Pittsburgh Penguins Can’t Eliminate Caps, Lose 3-1

Chris Kunitz scored the only goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins as the Washington Capitals managed to hold off elimination for at least one more game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped game five of their series against the Washington Capitals, 3-1, thanks to superb goaltending from Braden Holtby and undisciplined play from their own bench.

Right from the first puck drop, you could really tell how much each team wanted the win. However (since it’s never the wrong time to start spouting hockey cliches), you could also see that the home team wanted it more. The Capitals sustained pressure in the offensive zone while the Penguins blocked as many of those shots as they could, sacrificing body for the bigger picture.

Everything came up Washington in the first few minutes. Bryan Rust was called for tripping early on and gave the Caps’ powerplay a chance. This powerplay was one of the best in the league through the regular season and first round of playoffs but couldn’t make things work yet in this series. In part, that was because their big guns couldn’t convert.

Both those factors changed tonight. Washington’s captain, Alex Ovechkin, took a shot from his usual spot and whistled it over Matt Murray‘s head into the back of the net. Rust escaped the penalty box only seconds after taking a seat there.

The Penguins’ powerplay got its own chance to even things up just after that. Because apparently we can’t go one game in this series without an interference call, Nicklas Backstrom threw a high hit on Kris Letang.

On the ensuing powerplay, the Pens tied things up. Chris Kunitz picked up a rebound and slid it in the gaping net past Braden Holtby. Both teams’ powerplays had been struggling this series, and both had cashed in before even ten minutes had gone by in game five.

A thing of note: Sidney Crosby got the secondary assist on Kunitz’s goal, tying him with the great Jaromir Jagr in second place on Pittsburgh’s all-time playoff assist list.

That powerplay was the longest the Penguins could maintain pressure in the Caps’ end. Though they had a few more chances up the ice, they just couldn’t hold it in the offensive zone for extended periods of time. The Penguins dominated the shot count through most of the first period but a lot of that was also left over from their six-shot powerplay.

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Matt Cullen and Justin Williams, former teammates on the 2006 Stanley Cup-winning Carolina team, took matching minors with just a little more than three minutes remaining in the first period. Both repeatedly slashed the other in a sort of half-hearted swordfight.

With only eight seconds remaining in the four-on-four, the Penguins took a penalty for having too many men on the ice. Phil Kessel went to the box to serve the penalty, and killing the advantage would be critical.

Despite the effectiveness of the Caps’ first powerplay tonight, this one was lackluster. The Pens shut it down without even allowing a single shot on Murray. Back to status quo.

But because the Pens were feeling generous, they gave the Capitals another chance to get their man-advantage back in its groove. Ian Cole took a slashing penalty early in the second period. And this time, they’d make no mistake.

TJ Oshie scored the third powerplay goal of the night, cashing in on a rebound and giving the Capitals the lead back. This one was deja vu of the first, clearly showing that the Caps have a formula and are unbeatable when they execute it: Oshie doggedly sticks with the puck and gets it to Ovechkin, who puts it on net.

Shortly after this point I got up to go plug my phone in in the other room. I was gone for probably five seconds, tops. In that time, Brian Dumoulin made an egregious turnover right to Williams, who shot it five-hole and gave the Capitals their first two-goal lead of the series.

That’s bad luck, on my part, coupled with bad defense.

Evgeni Malkin took a penalty as the period ran down for tripping, just off an offensive zone faceoff. The Penguins killed it off, but they can’t continue to take undisciplined penalties like that.

On a different, happier note: several Russian media sources announced today that Geno was going to become a father, so that’s exciting. Congrats, G!

Back to the game at hand, though. The penalty was killed off and the Pens got a great chance just moments later. Holtby made a ridiculous save and the players in front of him devolved into fisticuffs.

The second period ended with the Capitals leading 3-1 but the Penguins still leading in shots. To Washington’s credit, they really needed Ovechkin to step up tonight, and he did just that.

Though this was a desperation game for the Capitals, the Penguins looked like the desperate team at the start of the third period. Lines were completely jumbled and some of the usual suspects, like Patric Hornqvist, saw very little ice time to start.

The Penguins got a powerplay chance after Nate Schmidt interfered with Carl Hagelin, shoving him into the goal – a recurring theme of this series, I guess. The powerplay was slow and lackluster, with barely any of the players hurrying to make passes or plays.

The Capitals got their fifth powerplay of the night after Nick Bonino high-sticked Oshie. Two of the earlier four had produced goals, while the other two were without even a single shot.

Next: Matt Murray's Cinderella Story

The remainder of the third period was uneventful; the Caps held their lead and the Penguins just could not solve Holtby. This was the first game of the series that was won by more than one goal, and will see the teams move back to Pittsburgh for a game six.