Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal lifts hot Penguins over Capitals
|
Version 0 of 4. As a third puck got past him, Braden Holtby’s head fell back. He glanced behind him to see the black disc in the netting, confirming what he already knew. His Washington Capitals teammates reiterated that they wanted to play for Holtby, to help him make history. On Thursday night, they couldn’t help themselves for most of the game. After falling into a three-goal hole, Washington stormed back to tie the game in the third period. They couldn’t complete the comeback, as Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win. This was supposed to be a meeting of the Eastern Conference’s top two teams, but while Pittsburgh looked like a team getting hot at the right time, Washington looked the opposite. Odd-man rushes, a disjointed power play and inopportune penalties put the Capitals in a hole. This loss gave the Capitals on their first three-game losing streak of the season — just a week before the postseason starts. Marcus Johansson was the first to chip away at the Pittsburgh lead. He slammed in a pass from John Carlson with less than three minutes left in the second period to cut the deficit to two going into the third period. That was Johansson’s first goal in 18 games; he wouldn’t wait so long for the next, beating Murray from the top of the left faceoff circle midway through the third period. Less than four minutes later, Andre Burakovsky completed the comeback, tipping in a feed from Carlson. That set up for overtime — and Crosby’s heroics. Washington hasn’t played a meaningful game in months, cruising to the league’s best record with no one even close. The Capitals clinched the Presidents’ Trophy before the calendar even turned to April. But with no urgency, Washington’s game has fallen off from its January peak. The Capitals thought they were on the right track when they started to minimize scoring chances against, which helpfully coincided with Holtby getting sharper. Their last loss to the Penguins, 6-2 in Pittsburgh, seemed to be a low point that served as somewhat of a wakeup call. Holtby used the video of the goals he allowed in that game to identify areas he could improve. But though the Capitals were happier with some areas of their game, they were trending downward in others. The offense had been struggling to score five-on-five, not lending much run support to the goaltender. On Tuesday night, nursing a 3-1 third period lead, the Capitals lost to the New York Islanders in overtime. Had Washington won that game with Holtby in net, it would have been his 48th victory of the season, moving him into a tie with Martin Brodeur for the most wins in a season by a goaltender. Instead, the best third-period goal differential team in the league allowed the Islanders to tie the game in the third period before winning it in overtime. That marked the Capitals’ fourth loss in six games. Entering Thursday night, Washington hadn’t lost back-to-back games in regulation, much less three in a row. Pittsburgh was riding an eight-game winning streak and had won 14 of its previous 15 games. The Penguins scored in the opening minute, when Matt Cullen capitalized on a three-on-two rush. Cullen scored again in the first minute of the second period. With the Capitals on a power play, Alex Ovechkin’s shot went off the pad of goaltender Matt Murray. The puck rebounded to roll along the board, and when Ovechkin didn’t get to it, Cullen did. His shot went off Matt Niskanen’s skate to make it 2-0. Conor Sheary made it a 3-0 lead for Pittsburgh 9 minutes and 3 seconds into the second period. When the Capitals were trying to climb out of a hole, four minor penalties and one major penalty in the second and third periods didn’t help. |