PITTSBURGH, PA – Despite having their best regular season ever, the Washington Capitals blew their chance of winning the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs with an overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6.
Pens’ Nick Bonino’s goal 6:32 into overtime gave the Penguins a 4-3 win and eliminated the Capitals in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins won the best-of-7-series 4-2 and advance to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final. Pittsburgh last made the conference final in 2013, when it was swept by the Boston Bruins, according to this website.
“It’s the best feeling in the game right there, to win a series and have your teammates around you,” Bonino said. “I can’t put it into words right now. I still have chills, a little bit.”
The Pens came out of Game 6 with a 4-3 victory in the game, ending the Caps season on the road and in overtime for a second straight spring.
Bonino was able to put back the rebound of a point blank Carl Hagelin shot to douse the Caps playoff hopes for the 2015-16 season.
Shock is one of many emotions being felt by the team, said Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen.
“It hurts. It’s amazing how when the series kind of doesn’t go your way, how fast it can slip away. I don’t think we’ve comprehended what’s happened yet,” said Niskanen.
After letting the Pens create a 3-0 deficit before the midpoint of the second frame, the Capitals rallied valiantly to tie the game in the third frame and send Game 6 into overtime. But playing without key blueline player Karl Alzner for most of the game, the Caps seemed ill-equipped to deal with the Pens in overtime, and Pittsburgh’s speedy trio, Bonino, Hagelin and Phil Kessel, ultimately did in the Caps.
Effective at neutralizing Pittsburgh’s dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Caps limited the two top Pens pivots to just one goal, a Malkin tally in Game 1, in the six-game series. But the speedy trio gave the Caps fits in this series, and in particular in Game 6 when those three accounted for all four Pittsburgh goals.
Kessel staked the Pens to a 1-0 lead at the 5:41 mark of the first. After Jay Beagle lost control of the puck high in the Pittsburgh zone, the Penguins transitioned quickly. Hagelin collected it and gave it to Brian Dumoulin in neutral ice. Dumoulin bumped it to Kessel along the left wall near the Washington line. Kessel gained the zone, used Alzner for a screen and snapped a shot through the blueliner’s legs past Holtby on the short side for the Pens early advantage.
Alzner missed the last half of the first period, and attempted to return to action early in the second. He retired for the night after two shifts early in the second period.
The Caps had a couple of decent early chances to draw even in the first. Pens goalie Matt Murray thwarted Marcus Johansson on a two-on-one Caps rush in which Dumoulin sprawled out to take away the pass option to Nicklas Backstrom.
Evgeny Kuznetsov sprung Caps Captain Alex Ovechkin into the Pittsburgh zone and the Caps’ captain was able to squeeze off a shot from the slot. Murray blocked it.
Holtby made a couple of good saves to keep the Caps within a goal over the game’s first 20 minutes, too. He denied Patric Hornqvist from in tight shortly after the Kessel goal, though the Pens’ winger didn’t appear to get all of the shot. Holtby made a good read to get across and stop a weak side backhander from Kris Letang off the rush, and his best save came late in the period on a Bryan Rust one-timer from the right circle.
Andre Burakovsky missed high in a bid to tie the game in the first minute of the second, but the game would get worse. With Alzner ailing and unavailable, the Caps came off the rails almost as soon as No. 27 retired for the night.
Pittsburgh put on a serious offensive zone push that caused the Caps to chase the Pens and the puck in the Washington end for a couple of shifts. Holtby made a great right pad stop on Hagelin, but it seemed like just a matter of time before the Pens broke through.
When Daniel Winnik broke his stick blocking a Kessel shot, Washington’s fourth line was forced to ice the puck to alleviate pressure. Pens coach Mike Sullivan sent out the Crosby line, and the Pens’ captain won the ensuing draw, enabling them to keep the heat on. Another lengthy shift in the Caps’ end culminated with Brooks Orpik taking a double-minor for hi-sticking Hornqvist, ending Orpik’s shift at 83 seconds.
With Orpik in the box and Alzner unavailable, Washington’s normally stalwart penalty killing outfit wasn’t up to the standard created during this season.
Kessel’s second goal of the game came on the front end of Orpik double-minor. Kessel had enough time and space to walk to the slot, pull Holtby out of position and deposit the puck behind him to make it a 2-0 game at 7:05.
The Pens took advantage of the double-minor penalty 33 seconds later, taking a 3-0 lead when Hagelin and Olli Maatta put a shot in the right point.
For just the third time in 94 regular season and playoff games in 2015-16, the Caps surrendered multiple power-play goals in the same game.
Alzer was the one player the Caps couldn’t lose, said Holtby.
“He’s our best penalty killer every time and that showed, obviously. They got a couple of power-play goals. It’s tough, but we battled through it to give ourselves a chance. But that played a big part in the game,” said Holtby.
Down three goals, the Caps still had the two most important elements for a comeback: time and belief.
T. J. Oshie’s power-play goal at 18:30 of the second frame got the Caps on the board, and the Caps set out in earnest to get even in the third.
Washington got a rare five-on-five goal at 7:23 of the third period to pull within one. Backstrom made a great play to corral a loose puck. He worked it around the perimeter to Justin Williams, who snapped a shot to the top shelf over Murray’s catching glove.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby gave a speech following the third period that helped Pittsburgh refocus, said Cole.
“Sid said, ‘Guys, we still have a game here,'” Cole said. “‘We’re still in a decent spot. We want to finish it out, everybody knows that, but we can’t stop playing. We can’t just fold this game. We’re still in a great spot. One more goal and this game’s over. What’s the past is the past. You can’t do anything about it now.'”
Just over three minutes later, the Pens improbably took a trio of delay of game penalties for hoisting the puck over the glass, all in a span of over 2 minutes. As a result, the Caps enjoyed two separate sessions with a two-man advantage. They tied the game on the second of those five-on-three power plays when John Carlson fired a one-timer past Murray to make it a 3-3 game with 6:59 remaining in regulation.
Washington still had a minute and a half of power play time when Carlson scored, and they had another power play opportunity with 2:46 remaining in regulation when Pens defenseman Kris Letang interfered with Oshie at the Pittsburgh line. But Washington’s best weapon, the power play, wasn’t able to generate the go-ahead goal.
“I think we could have had a little more killer instinct on the PP at the end,” said Carlson. “If anything, we were just a little too passive. And then going into overtime, we were moving but we weren’t – same kind of thing – we were just a little passive. I think we’re a good enough team to play the way we did all year. And that’s the only kick right now.”
The Caps headed into the extra session with just five able-bodied defensemen, but the Pens had plenty of jump.
The Caps seemed to be clinging to a life raft in their own end of the ice, according to this website.
That was never more evident than when Beagle made a sprawling cross-crease dive to block a Trevor Daley shot – a sure game-winner into what was a vacant net early in overtime. But the Beagle block only staved off the inevitable for another four minutes.
Pittsburgh outshot the Caps 7-3 in the brief overtime. Five of the Pens’ shots, including the game winner, came from inside of 25 feet from the net while none of the Caps came from inside 35 feet.
Bonino’s game-winner was the exactly the type of goal the Caps hungered for, but were never able to score themselves during the series.
Despite pushing to win, the team fell behind their expectations, said Caps coach Barry Trotz.
“We took the double minor and they scored on two, and then you’re sitting at a 3-0 hole. It just said a lot about our team having the fortitude to stick with it and find a way to come back,” said Trotz. “There was no quit in our group. We lost Alzner real early in the game, and our defense played a lot of heavy minutes. I just thought there was a good push by us. There was no quit. I’m proud of that fact, but we didn’t get it done.”
Coach Mike Sullivan echoed Crosby’s message and said he was proud of Pittsburgh’s resiliency.
“I’ve never seen it in all the years I’ve been around the game, I’ll tell you that,” Sullivan said. “Three delay of game penalties right in a row like that. That’s a tough one to swallow, you know? And I thought our guys battled hard through it.”
Before taking questions following the game, Trotz took time to congratulate the Penguins. “[Pittsburgh is] a super hockey team,” he said. “It was a good series and I wish them all the best going forward. I think they did a terrific job down the stretch being the hottest team in the National Hockey League and that carried over into the playoffs. I think they have a shot at it.”
Washington (56-18-8, 120 points) had the best record in the NHL by 11 points over the Dallas Stars and were favored to win the Stanley Cup. Ovechkin completed his 11th NHL season without reaching a conference final.
“It’s a missed opportunity and another game that’s the last shot,” said Ovechkin. “I’m proud of my team, proud of my teammates. I’m proud of this group no matter what happened, but, again, we lost in the second round, so it sucks.”
Jacqui Atkielski can be contacted via email at j.atkielski@thebaynet.com.