when Brad Stuart’s routine slap shot from the blue line caromed off this rink’s famously lively end boards, struck him in the rear end and dribbled into the net 13 minutes 38 seconds into the first period to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.

Fleury allowed a similar rear-end-assisted goal to the Red Wings in last year’s finals as well, during a performance so spotty that people watching in Russia nicknamed him Mousy, according to Viktor Fedorov, father of the former Detroit star Sergei Fedorov.

With a minute left in the second period and the score tied 1-1, embarrassing misfortune struck Fleury once more, again courtesy of the arena’s supercharged end boards. Brian Rafalski’s long shot sprang off the boards to Johan Franzen at the side of the net, who centered the puck just as Fleury was diving headfirst back into position. The puck hit Fleury’s trailing leg, ricocheting 60 degrees into the net, and it was 2-1 for Detroit.

Fleury made 27 saves against the Wings, but if anything disturbs his night’s rest before Sunday’s Game 2 here, it will probably be the memory of those two goals.

This was the first Stanley Cup finals rematch in 25 years. And except for the two odd goals, the Penguins had the edge in play, at least through the first 40 minutes.

The Penguins scored their first goal at 18:37 of the first period when Detroit goalie Chris Osgood let the rebound of a Evgeni Malkin slap shot trickle away for Ruslan Fedotenko to bury, making it 1-1. The play started when the normally dependable defenseman Niklas Kronwall gave the puck away to Malkin in the Detroit zone.

That was an encouraging sign for the Penguins, who were shut out in both of last year’s first two games here.

Osgood made some very good saves throughout the game, finishing with 31 over all. Early in the second period he robbed Malkin on a 120-foot breakaway after Malkin got away with tripping Kronwall and stole the puck from him. Later in the middle period he stopped Sidney Crosby, who shot a backhander after making a nifty 360-degree spin move.

Saves like those kept Detroit in the game until the Wings were able to break it open on Justin Abdelkader’s first career playoff goal in the third minute of the third period.

That goal, from the line of Abdelkader, Ville Leino and Darren Helm, highlighted Detroit’s remarkable depth. They were playing because of the absence of Pavel Datsyuk, the Wings’ M.V.P. finalist who is out with a foot injury, and Kris Draper, their top face-off man who is sidelined with a groin injury.

Nicklas Lidstrom, the Wings’ talismanic defenseman and captain, was back in the lineup after missing the first two playoff games of his 17-season career and led all players with 23 minutes of ice time.

Detroit also had defenseman Jonathan Ericsson back after he missed one game because of an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday. Despite the three small incisions in his abdomen, he played 17 minutes.

The game was chippy, as befits a Cup final rematch. Crosby went out of his way to throw an open-ice shoulder into Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit’s indefatigable two-way center who usually plays opposite Crosby.

Brooks Orpik jarred Marian Hossa, who left the Penguins after last season to play for Detroit because the Wings, Hossa said at the time, had a better chance of winning the Cup. On Thursday, Orpik said he wished Hossa was still with Pittsburgh, but that did not stop him from nailing him in open ice.

Red Wings 3, Penguins 1 – Red Wings Begin Finals in Same Way Last Season’s Ended