The prime time series in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs is the Pittsburgh-Washington match-up. Both clubs have now traded punches and the series is tied 1-1 after Pittsburgh won Saturday afternoon, 2-1.
Eric Fehr scored the game-winner with under five minutes to go in regulation to send Pittsburgh home with home ice advantage now.
“It does feel a little bit different,” Fehr said. “Obviously I had a lot of years here, and to be able to get that one to tie up the series and bring it back home with a split is enormous for us. You don’t want to come out of here down 2-0 against the Presidents’ Trophy winners. That would be a tough battle. Now we gave ourselves a chance and we’re excited to get back home.”
Fehr deflected a shot from Evgeny Malkin who threw the puck at the net and Fehr found iron and net for the winner.
“That was a big game for us,” Fehr said. “After they tied it up on the power play we could have folded and said it was a good try, but our team didn’t give up. You gotta go hats off to [goalie Matt] Murray; he made some huge saves for us when the game was tied and gave us the opportunity to get the win.”
Carl Hagelin opened the scoring in the game when he gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
“Murray was really good,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “I mean, he made some big saves, especially in the third after we didn’t give him a ton of work. We generated a lot, we didn’t have to play in our own end a lot, but it’s not easy for a goalie to kind of be sitting there waiting for those big chances, and they’ve got guys who can score. He was really strong.”
Marcus Johansson scored Washington’s only goal in the third on the power play as he cleaned up an errant puck in the crease.
“Call what it was: The first two periods the ice was tilted a little bit. No doubt,” Washington forward Justin Williams said. “Good for them, they came in desperately. We didn’t answer until the third. It turned out to be too late.”
Braden Holtby had 33 saves in the loss and Matt Murray stopped 23 shots for the win.
Game 3 will be at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).
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