Penguins shut out Capitals in Game 7, advance to East final

Meanwhile, Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist scored the Penguins goals, while Fleury made 29 saves for his ninth career playoff shutout.

After going down 3-1 in the series, Washington kept its Stanley Cup dreams alive after winning Games 5 and 6, only to fall in Game 7 by a score of 2-0.

Meanwhile, the Penguins will take goals where they can get them, as they look to advance to another conference finals, and hope to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. It was the 10th road shutout in National Hockey League game seven history.

After the Caps were eliminated, coach Barry Trotz was asked about Ovechkin’s struggles and seemed to hint that something was off with his captain.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) talks with Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) after Game 7 in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinal, Wednesday, May 10, 2017, in Washington.

Who will come away with the big Game-7 win when the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals close their series tonight at 7:30PM ET?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury thanked his stick and flashed a smile so wide it could be seen through his mask.

Who: Pittsburgh Penguins vs.

Bryan Rust had three goals and one assist and Malkin had one goal and three assists for the Penguins against the Senators. Save for a couple of tight saves in the middle of Game 5 that kept the Capitals within striking distance, Holtby has rarely been tested. “He was huge for us all series long”. We win and lose as a team. The Senators won the first set in five games, in 2007, but then lost the next three, starting with a sweep in 2008 and including 2010 (six games) and 2013 (five games). Here are five reasons you should be confident heading into Game 7.

“It wasn’t like a hard shot, you would think a routine stop, just trickled and found its way”, he said.

As the puck bounces over Ovechkin, Cole is right there ready to step up and make a play.

After this loss – and especially after a postseason in which Ovechkin was demoted from the Caps’ top line – it just might be too much psychologically going forward. But the Capitals’ list of free agents includes Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams, Alzner, Daniel Winnik.Unless most or all of them return, Washington won’t be as formidable on paper next season. He got the shaft of his stick on Ovechkin’s wrist shot from the high slot.

“There was such a difference from Game 6, in scoring chances against, ” said Fleury.

“I don’t know whether from coaching or playing whether you get into a mental block or not”, said Bruce Boudreau, who coached in Game 7 four times with the Capitals and four times with the Ducks. I’m sure that you could poll 100 people, and 99 of them would say they’d rather play at home. In the conference semifinals, the Caps played the Penguins, whose 104-point performance was second-best in the Eastern Conference. Other than their two goals at the very end of the game, the Penguins let the Capitals walk all over them.

Relegated to backup duties when Matt Murray led the Penguins to their Cup win last spring, Fleury took over between the pipes when Murray suffered an undisclosed injury during the warmup of the Penguins first playoff game this spring. I didn’t think we’d be in this situation the way we were playing.

It is one of the more baffling questions in hockey. In seven career Game 7s, Williams has seven goals and seven assists, with a flawless 7-0 record.

Most obervers considered this his best shot, with a solid supporting cast, fresher legs due to some late-season rest and a maturing goalie in Holtby. F Carl Hagelin (lower-body injury) and Tom Kuhnhackl were scratched, replaced in the lineup by F Scott Wilson and F Carter Rowney, respectively.

The Ducks tied the game 8:55 into the second period.