Penguins still in OK shape

on an even better chance. He topped himself at 2-2 when he turned back Mr. Clutch, Bonino.

Washington tied it when Backstrom beat Fleury off the rush, on a short wrist shot. Give Capitals coach Barry Trotz some credit, too. He made the gutsy call to drop Ovechkin from the Backstrom line and replace him with Burakovsky.

Holtby thought his teammates were more patient Saturday, not settling for the first opportunity but looking for better shots. Eller agreed.

“I’ll put it like this: The Pens have certainly blocked a lot of shots, and that’s kind of been killing plays for us,” Eller said. “We did a better job.”

The Capitals earned it. They finally found a way to beat Fleury. They might have a hot goalie on their hands, and they aren’t lacking for confidence. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan reported Kuznetsov guaranteed an Ovechkin goal Saturday and promises two more Monday.

Will it mean anything when the puck drops for Game 6? Will any of it translate? “Our plan,” said Penguins winger Carl Hagelin, “is to go home and win a game in Pittsburgh.”

I’d still bet on the Penguins, with all that experience and recent playoff success at PPG Paints Arena. I still like them to end it.

But I have to admit: I’m stunned they didn’t end it here Saturday night. the real backbreaker, the goal that got the ball rolling.

Washington attacked with far too much ease, a theme for parts of this night. With Backstrom in the left circle, Marc-Andre Fleury had a clean look but couldn’t stop it.

“They kept coming at us,” Fleury said. “They put the puck on net. Some that I would like to have back. That’s what happens.”

Until that Backstrom goal, the Penguins actually attacked quite a bit, the mentality that had staked them to a 2-1 lead in the first place. Then, things changed.

“I thought that goal was avoidable,” Sullivan said. “We gave them life. Give them credit. They have good players. They scored a couple of key goals to get them back in the game. I think a lot of the third period, we had some pushback. We had some opportunities. We had some real high-quality chances. We didn’t convert.”

The Penguins did convert early. Carl Hagelin picked up a goal in the first – off a slick, no-look feed from Bonino – while Phil Kessel completed a pretty sequence of powerplay passing in the second period. But that was it. Evgeny Kuznetsov threw a bad-angle shot at Fleury that snuck through, and Ovechkin followed his own rebound and roofed it for the final margin.

Three excellent players all performing their best. It hasn’t happened a ton for Washington in this series.

And that doesn’t take into account goaltender Braden Holtby, who was likely the Capitals best player in stopping 20 of 22 shots. He was certainly better than Fleury, who allowed four goals on 32 shots.

Yet nobody inside the Penguins seemed all that up in arms. Sure, they stubbed their toe on a chance to convert a series-clinching kick, but nothing that transpired here torpedoed their belief that this is a perfectly winnable series.

“They made the most of that momentum swing,” Hagelin said. “They took this win. Our focus is on the next game.”

The Penguins’ focus will be continuing to look good on the power play, which certainly happened. It will also be continuing to rely on Sidney Crosby; he returned from a one-game absence from a concussion and picked up right where he left off with an assist.

Evgeni Malkin, too, recorded a helper to stretch his NHL lead in playoff points to 17 in 10 games.

The Penguins have a challenge ahead of them. Their defensemen need to tighten a few gaps, and everybody could stand to play with the puck a bit more.

“We’re spending a little too much time in our zone,” Bonino said. “I think we can end plays sooner. They’re not getting just one shot. They’re retrieving pucks, they’re retrieving all the rebounds and getting them back to the net. If we can make them one-and done, maybe that would help us.”

Freaking out over one loss would not.

And it seems the Penguins are keenly aware that they have another gear to reach.

“It’s a good team down there,” Olli Maatta said. “It’s not going to be easy. We knew that coming into the games. At the same time, I don’t think we played our best game. I don’t think we’ve shown our best yet.”