Capitals advance to East finals
A cathartic celebration 20 years in the making began with a poke of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s stick. It built as the puck that Kuznetsov tapped away from Sidney Crosby made its way to Washington teammate Alexander Ovechkin.
It neared its crescendo as Ovechkin flipped it back to Kuznetsov, who, at this point, had split two Penguins and was streaking toward the Pittsburgh net. And it culminated jubilantly and unexpectedly in the corner moments later, with the puck in the net and Kuznetsov’s teammates mobbing him after he ended two decades of frustration with a flick of the wrist.
The ghosts of past playoff failures, many of them at the hands of the Penguins, were gone. Dispatched over the course of six games of grit and guile, the last a 2-1 overtime win in Game 6 on Monday night in Pittsburgh that gave Washington a 4-2 series victory and a spot in the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay.
“It’s pretty emotional,” Kuznetsov said after his seventh goal of the playoffs 5:27 into overtime pushed the Capitals into the NHL’s final four for just the third time in franchise history. “I don’t really have a word for it.”
Predators force Game 7: Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, Pekka Rinne stopped 34 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs, and visiting Nashville beat Winnipeg 4-0 to force a decisive Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.
Viktor Arvidsson also scored twice, including a late empty-netter, and added an assist for the Predators. Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen each had two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots for the Jets.
Game 7 is Thursday at Nashville, with the winner advancing to face the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals.
Neither Nashville nor Winnipeg has won consecutive games in the semifinal series.