Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have spent their entire careers chasing the Pittsburgh Penguins and shouldering their own franchise’s onerous history of playoff failures.
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Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs series between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins got pretty ugly towards the end.
In Game 2, Wilson landed a questionable hit on Brian Dumoulin, and then he broke the jaw of Zach Aston-Reese in Game 3. Each team scored on the power play in the second period, and Evgeni Malkin’s extra-man marker late in the middle frame proved to be the game-winner.
The league announced the suspension less than 24 hours after Wilson broke Aston-Reese’s jaw with a violent collision near the Washington bench in the second period of Washington’s 4-3 Game 3 victory over the Penguins.
Guentzel’s incredible postseason continues with two goals.
Scoring three goals including an empty-netter, the Pittsburgh Penguins put in an all-around solid effort to secure a win over rival Washington Capitals. Malkin took an initial shot that beat Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby but rang the post and slid across the goalmouth.
“Trust me, Ovi will get his shots”, Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said.
The Penguins opened as -180 favorites (wager $180 to win $100); the total is at six goals, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.
“But, as far as we’re concerned, all we can do is control what’s within our power – and that’s our focus on the game”.
“That whole line has to be better”, Trotz told the Washington Post on Friday.
Washington would challenge again for goalie interference but Brooks Orpik hit a running bulldog on Patric Hornqvist at the side of the net so the goal stood for a second time. Oshie ripped a screaming one-timer past Matt Murray.
NOTES: Pittsburgh F Carl Hagelin played 16:11 while wearing a full face shield in his return from an upper-body injury that forced him to miss the first three games of the series. While Wilson had the talent to make the NHL and turn himself into a good hockey player who scored 14 goals and a career-high 35 points this season, his signature is playing the physical game for the Washington Capitals. Yet a handful of goals have been scored or saved already this postseason with a player somehow able to connecting their stick with an airborne puck at the flawless time. He also added 187 minutes in penalties.
Even though Winnipeg dropped Game 2, the Jets outshot the Predators 50-41 and carried much more of the play than they did in Game 1. The shot attempts (Corsi), scoring chances, and the eye test provided enough reasons the Penguins coaches left that line on the pine. As they nearly always do when the Penguins are on the other side of the ice.
“That was actually my guy, so the least I could do was bat it out”, Foligno said.
“Sometimes we get accused of splitting hairs, but that’s exactly what they have to do”, Bettman said.
In a crushing blow to the hometown DC fans, the Penguins suddenly scored three goals within five minutes and the Capital’s hot streak was over.
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The crowd’s excitement rose and fell with each replay, but certain angles that we don’t have on TV definitively showed that the puck was over the red line for a good goal.
