Big difference is showing
Washington has shown why it was the top team, but it is 0-2 in series
WASHINGTON — There’s a definite difference here. It might be as big as the fourgoal gulf that separated the teams who skated Saturday at Verizon Center, a 6-2 Penguins victory in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal that gave them a 2-0 lead in this series.
The Capitals are racking up shot attempts — 171 through two games — the way the Blue Jackets rang up hits. Same result, too. The Capitals outplayed the Penguins at the start and for stretches and look like darlings except when you turn your attention to the one stat that really matters — wins.
It’s not all that dissimilar to when you take a bigger-picture look at these franchises, either.
The Capitals have never won a Stanley Cup. They’ve been to one final. The Penguins, if they can figure out their starts, could become the first team to win back-toback Cup titles since the Red Wings in 1997-98. With a 2-0 series lead, the thought of a ninth playoff series win in 10 tries against the Capitals is more than just smoke.
The Penguins haven’t been perfect by any stretch, but they’re flashing something these Capitals, despite winning back-to-back Presidents’ Trophys, can’t lay claim to — a proven track record of winning in the playoffs.
“We were able to take advantage of a few chances tonight,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “That helped us win the game. But what I love about our team is just their competitive spirit and finding ways to win. We had a few guys go down through the course of the game tonight. The bench, it’s so great to listen to our players and how they support one another when they go over the boards. They’re a privilege to coach. They play hard for one another. I think that’s what makes our team what it is. I believe we have a unique chemistry. It’s fun to be a part of it.”
The players Sullivan mentioned were Patric Hornqvist, Tom Kuhnhackl and Ron Hainsey. All were hurt blocking shots. Sullivan did not have updates on any of them.
Another player who blocked a shot was Sidney Crosby. He tossed his body in front of a Justin Williams attempt, then poked the puck the other way, leading to a 2-on-1 rush and a Jake Guentzel goal.
Sullivan talks about resilience. Coming back from the abyss that was the Penguins first period in this one was more than that.
The Penguins were getting outshot, 23-6, and outattempted, 48-11, at one point. It may not have been that close.
But then Crosby tapped a puck between his legs, and Phil Kessel whipped a shot past Braden Holtby. This followed Matt Cullen winning a footrace with trade deadline darling Kevin Shattenkirk and scoring a short-handed goal.
The Penguins mustered just 45 shot attempts, giving them 86 in two games — or two fewer than the Capitals on this night. Didn’t matter. “It makes us a dangerous team,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “We don’t need to generate that many shots and still get good scoring chances.”
The Capitals are in a dangerous position.
Of the 87 times an NHL team has lost the first two games of a playoff at home, only 18 have come back to win the series, a mere 21 percent. The Penguins also went 31-6-4 on home ice in the regular season and have won all three playoff games played there this season.
Game 3 is Monday at PPG Paints Arena.
Whether they’ll have Hainsey appears iffy. He took an Alex Ovechkin onetimer to the back/side of his head in the third period.
Hornqvist was felled by a John Carlson slapper in the first. Kuhnhackl was sporting an ice bag on his wrist after and looked fine.
Without Hornqvist, one of their biggest battlers, the Penguins changed nothing. They awoke from another sleepy start and chased Braden Holtby with three goals on 14 shots.
They did it, too, on minimal chances.
“You look at tonight, it wasn’t a situation where you had chance after chance after chance,” Crosby said. “We got some good looks, and we put them in. It’s not always going to work like that, but you have to be able to win different ways. Tonight, with the start we had, we needed to be able to find a way to grab momentum back.”
And that’s the difference between these teams, one that has not yet figured out how to break through when times are tough. Another that does it with regularity.
“We have a gritty group,” Sullivan said. “They’re scrappy. It’s a never-say-die attitude. It’s not perfect by any stretch out there, and we’re aware of that. We know that. What I love about this group of players is that they respond the right way. They’ve shown an ability to do that time and time again. This group finds ways to have success.”