Wild ride ends 9-game streak
PITTSBURGH — Both teams had scored touchdowns — and extra points — so sudden-death overtime had to settle it. The next goal would really be the one to win it.
And after a goal-scoring clinic, a bounce decided it. A shot by Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary was initially stopped but then slowly dribbled past the goal line after going off the skate of Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen just 34 seconds into overtime, lifting the Penguins to an 8-7 win and ending the Capitals’ seasonbest nine-game winning streak.
Was that one of the crazier games Justin Williams has been a part of in his 16-year career? “Yep,” he said. “Yeah, that’s safe to say,” Lars Eller agreed.
Both teams got a point, deserved for how many goals each scored. The Capitals had been up by three, then were suddenly down by two before storming back to tie it, twice.
“It was like a 1988 Smythe Division game out there, I think,” forward Justin Williams said. “Not something we want to do.”
Said Niskanen: “Score seven goals, that’s probably a pretty dang good night. I don’t know. A lot of stuff going on in that game. There was emotion, it got a little chippy for a while, physical. I don’t know. A lot of stuff, all in one.”
Sidney Crosby’s third-period goal gave the Penguins their second twogoal cushion. But in a game where a trip to the restroom might have caused you to miss two goals, there was no reason to think a 7-5 lead with 14:05 left in the third period would last. T.J. Oshie promptly punched in a rebound on a power play, and then the madness was extended with an Eller wrister on a marathon shift with 5:22 left in regulation.
Evgeni Malkin completed a hat trick with three goals, all in the second period, but Pittsburgh fans’ celebration was delayed, probably because it had been difficult to keep track of the flurry of scoring and who had provided it.
Washington entered the game with the league’s top defense, shut- Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin celebrates his second goal of the second period. Malkin would go on to complete a hat trick in that period. ting out four of its previous six opponents and not allowing an evenstrength goal in nearly 299 minutes of even-strength ice time. That run ended in a blaze of red goal lights, as the Capitals suddenly allowed five unanswered in 8:09 in the second period.
Washington coach Barry Trotz said he thought his top-six forwards were outplayed by the Penguins’ top two lines, something he attributed to fatigue after the team played Sunday afternoon. The Capitals have had a game every other day this month.
Goaltender Braden Holtby entered the game undefeated in his past five starts with a .978 save percentage and a 0.60 goals against average, having allowed just three goals since Jan. 3. By the time the second period was over, he was on the bench in a baseball cap, yanked in favor of Philipp Grubauer.
Washington was up 3-0 before the Penguins tied it up with three goals in 2:27. Malkin’s one-timer got the Penguins’ scoring started, followed by a Sheary tip-in of a Crosby pass. Then a Justin Schultz shot bounced off Nick Bonino’s chest, landing at his feet for him to shoot past Holtby from point-blank range to tie the game.
More bounces went against the Thursday, 8 p.m. TV: Comcast SportsNet Capitals, as Pittsburgh took a lead when Bryan Rust’s backhand pass from behind the net went off Alex Ovechkin’s skate and past Holtby. Malkin then scored his second goal 50 seconds later, triggering the benching of Holtby.
“The first goal, I feel I should have all the time,” Holtby said. “The second goal is a great play by them, then three weird goals after that — while I was in there. I’ve been saying that the past little run we’ve been on, we’ve had luck go our way for the most part. Tonight, it kind of all came at once.
“We battled back and got a point, which is great, but it shouldn’t have gotten to that and Grubi shouldn’t have had to go in. It was my fault.”
Suddenly down two goals, the Capitals responded. Brett Connolly tipped in a Taylor Chorney slap pass 15:07 into the second period, and then Eller scored a short-handed goal, a fittingly quirky way to tie the game.
But then, with 2:41 left in the second period, Malkin scored his third goal of the game, on the power play, to restore a Pittsburgh lead and cap off a wild nine-goal second period. The game was far from over at the point.
“Just stay in it because you know the next shot might go in,” Williams said.