Pressure still on Caps, but spotlight is on Fleury in Game 6

Yes, the Capitals were ousted in this same round in this same game, the sixth of the series, to this same Penguins’ team a year ago. The Penguins went into the second intermission with a lead having won 37 of 39 games in that spot during the regular season and all six in the playoffs.

This win in Game 6 was the Capitals’ most impressive of the postseason as they controlled play the entire night and didn’t allow the Penguins to possess the puck long enough to score until the game was out of hand with less than four minutes left. The Capitals are averaging 3.2 goals per game and are scoring on 23.1 percent of their power play opportunities. The Capitals’ top-line center carried the puck up the ice, executed a give-and-go with Burakovsky and beat Fleury for the tying goal at 2:49 of the third.

“We were sort of stuck in that two- and three-goal area and in a very important moment in the third period obviously in an important game, our guys delivered against him, so I think that gives us a boost of confidence”. After the second, goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury threw his arms out helplessly by his sides as gold-clad fans streamed toward the exits.

With Evgeny Kuznetsov bumped up to the top man-advantage unit, he got a pass from Backstrom below the goal line and then set up an Oshie snap shot from the slot. Can they do it again? On Monday night, he took a cross-check to the head from Washington’s Matt Niskanen in Game 3 in Pittsburgh and missed Game 4 Wednesday.

It went Crosby to Malkin to Kessel for the power play goal. Sullivan said being up in the series didn’t factor into the decision for Crosby or Sheary being available.

Pittsburgh’s first shot in the opening 17 minutes was a 136-foot flip by Brian Dumoulin that made its way to Braden Holtby, who easily stopped it for the first of his 16 saves. “They’re going to bring it”. Remember their ability? Appearing Monday, for maybe the first time since the postseason began, was the best team in hockey over the course of 82 games. He was the much hotter goaltender than reigning Vezina Trophy victor and again finalist Braden Holtby, who outdueled him in an emotional Game 5 as the Capitals avoided elimination.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan tinkered with his line combinations reuniting the “HBK” line (Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel) that played an instrumental part in the team’s Cup run last spring.

“We’ve grown through our past a little bit, I guess”, Coach Barry Trotz said. Alex Ovechkin finally got another goal in the series, scoring the insurance goal just 27 seconds later. That is something that they will have to clean up heading into Game 7 at Verizon Center. Washington has been dominant in a way that no other club in the second round has, which is somewhat shocking given the Capitals are up against a team that was, for some, the favorite to win the Stanley Cup for the second-straight season and remains the favorite as we head towards Game 6.

Vesey pulled the Rangers in front 4-3 with his first career playoff goal when he pounced on a rebound of Brady Skjei’s shot.

“There’s only so much you can take from those lines when you look at them because a lot can change”, Hagelin said. The three third-period goals came on five shots over a span of 5:02, including Kuznetsovs goal from a super-sharp angle. Later on, Crosby got took a vicious hit headfirst into the boards on a collision from Capitals defenseman John Carlson and Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist.