Crosby scores twice as Penguins beat Caps
WASHINGTON — Sidney Crosby scored two goals in 52 seconds, Nick Bonino had the winner in the third period and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 1 of their secondround playoff series on Thursday night.
Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin got much of the buzz heading into the showdown of two of NHL’s best teams, and Ovechkin collected his fourth goal of the playoffs. Evgeny Kuznetsov tied it in the third, but Marc-Andre Fleury made 15 of his 32 saves in the final period to help the defending Stanley Cup champions to the victory.
Crosby was a threat to score just about every time he touched the puck. He beat Braden Holtby with his first two shots of the second period.
Holtby stopped 18 shots, but he allowed Bonino’s goal at 12:36. Game 2 is Saturday night. The Capitals had waited since their Game 6 overtime loss to the Penguins a year ago for another shot at them, and coach Barry Trotz was among many who said it felt right for these teams to meet again. The NHL’s divisional playoff format put the top two teams in the regular season on this crash course to meet in the second round for one of the most anticipated series since, well, last year.
A red-rocking Verizon Center was electric through a goal-less first period, and the sellout crowd got a chance to boo quickly in the second period. When Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen lost the puck battle with Patric Hornqvist in the neutral zone, Crosby finished on a 2-on-1 with Jake Guentzel 12 seconds in.
As public-address announcer Wes Johnson was just finishing announcing that goal, Holtby allowed a juicy rebound off Olli Maatta’s point shot that Hornqvist corralled and fed to Crosby for his second of the night. Within the first 64 seconds of the second period, Crosby had as many goals as he had points in the Penguins’ series against the Capitals last year.
Two days after saying he enjoys the battle against Crosby, Ovechkin answered in vintage fashion 18:17 into the second, firing a snap shot short side on Fleury. It was Ovechkin’s 11th goal in 14 career playoff games against Pittsburgh.
Then Kuznetsov scored his first, finishing a powerful shift by hitting the empty net at 8:05 of the third period off a tape-to-tape pass from Niskanen. Bonino untied it with 7:24 left , taking a pass along the boards from Scott Wilson and beating Holtby.
Fleury made a flurry of five saves with 3 minutes left to preserve the victory.
SENATORS 2, RANGERS 1
In Ottawa, Ontario, Erik Karlsson scored on a bad-angle shot with 4:11 left in the third period, sending the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in the opener of their second-round playoff series on Thursday night.
The Senators captain beat fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist from just above the goal line. The shot pinged off Rangers center Derek Stepan before going into the net.
“Just wanted to get the puck in there and hope for a good bounce and got a great bounce,” Karlsson said. “Those are always nice to get. And I think that the amount of pucks that we put at the net we deserved one of those.”
It was Karlsson’s first goal and seventh point of the playoffs. The 26-year-old defenseman, who has been playing with a foot injury, also logged more than 28 minutes in the win. Game 2 is Saturday. “I think the players didn’t want to get swept in four,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “We heard from everybody how good they are. It’s all you could hear is how much they’re going to crush us.”
Ryan McDonagh scored for New York, and Lundqvist finished with 41 saves.
Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, which eliminated Boston in six games in the first round.
The Senators, playing in front of several empty seats, had a chance for a fast start, but went 0 for 3 on the power play during a scoreless first period.
The 35-year-old Lundqvist was terrific, especially early on. He made 21 saves in the first, including a pair of stops on Mark Stone during a flurry around the net on Ottawa’s first power play.