Ovechkin flips script on Crosby in Caps’ win
Washington star bats in late winner to play spoiler in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have spent their entire careers chasing the Pittsburgh Penguins and shouldering their franchise’s onerous history of playoff failures.
One brilliant end-to-end rush gave the Washington Capitals teammates and their resilient club something they’ve rarely enjoyed against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions: momentum.
Ovechkin knocked his own rebound out of midair and by Matt Murray with 1:07 left to lift the Capitals to a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night in Game 3 of their increasingly testy Eastern Conference semifinal series with Pittsburgh.
Ovechkin’s initial shot smacked off the far post, but the Russian star stayed with the play and deftly flicked it into the open net.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t raise my arms up (after the first shot), you know to (celebrate) the play,” Ovechkin said of scoring his eighth goal of the playoffs to give the Capitals a 2-1 series lead. “Got lucky.”
Matt Niskanen, John Carlson and Chandler Stephenson also scored for Washington, which improved to 4-0 on the road in the post-season. Braden Holtby finished with 19 saves. Backstrom had three assists, including the helper on Ovechkin’s winner.
“It’s huge, huge goal,” Ovechkin said. “Obviously for our team, you know we want to win tonight and we did. It doesn’t matter what, it doesn’t matter who scored. We sacrifice. We play hard. And we have to do the same moving forward.” Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist also scored, and Evgeni Malkin played 19:07 in his return after missing three games with a lower-body injury.
Game 4 is in Pittsburgh on Thursday.