The Washington Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 Thursday night, but the opening game of the Stanley Cup brought in late-night legend David Letterman to the Verizon Center.
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Sidney Crosby scored both goals for the Penguins in the second-period, in a span of 1:04. Based on the Penguins’ 6-2 win against the Capitals in Game 2, it doesn’t even look like it will last longer than four games.
“Sometimes depending on the situations it’s nearly the road team that dictates how the game is played because just the guys they put on the ice in certain faceoffs, and then the other team has to respond to that”, Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk said. Washington had allowed the fewest goals per game during the regular season, but in the playoffs, the Capitals have allowed the most goals of any team still standing. Sidney Crosby outplayed Alex Ovechkin, but so did Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel.
“That’s leadership”, Trotz said of the meeting. Oshie said it consisted of “things that people needed to say, our leaders needed to say, and things that people needed to hear”.
The series heads to NY for Game 3 on Tuesday night. The Capitals had suffered their first four-game losing streak in four years with a blowout loss in Anaheim in March, and the team huddled inside the locker room for roughly 15 minutes after the game. In the National Hockey League playoffs, sometimes it’s better to have the best player in the game on your team. The Penguins scored three goals on 14 shots on Holtby, who was pulled in favor of Philipp Grubauer after the second period. Trotz said. “No question he’s our goaltender. That’s where your goalie needs to come up with a save”, Holtby said. We can’t just put it on Braden Holtby. We try not to change our game.
“Everybody’s in the same boat”, Williams said. They can’t get the puck out of their zone. We’re not going to shy away from it.
Does it feel like we’ve seen this fish before? We’re just a hair off. “There’s little ticks here and there, little races, little battles throughout the ice, and we’re not quite there”. But Cullen, who had four goals and six points in Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup run a year ago, is once again playing an essential part to the Penguins’ success.
Grubauer didn’t fare much better, allowing two goals on nine shots.
“It’s just great to see him get rewarded: four-goal game, overtime victor”.
“We can’t get frustrated”.
One of the biggest parts of the Capitals’ playoff campaigns year after year is the goaltending. And we all know how the Caps handle pressure. The fans know it. For the Blues to wrestle control from the Predators, they will need another heroic effort from goalie Jake Allen while the Blues will have to find a way to contain Nashville’s P.K. Subban. Sullivan didn’t have an update on RW Patric Hornqvist, who left the game in the first period after blocking a shot from John Carlson. Carter Rowney would figure to be next on the list. They have never swept a four-game series. If we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, these Capitals really shouldn’t be that bad.
“I think everybody did”, Cullen said.
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But, they have carried play for most of the period, save for the last five minutes, and that’s a change from the first-round series against Columbus, when they were constantly chasing the puck and weathering early storms.
