Pittsburgh’s Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored a minute apart in the first period to set up the Penguins 3-2 win against Washington on Monday, taking a 2-1 lead in their NHL Stanley Cup playoff Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Matt Murray stopped 47 shots and Carl Hagelin added his third goal of the playoffs for Pittsburgh.
Alexander Ovechkin and Justin Williams scored in the third, but the Capitals find themselves in a deficit against a franchise they have beaten just once in eight previous playoff meetings.
The Penguins were hardly crisp, but turned Washington mistakes into goals, while Murray did the rest. The 21-year-old rookie moved Pittsburgh within two wins of a spot in the conference finals.
Playing with the urgency they lacked early in a 2-1 loss in Game 2, the Capitals outshot Pittsburgh 49-23 and outhit the Penguins 58-25. It hardly mattered.
The NHL’s best team during the regular season has just one goal in the past six periods against Murray, who is playing so well Marc-Andre Fleury — who dressed for the first time since suffering a concussion on March 31 — might want to get used to the view on the bench.
Wearing the same Pittsburgh gold uniforms that team owner Mario Lemieux wore during the club’s consecutive Stanley Cup runs in 1991 and 1992 — runs that included victories over Washington — it seemed like old times for the Penguins. The defense in front of Murray was steady, even with Derrick Pouliot making his playoff debut, replacing Maatta, who is out indefinitely after taking a shot to the head from Orpik.
Pittsburgh’s depth at the blue line could be tested in Game 4 after Letang made a run at Johansson, who was skating into the offensive zone when he was headed off by four Penguins. The puck was steered away and long gone by the time Letang turned toward Johansson and launched himself into the forward. Letang earned a penalty for interference and Johansson remained on the ice for several moments before skating away.
Johansson returned, but by then the Capitals were already on their heels after the Penguins counterattacked brilliantly. Sidney Crosby keyed a rush that ended with Conor Sheary chasing down a blocked shot in the corner and feeding it to Trevor Daley at the point. Hornqvist reached out and expertly smacked the puck off the ice, allowing it to skid right by Capitals goalkeeper Braden Holtby to give Pittsburgh a lead perhaps they did not deserve just 6 minutes, 37 seconds into the game.
A minute later, Washington’s deficit doubled when Nicklas Backstrom whiffed while trying to intercept Letang’s long stretch pass. The ensuing two-on-one ended with the puck smacking off Kuhnhackl’s back and into the net.
The Penguins made it 3-0 late in the second period. Nick Bonino drew Holtby out and then tucked the puck around the sprawled goaltender to Hagelin in front of the open net.
Ovechkin’s fourth of the post-season, a blur that whizzed by Murray’s mask 8 minutes, 2 seconds into the third, gave Washington momentum, but there was not enough time to catch up.
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