After a scoreless first period, the Penguins struck twice in
short order to start the second period.
Patric Hornqvist nudged a loose puck in the neutral zone to Jake
Guentzel, who broke into the offensive zone with Sidney Crosby on a 2-on-1
break. Guentzel fed the puck across to
Crosby on his right, and Crosby swept the puck past goalie Braden Holtby’s
glove at the 12 second mark of the period to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.
Crosby struck again less than a minute later. Guentzel pried the puck off the left wing
wall and fed it to Olli Maatta entering the offensive zone for a one-timer. Holtby made the save, but not cleanly, the
puck dribbling out to the low slot where Hornqvist got a stick on it. It was enough to nudge the puck to Crosby
closing on the right side, and he buried it past Holtby to make it 2-0, 1:04
into the period.
That was how the score remained until late in the period,
when the Caps halved the deficit. John
Carlson started the play by separating Evgeni Malkin from the puck just inside
the Caps’ blue line. T.J. Oshie picked
it up and skated it out, carrying it into the Penguins’ zone where he dropped
it for Lars Eller. From the left point,
Eller fed Alex Ovechkin cutting into the zone, and Ovechkin circled to the top
of the left wing circle, where he snapped a shot that beat goalie Marc-Andre
Fleury to make it 2-1 at the 18:17 mark.
The Caps continued pressuring the Pens in the third period,
and it paid dividends mid-way through.
Matt Niskanen scooped up a loose puck in the right wing circle, curled
out to the right wing wall, then fired a pass across to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who
one-timed the puck into the open side of the net behind Fleury to tie the game
8:05 into the period.
Four minutes later, the Pens got what would be the
game-winner when Justin Schultz sent a pass up from deep in the defensive zone
to Scott Wilson at the Caps’ blue line.
Wilson found Nick Bonino cutting down the middle undefended, and Bonino
converted the break with a shot past Holtby’s blocker at the 12:36 mark. Fleury did the rest, holding the Caps off the
board to give the Pens a 1-0 lead in the series.
Other stuff…
-- The game-winner was the second consecutive game-winner
for Nick Bonino against the Caps in the postseason. He had the series-clinching overtime goal in
Game 6 last spring to eliminate the Caps in the second round.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had a difficult night in the faceoff
circle, losing 13 of 17 faceoffs (23.5 percent).
-- The Caps out-hit the Penguins, 41-17, Alex Ovechkin
leading the team with six.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov led the Caps with ten shot attempts
(four on goal, one goal) and one of the stranger goal celebrations seen in
these parts.
-- Matt Niskanen had an assist, his first point in the
postseason since Game 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
-- Kuznetsov has two goals in the postseason. Oddly enough, both came in losses (the other
was in a 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto in Game 3 of the first round).
-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal was his fourth of the postseason and
the third time he scored a goal in a Caps loss.
-- The Caps had 19 missed shots in the contest, five of them
recorded by Andre Burakovsky.
-- Think three goals matters? Braden Holtby is now 3-16 in the postseason
when allowing three or more goals, 2-7 when allowing three.
-- What doesn’t belong in this comparison? The Caps out-attempted the Penguins, 72-32,
at 5-on-5 (63.68 percent Corsi-for); they out-shot the Pens, 30-18, at fives;
and they were outscored by Pittsburgh, 3-2 at 5-on-5.
In the end…
Caps fans might take solace in the fact that the Caps
dominated the Penguins over the last 38 minutes, after the second Pittsburgh goal. And folks might point to the fact that of the
four Games 1 in the second round, the road team won three of them, making one
wonder if there is a sport in which the home arena advantage means less than in
the NHL. On the other hand, this was a
squandered opportunity. Dominating
possession means nothing if it doesn’t translate into goals. The Penguins took advantage of the rare
opportunities they got – a 2-on-1 and a mini-breakaway. The Caps did not take advantage of the
relentless pressure they applied in the last half of the contest. Is this a script, or a blip? Guess we’ll have to wait for Game 2 to find
out.