Pittsburgh Penguins’ Phil Kessel (81) celebrates after scoring against the Washington Capitals during the first period of Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinals in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. “I think they’ve got a shot at it”. “We scratched and clawed to salvage the game”. Ovechkin has not advanced past the second round in his 11 National Hockey League seasons and neither has coach Barry Trotz in his two seasons with the Capitals, nor in his preceding 15 seasons with the Predators. He peppered Penguins rookie goalie Matt Murray with 33 shots. “We battled through. It doesn’t matter what happened, but in the end we lost in the second round, so it sucks”. That was thanks to Phil Kessel, who found one of his linemates in front of the net, and Carl Hagelin, who put the puck on net and, ultimately, Bonino, who buried the rebound. Instead, he’s now leading all Penguins in points as they head into the conference finals. “I thought we did a real good job on Crosby and Malkin the whole series”.
Advertisement
That gave the Capitals a pair of extended five-on-three power plays, and they scored on the second of those to tie the game, 3-3.
Ovechkin scored five goals and posted a point-per-game over two series’, and John Carlson continued his ascent into the conversation of the NHL’s elite defensemen by posting the same stat line as his captain.
It’s telling that perhaps the series’ biggest subplot – the rapid maturation of 21-year-old Penguins goalie Matt Murray while filling in for Marc-Andre Fleury – has taken a backseat to Crosby and Malkin regaining their scoring touch. At the start of the penalty, Washington’s probability to win was 56.72%. Ovechkin picked up his second assist of the game. “We didn’t get that extra little whatever to make the puck go into the net at big moments, at … crucial times in the game, whether it’s to come back or pull away or even it up, whatever it was”. The Penguins only needed one more W to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
Then the Penguins got lucky. Braden Holtby was brilliant in the series, and Alexander Ovechkin averaged nearly six shots per game.
Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik will take heat for first missing three games with a suspension and then committing a four-minute penalty that saw Pittsburgh increase its lead, from 1-0 to 3-0, in a blink. When the Capitals put together remarkable rally to send it to overtime, Kessel chased down a puck in the corner and fed it in the slot to a speeding Hagelin. He appeared to be hurt midway through the period when Crosby caught him with a stick – apparently in his right foot – while skating along the boards.
NOTES: Washington defenseman Karl Alzner left in the first period and did not return shortly after getting slashed by Crosby….
“They share a tremendous amount of responsibility for our group and they’re doing everything within their power to help our team win, ” Sullivan said. “He’s our best penalty killer, and it showed”.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-1-2) was a complete no-show after having a tremendous postseason last spring.
In this series, most of all, Pittsburgh relied on Kessel, Hagelin and Bonino.
Advertisement
Never was the line’s impact greater than in the Penguins’ series-ending, 4-3 victory in Game 6 Tuesday, when its members accounted for all their goals, including Bonino’s at 6:32 of overtime. The Capitals scratched D Nate Schmidt, C Michael Latta, RW Stanislav Galiev and D Mike Weber. The Penguins held out D Derrick Pouliot, D Justin Schultz, C Oskar Sundqvist and G Jeff Zatkoff.
