Eric Fehr on Saturday scored the winning goal against his former team to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals to tie the Eastern Conference second-round playoff series at a game apiece, while Tyler Johnson had two goals and an assist as Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 4-1 to level their series.
Already down a game, Kris Letang and the Pittsburgh Penguins suddenly were down a man, when Olli Maatta was leveled by a high hit from Washington’s Brooks Orpik less than five minutes in.
So the Penguins simply did what they have been doing for weeks and weeks now: They figured out a way to set aside a setback.
Photo: AP
Letang played more than 35 minutes to help make up for fellow defenseman Maatta’s absence before Fehr scored the winner with about 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.
The Penguins have not lost two consecutive games since mid-January, displaying the sort of resilience that teams hope to rely on at this time of year.
“If you have that ability, you give yourself a chance every night to win... You’ve got to bounce back, and we’ve done a good job of that all year,” Penguins star Sidney Crosby said, adding: “Hopefully, we continue to.”
Even Capitals coach Barry Trotz noted: “I sensed that they had a heightened sense of desperation.”
The series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 3 tonight.
Carl Hagelin put Pittsburgh ahead in the second period before Marcus Johansson pulled Washington even on a power play with about 16 minutes to go in the third.
Without Maatta, Letang took on an increased role, spending more than 8.5 minutes more in the game than any other player on either team and helping silence Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. In all, Pittsburgh dominated play for the first two periods, and 21-year-old rookie goalie Matt Murray finished with 23 saves.
Fehr helped, of course. He redirected a pass out of a corner from Evgeni Malkin, sending the puck off the right post and past goalie Braden Holtby. Fehr played parts of nine seasons in Washington across two stints before leaving as a free agent last summer.
“It does feel a little bit different” than other big goals, Fehr said, adding: “Obviously, I had a lot of years here.”
Jonathan Drouin and Victor Hedman each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay while Johnson, who scored an NHL-leading 13 goals in helping the Lightning reach the Stanley Cup final last season, had his sixth career playoff multi-goal game, and second this season.
“This was one we absolutely needed,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “They came down here probably saying, ‘Hey, if we can split it’s all good for us,’ and we’re probably a little disappointed that we split. But if you look at us after losing Game 1, we’re sitting there saying, ‘We have to have Game 2,’ and we got it.”
Nikolay Kulemin scored for the Islanders while Lightning goalie Ben Bishop rebounded after being pulled in Game 1 to make 19 saves.
“I thought it was closer than it indicated,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of the final score. “We’ve just got to bounce back. Guys have got to play a little better.”
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