If Washington was griping the stuck tight ahead of their second round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, then their Game 1 loss Thursday night will not make it any easier.
Nick Bonino blunted the Washington rally with a tally with 7:40 left in regulation to give 
the Pens a 3-2 win.
“To steal a game in their rink and kind of effectively get home ice back in the series, I think that’s huge, and we’ll try to see if we can take Game 2,” Bonino said.
Washington has been unable to get past the Penguins in past seasons and there is no reason to be optimistic after the Game 1 loss.
Sidney Crosby struck twice in the opening 1:04 of the middle frame to give the Pens a 2-0 lead.
“It was two great plays,” Crosby said. “On both [Hornqvist] gave us some loose pucks. He poked a couple pucks free and then Jake made a great pass on the 2-on-1. [Hornqvist] found me on the rebound there, so some really good looks from that.”
The panic button is safely put away for now but if Marc-Andre Fleury (33 saves in the win) continues to play this well then Washington is headed for another round two loss to the Pens.
“We had lots of opportunities,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “We put some [83] pucks at their net tonight, they put [41] at ours. We did a lot of good things. We didn’t do enough.”
Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored to rally Washington back to a 2-2 tie but the Pens slammed the door after that.
“It’s (Game 2) not going to be easy, especially against the defending Stanley Cup champions. … They’re the Stanley Cup champions. So we have to dictate the game. From the first minute of the game we have to make a statement,” Ovechkin said.
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Penguins highlights | RELATED: Complete Washington vs. Pittsburgh series coverage]
Braden Holtby made 18 saves in the loss.
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