PITTSBURGH, PA – Late in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Kris Letang took a hard hit, so hard that his coach wasn’t sure he’d make the bell for Game 3. He did and boy are his teammates and the fans at the Mellon Arena happy.
Letang scored his first career playoff goal at 11:23 of the first overtime to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 3, cutting the Capitals’ series lead to two games to one. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Friday in Pittsburgh with Game 5 set for Saturday back in Washington, D.C.
The winning goal started with a face-off draw win by Penguins’ super star Sidney Crosby. The puck went to the half boards where Mark Eaton picked it up and fed Letang at the point. Letang’s drive deflected off of Washington defenseman Shaone Morrisonn in front and past goalie Simeon Varlamov, breathing life into a Pittsburgh team that was less than two minutes away from a regulation time victory only to see Washington force the extra session.
Playing at home for the first time in the series, Pittsburgh desperately needed to dominate the Capitals from the get go as they had done in the two contests in Washington. Unfortunately for them, however, it was the visitors who got the first break.
On his way off the ice for a line change, Washington defenseman Mike Green sailed the puck into the Pittsburgh end. The puck hit the boards at such a pace that Penguins’ goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was unable to keep it from going past him back in front. Alexander Ovechkin beat Rob Scuderi and Brooks Orpik to the puck and tapped it into the open net before the stick-less Fleury could get back into position.
The goal at 1:23 seemed to boost the Capitals’ pressure. Fleury was able to shake off the misplay on the score and settled in to keep Washington in check, making key saves on Alexander Semin on a wrap-around and Sergei Fedorov on a wrister. Pittsburgh’s offense finally started to get untracked midway through the period. During a power play, Sergei Gonchar launched a drive from the point that hit Varlamov dead on the mask, momentarily ringing the bells on the young goalie.
The Penguin’s best chance came late in the stanza when Evgeni Malkin, riding a five-game scoreless streak, intercepted a bad pass and broke in on Varlamov. With Tyler Sloan cutting off the angle, Varlamov stood up to Malkin and made the save. It kept the Capitals up by one going into the intermission.
Whatever was said in the Pittsburgh locker room between the first and second periods, it must have been good. From the start of the stanza, the ice seemed to be tipped toward the Washington defensive end. Varlamov had to be sharp and he was, especially on a chance by Tyler Kennedy.
The bounce of the puck that victimized the Penguins in the first period evened out at the 9:29 mark of the second. Maxime Talbot dug the puck out of trouble in the Pittsburgh end and fed it to Ruslan Fedotenko at center ice. Talbot busted his tail to join Fedotenko in creating a two-on-one break. Fedotenko attempted to pass the puck to Talbot but it hit the defenseman and came right back to him. Varlamov had shifted to play the pass, leaving Fedotenko with lots of open net and he didn’t miss, tying the game at one.
The rest of the period was a resume reel for Varlamov. The Penguins were smelling blood but the rookie goalie was equal to the task, robbing Letang and Hal Gill among others. The Penguins out shot the Capitals 15-4 in the period but the score was tied heading for the final period.
Washington started the third buzzing around the Penguins’ end of the ice. It didn’t take long for Pittsburgh to pick up the pace, forcing Varlamov to turn his game up a couple of notches. After getting himself in a bit of trouble, he dove back to rob Pascal Dupuis and later had to stone Fedotenko on a breakaway.
The Penguins power play, zero-for-five in the game, got its sixth chance with 5:50 remaining on a hooking penalty to Semin. This time around, the man advantage worked as Crosby fed Malkin along the half boards. He got loose into the slot and using Bill Guerin as a screen, whipped wrist shot past Varlamov’s blocker to put the Penguins in front with 4:59 remaining in regulation.
Washington then began playing harder looking for the tying goal. Pittsburgh seemed to have the Capitals caged up but Dupuis was hit with an interference penalty for setting a pick on a Washington player at the blue line at the 17:32 mark. The Capitals worked the puck around until Ovechkin found Nicklas Backstrom alone on the goal line. Backstrom found just enough room to carom a shot off of Fleury’s back and in to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.
Both teams were firing at will as the overtime started. A delay of game penalty to Washington’s Brian Pothier helped Pittsburgh gain a territorial advantage. The Penguins almost had a chance moments before the winning goal when Malkin just missed a long outlet pass. The puck went straight to Varlamov who felt Malkin’s presence looming and chose to tie up the puck setting up the fateful face-off sequence.
Game notes…Monday night’s double hat tricks by Crosby and Ovechkin were just the fourth instance of matching three goal games in a playoff contest in NHL history. The others: 1983 – Paul Reinhart (Calgary) and Mark Messier (Edmonton); 1993 – Ray Ferraro (New York Islanders) and Al Iafrate (Washington) and 1996 – Trevor Linden (Vancouver) and Joe Sakic (Colorado)…Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz was fined $2,500 for his cross check to the head of Varlamov near the end of Game 2. Needless to say, the Capitals – especially Ovechkin – were expecting a suspension…Word around the Mellon Arena was that the Penguins suspect Ovechkin of playing with an illegal curve on his stick. If the twig Ovechkin started the game with was illegal, no one will know because it broke in two midway through the first period…Washington entered the game 3-0 this playoff year when tied after two periods…Pittsburgh is now 6-1 in playoff overtime games against Washington, including the epic contest on April 24, 1996 when Petr Nedved scored with 45 seconds left in the fourth overtime to give the Penguins a 3-2 win in the conference quarterfinals…Varlamov finished with 39 saves on 42 Pittsburgh shots while Fleury stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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