Bonino’s tally gives Pens win in Game 1
Many of the Washington Capitals can clearly recall how their season ended a year ago. There was Nick Bonino in his No. 13 black-and-gold jersey in front of the net. He threw his arms up in the air as the Pittsburgh Penguins advanced and the Capitals spent the next year stewing.
On Thursday, there was Bonino again in front of the net, again celebrating as he pushed the Penguins past Washington.
His goal in the third period lifted Pittsburgh to a 3-2 win in Game 1 of the second-round series.
The Capitals climbed out of a two-goal hole, outplayed Pittsburgh with a 35-21 shots-on-goal edge and still find themselves trailing. The Caps comeback started with Evgeny Kuznetsov spinning around in the offensive zone. The move is typically followed by Capitals fans pleading with him to shoot. He picked the perfect moment to do just that, with Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury turned toward defenceman Matt Niskanen on the left side as he sent the perfect pass to Kuznetsov waiting on the right. Kuznetsov tapped the puck into an open back door, tying the game after the Penguins had taken a 2-0 lead early in the second.
This series has often been billed as pitting the NHL’s two longtime superstars in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The first two periods of the game seemed to follow that narrative.
Eight years after Crosby and Ovechkin had duelling hat tricks in a secondround playoff game, both got the scoring started for their respective teams. A scoreless first period was followed by Crosby scoring twice in the first 64 seconds of the second period.
As Washington tried to rally, fans in Verizon Center started to show frustration. The Capitals had opened the game with just one shot on goal in their first 14:43, and in the last five minutes of the second period, fans started chanting “shoot the puck.” Ovechkin obliged.
After a powerful open-ice hit by defenceman John Carlson on Evgeni Malkin, he separated the big Pittsburgh centre from the puck to regain possession. T.J. Oshie moved the puck up the ice before Lars Eller passed it to Ovechkin just above the left faceoff circle. Ovechkin’s wrist shot was perfectly placed, soaring past Fleury and into the top of the netting.