Pittsburgh Penguins Take 2-1 Series Lead at Home

The contentious series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals headed to the Steel City as the home team looked to take their first series lead.

Matt Murray put up a tremendous effort, making 47 saves and leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 win. That victory gave them a 2-1 series lead against the regular season-leading Washington Capitals.

Lineup changes on each side gave game three of the Pittsburgh Penguins – Washington Capitals series a new look. Derrick Pouliot was in the lineup to replace the injured Olli Maatta while Dmitry Orlov replaced the suspended Brooks Orpik. Marc-Andre Fleury took Jeff Zatkoff‘s seat on the bench, the first time he’s been in the lineup since being concussed on March 31.

Additionally, the line of Phil Kessel – Nick Bonino – Carl Hagelin was moved up as the “official” second line, while the line of Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin – Eric Fehr moved down to the third. While it really doesn’t matter which is which in the end, it’s interesting that Malkin is now a third-liner behind Bonino.

The Capitals were looking to bounce back from a lackluster game on Saturday, where the Penguins outplayed them for nearly the whole sixty minutes. Early on they pressured the Penguins hard, sustaining pressure around Matt Murray‘s net and tiring out his defensemen. Murray, to his credit, made a stellar save against game one’s hero, TJ Oshie.

Bryan Rust blocked two shots in a row and headed back to the bench in obvious pain. He went down the tunnel to the locker room and did not return to the game. The Pens have been good at blocking shots in this series, an effective (if painful) way to stymie the high-powered Washington offense.

The Caps had no such luck with the Pens’ equally as powerful front end. Patric Hornqvist tipped in a rocket from Trevor Daley and gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Exactly one minute later, Tom Kuhnhackl somehow bounced a Matt Cullen shot off his back and past Braden Holtby, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead before the first period was even half over.

Weird as both of those goals were, they resulted from players getting down and dirty in front of the net. Hornqvist has always been phenomenal at finding a spot right on top of the goaltender. Whether Kuhnhackl intentionally turned so the puck would ricochet off him into the net or not, it had the desired effect.

Following the quickfire goals were a pair of penalties. First, the Caps’ Justin Williams took a penalty for interfering with Derrick Pouliot, who then took a penalty of his own for hooking Jay Beagle. There was a brief four-on-four following a shortened Pittsburgh powerplay, and then a Capitals powerplay.

Neither side could convert on their advantages and the score stayed 2-0 in favor of the home team.

Soon Kris Letang took a penalty for interference and gave the Caps’ killer powerplay another chance. He hit Marcus Johansson in a way that looked eerily similar to Orpik’s hit on Maatta in the last game. That’s just something he can’t do. 

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Johansson returned to the game in the second period, but more than likely there’s still going to be some kind of punishment. The league said, following Orpik’s hit, that that was exactly the kind of thing they want to eliminate from the league. They can’t ignore a precedent they set so recently.

While Letang’s wasn’t quite as late, the department will have to do something about it if they want any player to take their rules seriously. That’s bad bad news for the Penguins, if it does turn out that way.

Letang could easily be the factor that makes or breaks the Penguins. If both he and Maatta miss even one game, the Caps could come back with momentum that might push them through the series.

Letang’s hit was officially considered to be .63 seconds late after Johansson got rid of the puck, and the league’s official standard for late hits is .6 seconds. Also, he did clearly target the head, so we’ll just have to wait and see how that one pans out.

Despite how stupid that move was, Letang vaguely made amends by drawing a penalty shortly after escaping the box. Daniel Winnik slashed him in the leg, and thanks to some quality acting skills Winnik took a seat in the penalty box.

Phil Kessel took a penalty while the Penguins were on the advantage for slashing the stick out of a Capital’s hands. Luckily for the Pens, the four-on-four and eventual Washington powerplay were split by the first intermission, so there was really no chance for the Caps to gain any momentum.

It really had no effect on the game, but it’s interesting to note: Johansson made sure to throw a hard hit on Letang as soon as he had a chance to. I mean, I’m not on the Player Safety committee by any means, but if the guy who was on the receiving end of the hit is well enough to throw big hits back, that’s a pretty big factor in determining a punishment.

Johansson wasn’t alone in his retribution: after Washington’s captain Alex Ovechkin took Letang down in a hard collision, Nicklas Backstrom literally hurdled over them and kneed Letang in the head. He probably could have skated around them just as easily, you know?

Justin Williams took his second penalty of the game just after for tripping. Admittedly my broadcast kind of stopped working around this point, but based on what many of you said on Twitter, the Pens’ powerplay was nothing short of abysmal.

Hagelin took things into his own hands, tapping in a puck from the edge of the crease. Holtby was down and couldn’t get to it in time. Right after Hagelin put it over the line, John Carlson gave him a crosscheck for good measure, but it didn’t stop the celebration.

3-0, Pittsburgh.

Murray continued to show why he’s the best up-and-coming goaltender in the league early in the third period, shutting down the Caps again. At the other end of the ice, his forwards peppered Holtby with shots, with Malkin and Fehr teaming up for another solid chance.

Alex Ovechkin broke Murray’s shutout streak in the third period. Ovechkin shot high and the puck rocketed right over Murray’s glove. Ovechkin is one of the players who really needs to step up if the Caps want to get through this round, but the Pens have done a pretty good job of containing him.

Hagelin took a penalty as the game wound down for tripping. The Caps were unable to convert and again, the Pens’ penalty kill triumphed over the powerplay.

The Caps pulled Holtby for an extra attacker with just about two minutes remaining. Though Murray stood strong for as long as he could, the Capitals scored again with just under a minute left. Williams tapped in an Ovechkin rebound to put the Capitals within one.

Could we really have expected anything less when these teams meet?

Thankfully for us Pens fans, the comeback was not to be. Hagelin’s goal stood as the game winner, and Matt Murray backstopped the team to a 2-1 series lead. Murray stopped a whopping 47 shots to keep the Pens ahead and continued to show how amazing of a goaltender he is.

Related Story: Penguins Targets for Physical Caps

The Pens put together a great team effort to get the win. Though the Caps had a strong third period again, the home team stuck with it and pulled through. That’s definitely something Pittsburgh will need to look out for as the series goes on – Washington has dominated the third period in every game so far, and to continue winning we need to play a full sixty minutes.

The next game is Wednesday, also at 8. If the Pens could go up 3-1 against the top team in the NHL, in Pittsburgh, it would be a major boost.