The Pittsburgh Penguins ran out of gas in the third period Saturday after holding a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes of play.
Nicklas Backstrom tied the game at 2-2 and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin struck for goals 27 seconds apart t give Washington a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish.
“They just got some momentum,” Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby said. “We had our chances to build on that lead. We didn’t, and then they tie it up and get some life off that and then gained some momentum there for a short span. You’re going to lose momentum sometimes. Unfortunately we gave up some goals in the process of that.”
Washington was pleased with the total response to the deficit in the third period.
“I thought all of them responded,” Washington head coach Barry Trotz said. “I mean, those are our key contributors for us. I was hoping to get some scoring out of Burakovsky; we got that. It was more of our lineup that we were getting contributions, and that has been the success that we had during the regular season.”
Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel scored for the Pens.
Braden Holtby made 20 saves to get the win that sends the series back to Pittsburgh with the Pens still leading 3-2.
“I mean, we don’t want to sit back. I don’t think we did. We’ve got to do a better job executing, especially with the lead. Like I said, we had some chances there. I think if we can hold onto the puck in there end a little bit more, we should get more shots. I think we’ll generate a little bit more from that. Just being a little bit better in the offensive zone,” Crosby said heading back home for Game 6.
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Penguins highlights | RELATED: Complete Washington vs. Pittsburgh series coverage]
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in taking the loss.
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