Sidney Crosby scored two goals in 52 seconds, Nick Bonino had the victor in the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Thursday night.
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Tonight the battle between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will resume.
Goalie Braden Holtby will start for the Washington Capitals when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at PPG Paints Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports). He tipped Zack Smith’s shot past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to pull the Senators to 5-4 and then tied it by deflecting a shot by Kyle Turris with 1:02 remaining. Cullen blocked Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the point, blew around Washington’s big trade-deadline acquisition and slid the puck between Holtby’s legs for the short-handed goal 1:15 into the second even as T.J. Oshie hooked him from behind. The goal is to win four out of seven, and it really doesn’t matter how you do that.
The Capitals, after a slow start in Game 1, dominated the scoreless first period, building a 16-5 lead in shots on goal.
“I thought some of the goals, he wasn’t as sharp as he can be for us”, said Washington head coach Barry Trotz said.
He’s probably right: This is going to be a long, wonderful seesaw series – that is, if the Caps win Game 2. In this series, he allowed the Penguins three goals on 21 shots on Thursday night, shouldering the blame after the Game 1 loss because he felt he should have stopped the first goal as well as the game-winner. The puck seemed to disappear a couple of times, but Fleury was able to track it and make critical saves.
The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 6-2 victory in Game 2 Saturday, extending their series lead to 2-0 over the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Braden Holtby has given up 22 goals on 248 shots faced and Philipp Grubauer have allowed two goals on nine shots.
“I think I closed my eyes when I shot and thankfully it went in”, Pageau said of the victor.
“He was fantastic”, center Derek Stepan said.
While Sidney Crosby is Sidney Crosby, the Penguins need more from center Evgeni Malkin and his line, which was shut out in Game 1.
Only problem is, so was Anderson, who has phenomenal career numbers against NY and is 5-2 with a 1.81 goals-against average and.930 save percentage so far in these playoffs. But with a much healthier Penguins squad now, it looks like we’d match up very well against them in a playoff series.
What was said? Matt Niskanen called it “none of your business”, Alex Ovechkin insisted “it stays between us”, and Justin Williams said, “We’ll keep that between us”. “That’s our goalie. He’s done that”. “We know we’re not giving up hope or getting frustrated”.
NOTES: LW Chris Kunitz returned to the Penguins’ lineup after missing the first round and final five games of the regular season with a lower-body injury.
Yes, the Penguins did get a little lucky with several of the Capitals’ shots clanking off the post, but Pittsburgh has made its shots count. Hagelin took part in a full-contact practice Friday, opening the door for the speedy winger’s return.
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“For Crosby to come out and spark us like that was big, especially when you are playing on the road and starting out the series”, Cullen said.
