Pittsburgh Penguins Squeak By Capitals in Overtime
The Pittsburgh Penguins surged out to a 3-0 lead over the Capitals and managed to survive their comeback, eking out an eventual 4-3 overtime win to secure home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are now on an eight game win streak and the hottest team in the NHL. Tonight they beat the team they stole that title from, the Washington Capitals.
Less than a minute in to the game, Matt Cullen showed why the Pens are so threatening. The faceoff was near Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray; the third line won it and rushed down the ice. Tom Kuhnhackl faked out Nate Schmidt by acting like he was going to pass to former Capital Eric Fehr but instead sending the puck to Cullen.
Cullen sniped it behind Braden Holtby, and the Penguins were up 1-0.
Tom Sestito is in the lineup for the Pens tonight after being called up just this morning. The main reason he is here is because of how physical tonight’s game and the final game, against the Philadelphia Flyers, will be. Also, Beau “Glass Bones” Bennett seems to be hurt again (shocker!) so that’s another contributing factor to his addition.
Both teams played with emotion from the start. TJ Oshie and Patric Hornqvist got chippy while Alex Ovechkin and Kris Letang battled in front of Murray. Interestingly enough, then, the first penalty did not come from an altercation.
Ian Cole took his requisite penalty early on for a delay of game. The Pens not only killed off the penalty but they also had quite a few shorthanded chances – many of which Cullen played a big role in. The Caps’ powerplay is third in the league, but it’s no secret how dominant the Penguins’ special teams have been lately.
After allowing that first goal, the Caps started to step it up. They pressured Murray but the young goaltender stood strong in his fourth straight start.
With just under a minute remaining in the first period, the Caps drew their second powerplay of the game. Letang was sent to the box for slashing Evgeny Kuznetsov.
The penalty was split between the first and second periods and the beginning of the second was like deja vu. Cullen and Fehr had a shorthanded opportunity thanks to Ben Lovejoy, and Cullen’s attempted pass to Fehr went off former Penguin Matt Niskanen‘s skate and past Holtby.
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Capitals 0, Cullen 2.
Tom Wilson, bane of 29 teams’ existence and general pain in the neck (quite literally), boarded Nick Bonino just moments after the goal. He was given a five minute major penalty as Bonino headed to the locker room.
Bonino quickly returned, though; unfortunately for the Pens, so did Wilson. As hot as the Pittsburgh powerplay has been recently it could not cash in during their five-minute advantage.
Conor Sheary took things into his own hands moments later as he extended the lead to 3-0. Sestito of all people provided a solid backcheck and got the puck to Sheary, who was a game-time decision tonight thanks to a high-stick he took in the eye recently.
Though his vision may not be 20/20, his hockey sense still is.
Cole took his second penalty of the game for apparently holding Kuznetsov’s stick. The puck got jammed along the boards several times throughout the game and the players were having trouble keeping it moving, and during one of these scrums Cole appeared to close his hand on the Capital’s stick.
The penalty kill took care of it, even tossing in a few more shorthanded opportunities. And just seconds after Cole was released from the box, the tables turned again – he drew a penalty. Justin Williams tripped Cole and took his own turn in the sin bin.
It was not to last, however. Trevor Daley was called for holding, a penalty that another former Pen – Daniel Winnik – drew. The 4-on-4 petered out despite some good looks from Ovechkin.
Ovechkin was instrumental in the Capitals finally getting on the board. The Caps’ cap was battling with Justin Schultz directly in front of Murray and distracted the goaltender from Marcus Johansson, who was wide open across the crease. Johansson barely managed to get a stick on it but the puck still bounced in.
With exactly two minutes left in the period, Letang and Ovechkin took coincidental minor penalties. The pair had been squaring off throughout the entire game and it was inevitable that it was going to come to a head one way or another.
Though Ovechkin cross-checked Letang first, he ended up being caught for embellishment following a retaliatory cross-check from the Penguins’ defenseman.
Winnik took a penalty early in the third stanza, and the Penguins had some good opportunities right on Holtby’s doorstep but couldn’t do anything in the end. Chaos reigned as pressure was sustained and the Penguins went back on the man-advantage almost immediately.
Niskanen cross-checked Sheary into the boards and was penalized. Sheary has taken quite a beating from former Penguins this evening, as Brooks Orpik all but threw him into the net’s crossbar earlier tonight.
With just under ten minutes remaining, Johansson scored his second goal of the evening to cut the Penguins’ lead down to one goal.
Later, Andre Burakovsky scored to make it a tie game. That was how the sixty minutes of regulation would end, and these Metropolitan Division titans would go to overtime. Since the Pens got a point and the New York Rangers lost in regulation to the New York Islanders, the Penguins are guaranteed second place in the division and therefore home ice advantage through the first round of the playoffs – which was really the goal of tonight’s game.
The Caps started overtime with two defensemen and one forward while the Pens ran their usual assortment of two forwards and one defenseman.
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Sidney Crosby ended up getting the game winner – his ninth such goal of the season – as he went in alone on Holtby. The Pens are now on an eight game win streak thanks to the captain’s 36th goal of the season.
The Penguins’ final regular season game is this Saturday at 3 against the Flyers.