Penguins take a 3-2 series lead
It was the toughest of breaks.
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Pittsburgh Penguins star center Evgeni Malkin drove hard towards the net and slid a pass across the front of the goal. Instead of reaching its intended target the puck deflected off the stick of diving Capitals defenseman Tom Poti and past stunned goalie Simeon Varlamov. The pair lay face down on the ice, inconsolable, as the jubilant Penguins stormed off their bench to celebrate another overtime win.
Capitals @ PenguinsWhen » Monday, 7Where » Mellon ArenaTV » CSN(HD)Radio » 106.7 FM/XM» After winning the first two games of this Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Caps have been pushed to the brink with Game 6 in Pittsburgh. Three previous times they have blown 2-0 or 3-1 series leads to the Penguins. They will have to win at Mellon Arena on Monday night to keep that nightmare from happening again. One reason Caps fans should keep the faith? This same group won Game 6 elimination games on the road against Philadelphia (2008) and New York (2009) — both times in the first round. Pittsburgh F Ruslan Fedotenko scored his fourth goal of the playoffs on Saturday night against the Caps. It was his second goal of the series.
It was a crushing loss for the Caps, who were beaten 4-3 in Game 5 on Saturday night at Verizon Center. In another dramatic game filled with tons of scoring chances and tremendous saves by both goalies, it was again a late goal by Washington that sent things to overtime.
But once again a deflection off a Caps’ stick proved to be the winning margin. Malkin was credited with the power-play goal at 3 minutes, 28 seconds of overtime. Pittsburgh won for the third time in a row to take a 3-2 series lead. The Penguins can now eliminate Washington in front of a raucous home crowd at Mellon Arena on Monday night. Pittsburgh won Game 3 there last Wednesday, 3-2, in overtime when a shot from just inside the blueline deflected off the stick of Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn.
“You can see again — in first [overtime] shift [David Steckel] missed an empty net,” said Ovechkin, who finished with two goals and now has 10 in 12 postseason games. “It was just ‘Jeez, where’s our luck.’ The puck [was] bouncing and next shift they get power play and score goal.”
That overtime penalty call — a trip against Malkin by Milan Jurcina — drew the ire of the sellout crowd, which had just seen Caps forward Alexander Semin tripped to the ice in a play that probably looked worse than it was. Either way, the Washington foul on Malkin should have gone to Sergei Fedorov, a forward who was moved to defense late in the game. The Caps appeared to have killed the man-advantage. But Malkin scored the game-winner with just one second left on it.
“Kind of a lucky goal,” Ovechkin said. “But it’s a goal and they win the game.”
The Caps were happy with their play during the first two periods. They were absolutely dominant in the first 12 minutes, driving pucks deep into the Pittsburgh defensive zone and keeping them there for long stretches. But just 51 seconds into the third period, Ruslan Fedotenko tied the game at 2 with his second goal of the series. Just 4:36 later Matt Cooke, the former Capital, put his new team ahead with a sweeping backhander after Varlamov had stopped two chances in tight.
“I thought we played probably one of the best games that we’ve played this series,” said Caps defenseman Brian Pothier. “They worked hard in the beginning of the third period and again it seemed like every mistake we made they capitalized.”
But much like the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the first round series against New York, the pensive crowd finally erupted at 15:52 when a beautiful passing sequence between Semin, Backstrom and Ovechkin ended up in the back of the net. The game was tied at 3 and Washington had regained the momentum as Verizon Center rocked. But fate had another cruel end in store for the Caps, who now face another daunting challenge in Pittsburgh with their season hanging in the balance.
“I think today we play good. But it’s not good enough,” a defiant Ovechkin said. “Next game is going to be different. It’s not over yet and somebody [that] thinks so, it’s not over.”
