Patric Hornqvist scored 2 minutes, 34 seconds into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins seized a 3-1 series lead over NHL regular-season champions the Washington Capitals, winning 3-2 in Game Four of the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Wednesday.
“It’s huge, obviously — 3-1 is a lot more desirable than 2-2, but we know we’ve got a lot of work left to do,” said Penguins rookie goaltender Matt Murray, who made 34 saves. “ We know nothing’s done.”
The Penguins, winners of 21-of-25 dating back to the regular season, had lost eight consecutive overtime playoff games until Capitals defenseman Mike Weber accidentally tapped the puck on Hornqvist’s stick for a wrist shot that beat goaltender Braden Holtby through his legs.
Photo: AP
“It was obviously great to see the puck go in, we win the game and we’re up 3-1,” Hornqvist said. “I tried to shoot it as hard as I could.”
Pittsburgh-native Weber, back in the lineup for the first time since the opening-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers, was trying to get the puck out when it flew directly to Hornqvist in the right circle for his fifth goal of the playoffs and first playoff overtime winner.
“It’s what probably any defenseman would have done in that situation — the puck’s rolling around and you’re trying to poke it out of the danger zone,” Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It just so happens the guy [Hornqvist] is flying in there.”
Murray withstood a Capitals goal by center Jay Beagle less than three minutes into the game to win for the 13th time in his past 14 starts and the Penguins withstood the loss of star defenseman Kris Letang to a one-game suspension.
“We didn’t take advantage of it [Letang’s absence],” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “Now we’ve dug ourselves a hole. We’ll see if we can dig ourselves out.”
Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who did not score, despite getting seven shots on net, said the Capitals know a comeback from a 3-1 deficit can be achieved — the New York Rangers accomplished it against them last season.
“We’ve got to play our game. We got to go period by period and try to turn it around, win the next game,” Ovechkin said.
The Penguins, who lost 3-1 series leads to Tampa Bay in 2011 and the Rangers in 2014, have won seven of eight previous playoff series against the Capitals.
However, this was supposed to be the best Capitals team ever — they put up 120 points during an NHL season in which no other team managed even 110.
Now the Capitals must win three straight against a surging opponent to keep their season going.
“It’s not the best place to be, but we’re proud of our game and, at some point, we’ve got to dig deeper and work harder and find a way, no matter what,” Washington defenseman John Carlson said.
All four games in the series have been decided by one goal and Game Five could be another close one in Washington tomorrow.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
RSS