The Pittsburgh Penguins have a choke hold on the Washington Capitals in their second round series. Overcoming the loss of their most indispensable player the Penguins clawed out a 3-2 overtime victory to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
That overtime goal by Patric Hornqvist was the first goal the Penguins have scored in playoff overtime since Brooks Orpik ended the Islanders season back in 2013. Pittsburgh had lost eight consecutive playoff overtime games. You could argue last night was the biggest win at the Consol Energy Center, ever.
No better time to celebrate the trade from December between the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins than now
Trevor Daley was the player that stepped up the most last night in Letang's absence. He played 28:41 and scored the first goal for the Penguins. He will never be the best defender and on most nights (including last night) will give up as many shot attempts as he generates, but he tries to make plays. I'm willing to live with the mistakes that come with a player who is trying to do that. That extends to players like Justin Schultz and Derrick Pouliot as well. Daley spent much of the evening matched up against the Ovechkin line and it was a very tough assignment as that line spent 70% of their time in the Penguins end. I wouldn't make a habit of giving Daley close to 30 minutes against top lines because I don't think that would end well over the long haul but it is nice to have a guy that can skate like him and make plays with the puck that can do it in a pinch. We all know what the alternative would have been like and for that Rutherford deserves full marks for swinging that trade in December.
What more can you say about Matt Murray? Murray gave the Penguins yet another quality start in the playoffs. That is now six out of the seven games played so far. That is how a team can go 7-2 to start the postseason. Matt Murray has given the Penguins a quality start in 16 of the 20 total games he has played this season. To put this into context Marc-Andre Fleury has made 18 playoff starts since 2013-14 and only has eight quality starts and those were the years that were considered an improvement in his playoff performance. From 2010-13 Fleury went 9/31 in quality starts. Matt Murray is the best playoff goaltender Pittsburgh has had since Fleury's 2007-08 season which was his career year.
*In order to record a Quality Start, the starting goalie must stop at least a league average number of shots (typically 91.3% prior to 2009-10, and 91.7% since), or play at least as well as a replacement-level goalie (88.5%) while allowing two goals or fewer*
There was a moment during the game last night that could have changed Pittsburgh's entire postseason. Sidney Crosby was slashed on the hand by Alex Ovechkin and immediately went to the runway smashing his stick against the wall multiple times.
He definitely felt in that moment his postseason was in question. The good news is that the numbness went away and he returned to game action. As for the slash? I don't like it but it happens a ton in every single NHL game. Chris Kunitz applied the same treatment to Alex Ovechkin earlier in the game.
As for Crosby's play it could be better. He did earn an assist on the Penguins first goal but he was ~40% possession player last night. He's certainly better than that.
Matt Cullen continues to play the role of an opportunistic assassin. The man knows how to finish off his chances. In one of the best sequences of the year he intercepted a puck in the defensive zone, went end to end, applied a velvet smooth curl and drag, and then ripped the puck off of the post so hard there might be a dent on it. It would have been a goal of the year candidate for the Penguins if it went in. What makes that play so important is the fact that Ben Lovejoy had a broken stick and Washington was applying some serious in zone pressure until Cullen picked that puck up and went the other way. There is no telling what could have happened had he not done that.
Here is that amazing sequence:
Cullen has been buried with defensive zone starts and the fact he continues to keep producing offense is such a bonus to the team. He is a prime example of the four scoring line approach and why it is so important.
Evgeni Malkin started to show some real signs of taking over a game last night despite not finding the score sheet. He does not have an easy task as he has the third best set of wingers on the team right now. I will continue to believe that Mike Sullivan needs to use Malkin more with Crosby at even-strength at random times throughout the game. It doesn't have to be a regular thing but it should happen at least once a period and definitely towards the end of games when they need a goal.
Malkin also shrugged off the one dimensional Tom Wilson while Wilson was trying to make a play within that dimension
The game winning goal was a very fortunate one for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Conor Sheary made a fairly weak keep in at the blue line which was mishandled by Mike Weber. Weber panicked and attempted to clear the puck to the corner. Patric Hornqvist just happened to be in the exact lane the puck was going to and made no mistake about it.
Plays like that can't be planned for in this sport. They just happen. That was a huge moment for the Penguins which started innocently enough for the Washington Capitals. Sudden death overtime is a cruel beast.
It was a great win for the Penguins but there were some bad spots. Derrick Pouliot did not have a great game. There were some errors that led to some quality chances for the Washington Capitals. The ones I have a big problem with were the ones that involved gap control in the neutral zone and losing coverages. I will live with the puck management stuff because it is a strength of his and he still made good plays on that front last night. The first Penguins goal was directly off a Pouliot controlled exit. Pouliot led all Pittsburgh defensemen with 20 shot attempts for when on the ice. He also had the second worst shot attempts against mark of 21. Only Ben Lovejoy was on the ice for more attempts against with 23. Pouliot plays high event hockey and some of those events aren't going to be good for the Penguins. The Penguins best chance to win is still with the high event mindset. A lot of people are quick to criticize players who actually go through passing progressions as opposed to the immediate dump it out off the glass approach. The players that go through progressions will make mistakes on occasion and they will look bad. The guys who bank it off the glass consistently are turning it over all the time, but that is shrugged off. Pouliot will have to clean up his gap control and coverage if he wants to play more hockey this season, but those aren't the easiest things to nail down when you haven't played for a month. If I were a betting man I would think Justin Schultz will stay in the lineup and Pouliot will be taking a seat.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have only combined for one goals and two assists in the four game this series yet the Penguins are up 3-1 on the President Trophy winners. In other years that would be the death of the team in the playoffs. Not so much when you employ actual hockey players up and down the line up.
The power play is 0-14 in the series. That is not good. So far it hasn't cost the team too much but you are really pressing your luck when playing against quality teams and coming up empty at that rate. Missing Letang cost the Penguins their ability to gain the zone with the man advantage with ease. The few times they were set up the players were stagnant and unwilling to shoot. This has been a trend at times all year. The power play guys have not done a good enough job of exposing two on one's and they deserve to be scoreless in the series.
On the flip side the Penguins penalty kill going 11 for 12 against the Capitals is excellent. Washington remains super dangerous on their power play but only have one goal in 12 opportunities to show for it. Matt Murray is the main reason for that. Penguins have to stop taking needless penalties like the Hagelin interference and the Hornqvist trip. Don't play with fire you don't have to.
Kris Letang will be back in the lineup on Saturday night and the Penguins will look to close out the Washington Capitals for the eighth time in nine postseason series.
If Alex Ovechkin is going to make the Conference Finals for the first time in his career he is going to need some help from his teammates. Beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in three consecutive games is going to be quite the mountain to climb.
Thanks for reading!
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