PITTSBURGH, PA – When the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins were matched up for the Eastern Conference semifinals, hockey observers and league executives were giddy with hope that the best-of-seven series would be “one for the ages”. Monday night, it became an epic that may never be matched.
With their playoff lives on the line, the Capitals got a goal from David Steckel at 6:22 of overtime to defeat the Penguins 5-4 in Game 6 at the Mellon Arena, forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 Wednesday night in Washington.
Steckel’s third goal of the playoffs came as a direct result of a face-off. Steckel won the draw against Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot, who broke his stick on the play. Matt Bradley steered the puck to Brooks Laich who fired toward the net. Steckel drove to the front of the goal and deflected the shot past Penguins’ netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to send the series to what could be the most watched NHL game in years.
The sellout crowd at the Mellon Arena, dressed out for the Penguins’ “white out”, was waiting for Pittsburgh to deliver the final dagger into the Capitals but Washington had three of the first four shots in the game. It would prove to be the visitor’s best sequence of hockey in the first period.
The Penguins began to turn things around soon after and it would lead to the game’s opening goal. Just before the six minute mark, Kris Letang with a little help from Chris Kunitz, got the puck out of the Pittsburgh end into the neutral zone where Sidney Crosby was waiting for it. Deciding to skip a line change, Crosby and Bill Guerin drove toward the Washington end of the ice. Crosby went to the left side while Guerin headed right, splitting the defenseman’s focus. Crosby threaded a pretty pass to Guerin who shifted into position in the right circle and ripped a wrist shot over the stick hand of Capitals’ goalie Simeon Varlamov into the net for the early lead.
The next ten minutes of play were totally controlled by Pittsburgh as they unleashed an onslaught of shots at Varlamov. The Penguins had two power play opportunities – including a minute of time with a five-on-three advantage – but failed to score. Washington had its own truncated power play but the Penguins’ defense kept the Capitals from getting any shots on goalie Fleury. By the end of the period, Pittsburgh had an 18-5 shot advantage and a one goal lead.
Washington needed to play with more passion and more desperation than they did in the first. Using the remaining time on a carry over power play, the Capitals began to make inroads into grabbing the momentum back. Finally at the 6:27 mark of the second, they were able to tie the game. With Crosby trying to hobble to the bench after blocking a shot, Alexander Ovechkin slipped a pass to Kozlov who was parked near the bottom of the right circle. Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik left a little too much room for the shifty Kozlov to operate in and the Russian made him pay by beating Fleury high to the glove side.
The Capitals grabbed their first lead of the game with just over five minutes remaining in the stanza. With a delayed penalty coming on the Penguins, Alexander Semin fed the puck back to the point where John Erskine lined up a drive. Erskine’s shot hit Crosby and deflected to Tomas Fleischmann who stuffed it past Fleury.
Fleischmann’s score got the attention of the Penguins and they started to crank up the offense. It forced the Capitals to take a penalty and that was exactly what the Penguins needed. With less than a minute left in the period, Phillipe Boucher made a long outlet pass to Evgeni Malkin. Malkin moved into the Washington end and tried to make a cross ice pass. Capital’s defenseman Milan Jurcina picked off the pass and tried to move the puck with his glove to a teammate. Unfortunately for Jurcina, the puck floated out to the high slot where Mark Eaton moved in to grab it. Eaton made a curl and drag move then fired the puck between Varlamov’s legs to tie the score at two where it stayed into the second intermission.
Heading for the third period of the third game in four days, most of the fans probably expected a tight checking, try-not-to-make-the-mistake twenty minutes. Instead, the Capitals and Penguins treaded everyone to an old fashioned shootout worthy of a wild west movie.
Pittsburgh got the first opportunity with an early power play. Malkin got the puck down low and sent it back to Alex Goligoski, Sergei Gonchar’s replacement, at the point. Goligoski’s drive was stopped by Varlamov but Letang was on the doorstep to shovel the rebound home at 4:40 to give the Penguins the lead.
Less than a minute later, Washington got that one back when on a power play, Semin worked himself free to take a pass from Ovechkin. Using a screen by Laich, Semin snapped off a shot that Fleury never saw until it was past him, tying the score again at 5:38.
The Capitals had the momentum and it took 29 seconds after Semin’s goal to take the lead. Nicklas Backstrom worked the puck into the Penguins’ end and fed Kozlov who from a bad angle beat Fleury for his second of the game and a Washington lead with just under thirteen minutes remaining.
It stayed that way until with less than five minutes left in regulation, the Penguins found a way to tie the score. It started when Ruslan Fedotenko pressured Washington’s Mike Green into a turnover. He got the disc to Orpik who fired at the net. Varlamov made the initial save and two whacks on rebounds by Crosby. Finally, on the third try, Crosby knocked the puck out of the air and in, setting off a thunderous roar from the home crowd. The Penguins had one last opportunity to win in the closing moments of regulation with a power play but Varlamov stood on his head, making save after save to send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, Pittsburgh’s Rob Scuderi nearly ended it early when he scalded a shot that beat Varlamov only to clang off the crossbar. Seconds later, Ovechkin came streaking into the Pittsburgh end and let go with a blistering drive that Fleury calmly snared with his catching glove. The two saves set the stage for Steckel’s winner and a date on Wednesday that will have hockey fans all over the planet glued to televisions and computers across the globe.
Game notes…Just how hot are the Penguins in Pittsburgh? FSN Pittsburgh recorded a 21.38 rating for its broadcast of Game 5 last Saturday night. It was the highest rated game ever for FSN Pittsburgh and the highest rated NHL game aired on any FSN regional network…Semin’s third period goal was his first of the series…It was the third time in the last four games that the outcome was decided in overtime…With two goals on the power play in Game 6, Pittsburgh has at least one man-advantage goal in five straight games…Varlamov made 38 saves to earn the victory while Fleury stopped 19 in the loss…Steckel’s overtime face-off win was his 10th successful draw in 14 chances in the game.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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