In Washington, Dc, the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins pulled the ladder up on their playoff aspirations on Thursday night.
With the New York Rangers getting skunked by the Islanders, 4-0, the Caps and Pens were able to punch their tickets to the post season.
“It’s good. We didn’t talk about it too much, to be honest with you,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said of making the playoffs. “It was always a bigger picture than that that we were talking about. [But] you should never take anything for granted. It’s a hard league, and the whole objective is to qualify to play for the Cup, so that’s in the rearview mirror.”
On Thursday, Jake Guentzel scored at 2:11 of extra time to give the Pens a 5-4 win.
“Heads up play by [Jared McCann] to find Johnny in the slot, and just a really nice play from Johnny there to find me at the back door,” Guentzel said. “Really good play by those two and I was just on the end of it.”
Tom Wilson forced extra time in the game when he potted the tying goal with 15 seconds left on the clock in the third period.
“We’re [going to] enjoy this one tonight,” Penguins head
coach Mike Sullivan said. “These guys have competed extremely hard all year long to earn the privilege to compete for the Stanley Cup in the playoffs. I’m certainly proud of the group for what they’ve accomplished to this point. By no means are any of us satisfied. We understand that there’s a lot of work to do but we’re [going to] take a deep breath tonight and just enjoy it.”
Tristan Jarry made 33 saves to get the win win for the Pens.
T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Daniel Sprong had goals for the Caps.
Frederick Gaudreau had a goal for the Pens.
Kasperi Kapanen picked up two goals for the Pens.
“I think he’s got such a good shot,” Sullivan said. “He’s a good goal-scorer. I think his speed his so dangerous. He just backs defenses off with his speed and usually that creates opportunity for him or his linemates.”
Zach Aston-Reese also scored for the Penguins.
Villi Vanecek made 30 saves in the loss.
“I don’t think we gave much,” Laviolette said. “The ones we gave were pretty big, so there’s a couple of turnovers. They turn things around pretty quick if you don’t take care of the puck and execute with it. There was a lot of good things we did tonight too.”
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