Kovacevic: Penguins wait on Murray’s best, while Capitals have Holtby as ‘backbone’

The Pittsburgh Penguins blew a 3-2 lead on the way to a 6-3 loss at Washington on Saturday and now face elimination with the Capitols holding a 3-2 series edge.

Washington is 7-2 in its last nine games.

Averaging 27.5 saves per game with a.910 save percentage, Braden Holtby (41-23-5) has been the top option in goal for Washington this season.

With that, for the first time since 1998, the Capitals are headed to a conference final.

The speedy kid has played on every line on this team this year, and part-way through Saturday’s Game 5, he made his way onto that top line with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin, filling the vacancy caused by Tom Wilson, who served his second of a three-game suspension. “None of us have ever been there”. That set up a 2-on-1 breakaway, with Alex Ovechkin feeding Vrana for the deciding goal.

Vrana also posted two assists.

With Backstrom unable to play the final 13 minutes, Lars Eller double-shifted and Vrana looked like a ideal fit with Ovechkin and Kuznetsov. They’ve averaged the league’s second-most shots on goal (33.9) while the Capitals have attempted just the 31st-most (33.9).

Pittsburgh improved to 9-4 in the last 13 meetings at PPG Paints Arena, according to the OddsShark NHL Database, with a much-needed victory in Game 4 last Thursday. “We need to make sure we leave it all out there, give ourselves a chance to get back (to Washington)”.

The victory wasn’t just a measure of redemption for Ovechkin but for Trotz, who has won over 750 games in the regular season but never made it to a conference final.

Nashville now is 0-4 when trailing after two periods this postseason.

Sidney Crosby got the first one, deflecting a Phil Kessel shot in at 4:43, and then Patric Hornqvist shoved in an extra-man goal from Holtby’s left side. Pittsburgh had outshot Washington 18-3 in the second period. Backstrom sat out almost all of the third period on Saturday, after it appeared that he got hurt blocking a shot on (guess what) the penalty kill earlier in the game. Vrana got his second assist of the game on the play, springing Kuznetsov with a long pass. The Caps took a 3-2 series lead with a 6-3 win in game five. We knew it was going to be a tight series.

Crosby added, “It’s tough”. When we’re good in front of him, he’s a great goaltender. We felt like we could’ve won.

The Penguins opened as minus-235 favorites (wager $235 to win $100); the total is at six goals, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. “We knew it was there we just had to battle and we just had to fight through it”. That’s how close it is. It’s a good feeling getting by the Penguins because there’s a lot of skeletons in the closet.

Washington defenseman John Carlson and center Nicklas Backstrom are both dealing with upper body injuries, but each is listed as probable to play tonight.