Capitals don’t have answer for Penguins’ ‘compete level — LOVERRO

Then, after the Capitals tied the game, the Penguins jumped ahead on Phil Kessel’s bullet off Sidney Crosby’s assist, and made it 3-1 when Crosby blocked a shot and made a diving play to move the puck to Jake Guentzel, who streaked down the right side on a 2-on-1 and beat Holtby low to the short side. If Pittsburgh’s defense does just enough to quiet the Capitals’ talented scorers as it did Thursday night, it’s going to be pretty hard for Washington to claim its first playoff win over the Pens since 1994, especially as the series hits the road.

Pittsburgh now lead the series 1-0 with Game 2 on Saturday in D.C.

OTTAWA, Ontario – Jean-Gabriel Pageau got his fourth goal of the game in the second overtime after scoring twice late in regulation, lifting the Ottawa Senators over the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Sidney Crosby assisted on goals by Kessel at 13:04 and Guentzel at 16:14 to make it 3-1.

Crosby set up two goals and the Penguins chased Holtby in a 6-2 victory Saturday night in Game 2, taking a commanding 2-0 lead back home. Within the first 64 seconds of the second period, Crosby had as many goals as he had points in the Penguins’ series against the Capitals past year. “It’s not flawless by any stretch out there”. It’s not ideal by any stretch out there, and we’re aware of that, we know that, but what I love about this group of players is that they respond the right way. They would advance in 5 games, with Fleury playing significantly better than Bobrovsky.

Holtby, who is 7-4 with a 2.62 goals-against average and.911 save percentage in eight games in these playoffs after putting up far better numbers in previous postseasons, took the blame for not making a save on the Penguins’ third goal in Game 2.

Like in Game 1, Washington was the more aggressive team from the start but struggled to turn that into goals.

“Yes, absolutely”, Trotz said when asked if Holtby remained the Caps’ starter. “He’s a game-changer for us, and so when he didn’t change the game, I just looked to change the mojo there a little bit, that’s all”. The Capitals didn’t see him a year ago because Murray didn’t cede the net, but the Fleury has been so good there has been no drop-off.

Holtby’s replacement, Philipp Grubauer gave up two goals on nine shots against.

“It’s been so consistent that I guess I got used to it”, Boucher said.

While Fleury is a Cup winning goalie, he has lost his starting job to rookie Matt Murray, and I believe it is unanimously agreed upon that Holtby is the best goalie in the series. “It’s fun to win”. “I think that would be our biggest mistake is to get frustrated right now”, said T.J. “It’s not always going got work like that, but you have to be able to win different ways and with the start we had we needed to find a way to get momentum back”. He has a.934 save percentage in six playoff games. Hagelin will be a game-time decision to return to the PenguinsÕ lineup for Game 2 against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, April 29, 2017.

“Haggy’s a great two-way player”, Kessel said. After a scramble in front, Matt Niskanen gained control of the puck on the right-wing boards and made a flawless pass across the slot to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who one-timed the puck into a wide-open net.

To be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs. Fleury was up to the challenge stopping 70 of 72 shots in the first two games of the series, pushing Pittsburgh to a 2-0 series lead.