Penguins make crucial errors
Penguins dynasty?
No, no, no, they insisted to a man.
“I think we can build a lot of confidence,” Mike Sullivan said. “There was a whole lot of this game that we really liked. It might have been our best game of the series.”
It’s true, the Penguins outplayed the Capitals for much of the night. But the mistakes they made turned out to be killers. Dominik Simon had one early. Kris Letang had two in the third period. Phil Kessel had one late.
“I think we deserved better,” Olli Maatta said. “We kind of beat ourselves.”
There was no “kind of” about it.
The Penguins were dominating the game when Simon was penalized at 17:11 of the first period for tripping Matt Niskanen in the offensive zone. They led, 1-0, and would have led by more if Riley Sheahan, Jake Guentzel and Derick Brassard had been able to convert terrific scoring chances. But Washington’s John Carlson didn’t waste his opportunity, blowing a shot by Matt Murray for a power-play goal. Brett Connolly followed with another goal just 33 seconds later to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.
So much for the Penguins’ momentum.
“You don’t like to take penalties in the offensive zone,” Sullivan said. “But I think it was a hockey play. Both of those guys were battling for position and they called a penalty on our guy. Sometimes, that happens. Obviously, they scored. But there’s a lot of hockey left.”
The Penguins threatened to blow the Capitals out of the building in the second period, outshooting them, 18-5, and taking a 3-2 lead on goals by Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist. “The second period might have been the best period we played in a long time,” Sullivan said. “We did a lot of really good things out there.”
Not so many in the third period.
For the second time in the series, the Penguins couldn’t protect a lead in the third period. We are talking about a team that was 24-0-2 during the regular season when leading after two periods.
“A couple of breakdowns,” Brian Dumoulin said. “They’re a very skilled team. They’re going to bury those chances.”
Letang’s two blunders were awful. He was such a great player last season before his major neck injury that I didn’t think the Penguins could win the Stanley Cup without him. But he has been so up-and-down this season — and man, he was really down Saturday night — that I’m wondering if they can win it with him.
Letang misread a play early in the third period, going to the same side of the ice as his partner, Dumoulin. That led to a breakaway by Evgeny Kuznetsov, who beat Murray with a backhander for a 3-3 tie just :52 in.
“I think we were both in between,” Dumoulin said. “That’s something we have to sort out.”
Letang struck again on what turned out to be the Capitals’ winning goal when he lost track of Jakub Vrana, who converted a brilliant pass from Alex Ovechkin for an easy tap-in goal. Kessel’s mistake came a few moments later in the Penguins’ offensive zone when he had the puck taken from him by T.J. Oshie, who then scored an easy empty-net goal. Kessel finished minus-4, as did Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin.
You think the Capitals were more opportunistic than the Penguins? You bet they were. Vrana’s goal came just seconds after Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby stopped Dumoulin on a breakaway. Oshie’s empty-netter came a minute after Maatta shot wide at a virtual open net after a wonderful pass from Malkin.
“You see the winning goal,” Crosby said. “We had a great chance and it goes back the other way. That’s how close it is. This time of year, it’s always a game of inches.”
So now the Penguins must win two games to keep their bid alive for a Cup three-peat. They’ve been in this situation just once before under Sullivan, when they won Games 6 and 7 in 2016 against Tampa Bay. They will count on that experience Monday night and on the fact they have beaten the Capitals nine times in 10 playoff series, including the past seven.
“We didn’t come out with the result we were looking for,” Sullivan said as the last of the crowd was leaving the arena. “But I know our group is capable and our players know that, as well.”