Caps overtake Pens, Crosby to stay alive
It was quiet in the Washington locker room during the second intermission as the Capitals stared down the prospect of the end of their season.
A few minutes into the third period, the players made their home rink very, very loud.
Nicklas Backstrom changed the course of the game with the tying goal, and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored 27 seconds apart as the Capitals came back to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference semifinal on Saturday to avoid elimination.
Even as Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a boost with his return from his latest concussion, Washington goalie Braden Holtby had his strongest performance of the season, stopping 20 shots to help force a Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Monday.
Washington’s best players came to play when the moment was its biggest.
“That’s just what we need in these tight games,” said Andre Burakovsky, who scored in the first period and had another good game after replacing Ovechkin as the top-line left wing. “We need our best players to step up and do the hard work and be the difference makers. I think that’s what they were tonight.”
The Capitals solved Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed four goals on 32 shots after putting up a .937 save percentage in the first four games of the series.
Crosby contributed one assist, on a power-play goal by Phil Kessel that put the Penguins up 2-1 in the second.
Senators 5, Rangers 4: Kyle Turris scored 6:28 into overtime to lift host Ottawa into a 3-2 lead in the East semifinal series.
Derick Brassard tied the score with 1:26 left in the third period for the Senators. Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt also scored and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots. It was Ottawa’s fifth overtime win of the postseason.
Jesper Fast, Nick Holden, Ryan McDonagh and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves.
Michael Grabner appeared to win it for the Rangers less than 5 minutes into overtime, but the goal was disallowed because his redirection came on a high stick.
Turris then knocked the rebound of his own shot past Lundqvist to move the Senators one win away from their first conference finals appearance since 2007.