Capitals overwhelm Penguins 5-2 to force Game 7
PITTSBURGH: The Washington Capitals are well aware of their franchise’s inglorious past, one filled with unmet expectations and gut-wrenching collapses.
And they do not care. It is not 1992. It is not 1996, 2009 or 2016 for that matter.
The Capitals have spent the better part of the season insisting this time, things will be different. That they are not burdened by the weight of the team’s history of playoff flameouts, one most of the guys in red, white and blue had nothing to do with.
Backed up to the precipice against a rival that has tormented them for decades, the Capitals finally punched back. Hard.
Andre Burakovsky scored twice, Nicklas Backstrom got his sixth of the playoffs and Washington beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Monday night to force a Game 7 in their seesawing NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series.
This is the fourth time the two teams will meet in a winner-take-all. The Penguins have won each of the previous three. Not that it bothers the Capitals.
“I haven’t been here forever but, one, I’ve never been in a Game 7,” said Washington forward T.J. Oshie, who opened the scoring with a first-period power-play goal. “Two, I’ve never been past the second round. I know how much it would mean to me and I imagine it would be the same to every guy in this locker room.”
The Capitals are as close as they have been to their first appearance in the conference finals in 19 years after rallying from a 3-1 series deficit by sprinting by Pittsburgh in the third period at home in Game 5 and then delivering a masterful performance 48 hours later in a city that’s often been a burial ground for oncepromising seasons.
A year ago, Washington trailed Pittsburgh 3-1 in the second round, won Game 5 at home only to fall in overtime of Game 6. Intent on not repeating history yet again, the Capitals jumped on the defending Stanley Cup champions early and did not relent until the things were well in hand and a once raucous arena was largely empty.
“Since Game 3 we’ve had a sense of calm- ness about what we’re doing,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. “We’re having fun now. The fun part has been the obstacle.” bid, certainly knowing this is the kind of win he would love to be a part of — the US has not hosted a Summer Games since 1996 — even if he plays a nominal role.
COST: Los Angeles is pledging to stage the Games for a grand total of $5.3 billion, which would be around one-third of what Tokyo, is expected to spend for 2020. It is a claim that speaks to Bach’s mandate to keep costs down and stop spending billions on stadiums that do not get used much once the Olympics end.
A strong point of the Los Angeles bid, certain to be showcased during the visit, is that 95 percent of the proposed venues are already built, including the Los Angeles Coliseum, which would host the opening ceremonies, same as it did in 1932 and 1984.
TRAFFIC: The 2016 cinematic tribute to the sort of dreams that can come true in Los Angeles, “La La Land,” opened, fittingly enough, with a musical number taking place amid gridlocked cars on the freeway during rush hour. That traffic is as much a symbol of LA as the “Hollywood” sign or the NBA’s Lakers, and it is certain officials will do their best to keep their guests far away from the snarls this week.
Jake Guentzel picked up his playoffleading ninth goal and Evgeni Malkin added another 52 seconds later late in the third period to make the score look slightly better, but the Penguins were never in it. The Capitals controlled play throughout. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 21 saves and received little help in front him.
“I think we were probably guilty of making a few mistakes early on and then probably chasing our mistakes after that,” said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby, who had an assist in 20 minutes but was largely a non-factor in his second game back after missing Game 4 with a concussion.
Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan tinkered with his line combinations, reuniting the “HBK” line (Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel) that played an instrumental part in the team’s Cup run last spring. Sullivan also moved rookie Guentzel alongside Malkin and put Conor Sheary with Crosby.
None of it worked as Washington pushed the Penguins around.
Pittsburgh’s first shot in the opening 17 minutes was a 136-foot flip by Brian Dumoulin that made its way to Braden Holtby, who easily stopped it for the first of his 16 saves. By then the Capitals already had a 1-0 lead on Oshie’s fourth of the playoffs, and this time, there would be no response by the Penguins.
Pittsburgh had trouble executing even the simplest of plays. Defenseman Ron Hainsey went to boards to retrieve a loose puck in the Penguins end only to get checked by Burakovsky, who skated away with the puck and stuffed a shot past Fleury 6:36 into the second.
Holding two-goal leads in the postseason has been a tenuous proposition at best, with 13 times teams letting them away so far in the postseason.
The bid promises to bring 100 percent of ticketed spectators to competition sites by public transportation or systems designed for spectators, such as shuttle buses. There are also memories of 1984, when traffic was not much of a problem in part because many of the locals left town or stayed off the freeways.
ENTHUSIASM: Time and again bid leaders have touted a poll, conducted by Loyola Marymount University, which found 88 percent of respondents wanted Los Angeles to host the Olympics.
As the vote and any potential Games get closer, those numbers will certainly change.
Already in question is an LA24 claim that more than 1 million Facebook users said they wanted to see the Olympics in Los Angeles.
A report prepared for The Associated Press last month found that Los Angeles saw an explosion of support over a six-week period from places such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Indonesia. In Bangladesh, for instance, supporters of the bid rose from a few dozen to more than 113,000 in the span of six weeks. Lstands by the numbers.