Penguins dazzle on defense
Mike Sullivan knows his team is “wired” for offense, as tends to happen when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and — increasingly — Jake Guentzel on your roster.
Yet the Pittsburgh Penguins have proved during their two-year run atop the NHL they know what they’re doing at the other end of the ice too, playing with a discipline that’s more grit than glamour.
Their hopes for a historic three-peat remain alive because of it.
Guentzel scored twice and the Penguins held Washington star Alex Ovechkin without a shot on goal for only the third time in 107 career playoff games to grind out a 3-1 victory in Game 4 on Thursday night at Pittsburgh to even their typically taut Eastern Conference semifinal.
Pittsburgh held Washington to three shots in the third period.
“It’s like we played Game 7 tonight,” said Malkin, who scored from his belly late in the second period to put Pittsburgh in front to stay. “Unbelievable.”
This is what tends to happen when the two longtime rivals meet in the postseason. Washington edges ahead and the Penguins respond immediately, one of the main reasons Pittsburgh is 9-1 all time against the Capitals in the playoffs.
Plenty of work remains to be done for Washington to shrug off the weight of its ignominious history and for the Penguins to push their bid for a three-peat to the next round. Yet Pittsburgh laid down the blueprint over three periods that were decidedly tamer than the Game 3 chaos caused in large part by Washington forward Tom Wilson’s illegal high hit that left rookie Zach Aston-Reese with a broken jaw and led the league to suspend Wilson for three games.
While Sullivan downplayed the impact of Wilson’s absence, the pushing and shoving was largely kept to a minimum save for a scrap between Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Washington’s T.J. Oshie as Guentzel skated down the ice to flip in an empty-net goal with 58 seconds to go.
For the Penguins, the stakes — as they so often have during Sullivan’s tenure — far outweighed any search for retribution.
“We understood it’s a huge game for us,” Malkin said.
Instead the teams head to Washington for Game 5 on Saturday night all tied up, the ninth time in 11 postseason meetings the series will go at least six games.
Nashville 2, at Winnipeg 1: Pekka Rinne made 32 saves, P.K. Subban and Ryan Hartman scored and the Predators held off a late charge by the Jets to even their second-round series through four games.
Patrik Laine scored off a faceoff in the final minute, but Nashville’s Nick Bonino won two key faceoffs after that to end it.
Game 5 will be Saturday in Nashville.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots, but Nashville ended Winnipeg’s 13game home winning streak, which dated to March 2.
Rinne gave up five goals amid a series of defensive miscues in a 7-4 Game 3 defeat. He rebounded impressively behind a team that was much sharper in its own end.
The Jets found far less space in the neutral zone, but also saw a couple of golden opportunities bounce over their sticks.
Rinne made an amazing save on Josh Morrisey’s backhand chance in the first period, batting the puck with the butt end of his stick.