Pens move on as Kessel does his job
Phil Kessel had been through this gut-wrenching torture before.
On May 13, 2013, Kessel’s Maple Leafs held a 4-1 lead over the Boston Bruins with 11 minutes remaining in the third period of Game 7. Cue the collapse. Indeed, the Bruins reeled off three straight goals, including two with Tuukka Rask off for the extra attacker, to knot the game at 4-4. That set the stage for Patrice Bergeron, whose winner at 6:05 of overtime completed the miraculous comeback for Boston.
A three-goal lead in an elimination game. Gone. But certainly not forgotten by Kessel and his disheartened teammates.
Now here was Kessel, almost three years later, in almost the same spot on Tuesday night at the Consol Energy Center.
Another three-goal lead. Another chance to eliminate a talented foe, this time Alex Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals.
Heading into Tuesday’s Game 6 of this second-round series between the Capitals and Kessel’s Penguins, Pittsburgh held a 3-2 lead in the matchup. And when a pair of Kessel goals, along with a single by linemate Carl Hagelin, gave the Penguins a 3-0 advantage in the game, a false sense of security seemed to blanket the yellow-and-black clad crowd.
There’s a good chance Kessel wasn’t overconfident, however. And rightly so.
Goals late in the second by T.J. Oshie and early in the third by Justin Williams narrowed the gap to 3-2.
And then came the Theatre of the Bizarre. In a strange twist to a strange game, the Penguins took three consecutive delay of game penalties for flipping the puck over the glass. And it would cost them, too, as John Carlson’s power play goal with 6:59 remaining in regulation deadlocked the score at 3-3.
Would history repeat itself for Phil The Thrill?
Would defeat once again be snatched from the jaws of victory? Not this time. This time, a blown three-goal lead would not cost Kessel and his teammates a victory, thanks to Nick Bonino.
With the moment calling for a hero, Bonino stepped up and occupied the role, scoring at 6:32 of overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory, eliminating the Capitals in the process.
And now, Phil Kessel is going to a place Ovechkin has never gone — the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In this, a Tale of Two Legacies, who could have ever predicted 12 months ago that the paths of Kessel and Ovechkin would go this way?
While Washington Capitals general manager Brian McLellan was busy constructing a blueprint to bolster the talent level around Ovechkin at the time — a game plan that would result in the additions of T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams a couple of months later — Kessel was being hammered by the School of Public Perception in Toronto, where he was being painted in some circles as the blue-and-white scapegoat for everything and anything wrong with the Maple Leafs.
Questioned at times — and legitimately so — for his lack of work ethic and leadership, Kessel was eventually shipped to the Penguins for centre Nick Spaling, forward Kasperi Kapanen, defenceman Scott Harrington, plus first- and third-round picks from 2016. The Leafs also sent forward Tyler Biggs, defenceman Tim Erixon and a 2016 second-round pick to Pittsburgh.
With the Leafs retaining $1.2 million of Kessel’s salary in each of the next seven seasons, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was able to squeeze Kessel’s hefty salary under a cap that already was clogged with big-ticket contracts.
On a team with the likes of Crosby and Malkin, Kessel didn’t have to be the offensive star, the guy who the spotlight would always shine on. If there were defensive-zone hiccups, so be it.
This is what Kessel was brought to Pittsburgh for — to score.
And in the first period Tuesday night, he did just that. As Kessel crossed the Caps blue line, there didn’t seem to be a scoring chance available. A couple of Washington defenders were between the Penguins forward and goalie Braden Holtby.
But even from far out, all Kessel needs is one tiny crack of a shooting lane. He got it. He took the chance. And with one snap of his wrists, the puck was in the net.
Midway through the second period, he had scored again. Phil Kessel doing what Phil Kessel does.
And by the end of the night, Alex Ovechkin was doing what Alex Ovechkin does.
Not reaching the third round.