Murray stellar against bitter rivals
Tanev’s goal in third provides the cushion needed to secure win
WASHINGTON — The Penguins won the other big game Sunday.
The NHL pitted the Penguins against the Washington Capitals in the annual Super Bowl Sunday matinee at Capital One Arena. Despite a 12:30 p.m. start, the arena was rocking and the rivals were fired up for their first showdown of the season.
The first-place Capitals entered the day with a six-point lead in the standings. Alex Ovechkin, who recently passed Mario Lemieux on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, is on track for 50 goals again. Blueliner John Carlson could flirt with 100 points and win the Norris Trophy. Rookie goalie Ilya Samsonov has impressed.
The Penguins, meanwhile, went 8-3-1 in January and with Sunday’s 4-3 victory improved to 19-5-1 in their past 25 games, the league’s most wins since Dec. 4. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are healthy and back to being brilliant on many nights. And the Penguins have two quality goalies jostling for the starting gig.
“It’s two very good hockey teams led by more than two [stars], but obviously Sid and Alex always seem to command the most attention. I think there is a lot of star power on both sides,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “So it’s a great rivalry.”
Sunday’s game was a lot like many that the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division have played over the past 15 years. There were stretches of run-andgun hockey, seismic momentum swings, physicality and flaring tempers.
The Capitals dished out 47 hits, including a career-high 13 from Tom Wilson. There were 13 penalties. And after the win Crosby was still irked about a play along the
Penguins bench where T.J. Oshie’s stick somehow happened to get rammed into his midsection, then Crosby, on the bench, got called for holding his stick.
The Penguins took round one in large part due to the play of Matt Murray. He made 29 saves, several of them spectacular, to win his sixth consecutive start.
Murray, making his first start since Jan. 19, had to be sharp from start to finish. He fought off a Garnet Hathaway shot on an odd-man rush a few minutes in. During the second period, he squeezed his pads to stop a Jakub Vrana breakaway. And among his 11 saves in the third period was a sprawling stop on Ovechkin.
“He was spectacular. I think everyone’s super pumped for him,” Jack Johnson said. “He played the way we know he’s capable of playing every night.”
Murray with his improved play over the past month is making a case to reclaim the starting job from All-Star Tristan Jarry, and the most compelling argument has been Murray’s poise with the game on the line.
In his six starts since the NHL’s Christmas break, he has turned aside 78 of 82 shots in the third period.
Sure, the Capitals scored twice in the third Sunday. But if not for a few key stops by Murray with the Penguins scrambling all period, they probably lose.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a fluky goal six minutes into the third period to pull the Capitals within 3-2. His shot hit a skate and popped over Murray’s left pad.
Brandon Tanev scored with 2:33 left to give the Penguins a cushion. They ended up needing it. Lars Eller scored 15 seconds later to make it 4-3, stepping around Kris Letang then lasering a shot through Johnson’s legs, off of iron and in.
There were more anxious moments but the Penguins escaped with a huge win. Tanev’s goal ended up being the game-winner, his fourth of the season.
The Penguins led, 2-1, after one period. They answered Eller’s opening goal with scores from Sam Lafferty and Patric Hornqvist in a span of 54 seconds.
Dominik Simon’s third goal in seven games put them up, 3-1, in the second period.
The Capitals made them sweat in the third, in part because the Penguins couldn’t cash in on any of their seven power plays. But the Penguins got the W.
“The team just did a great job and battled. It wasn’t pretty all night, especially in the third,” Murray said. “They had us kind of running around a little bit. But we just battled and got the job done. We got some big blocks and big clears.”
The Metro rivals will butt heads three more times in the final 30 games. And with the way both teams are playing, another playoff showdown looks likely.
Home-ice advantage would be helpful in that potential second-round series. But Sullivan and the Penguins, now four points back of the Capitals with a game in hand, said it’s still too early to worry about where they sit in the standings.
“It’s not part of the conversation right now. We have so much hockey in front of us,” Sullivan said. “We’re just trying to get better every day. We’re trying to win that one game that’s right in front of us and we’ll see where that takes us.”
The Penguins next play Thursday when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.