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Big win: Caps beat Pens 4-3!

By Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) on May 1, 2018 | 0 Comment

Game Three was a full plate. The Caps downed the Penguins in regulation (thank goodness), but so very much happened and I simply cannot wait to talk about it with you.

For the third time in as many games, the Caps took an early lead – this time thanks to John Carlson on the power play. The Penguins responded with two goals on two shots in two minutes and change: a Jake Guentzel tip-in and Patric Hornqvist’s streak-snapping power-play marker. Chandler Stephenson tied the game after some Tom Wilson drama, but Sidney Crosby restored the Penguins’ lead during 4-on-4 play heading into the second intermission.

Matt Niskanen knotted the score five minutes into the third period with a monster slapshot that beat Murray low glove-side. Then, with just over a minute left in rego, Nick Backstrom fed Alex Ovechkin for a perfect game-winner.

Caps beat Pens 4-3! Caps lead the series 2-1!

  • Tom Wilson did it again. He took Zach Anton-Reese out of the game with a hard, high hit in the second period. Wilson was not penalized at the time, though the Department of Player Safety will certainly take a look – especially considering he was in a similar situation with Brian Dumoulin in Game Two. I don’t know if Wilson’s shoulder hit Anton-Reese’s shoulder or chin first, and I’m suspicious of anyone who uses the words “clear” or “objectively” to discuss this stuff. I also don’t think it matters as much as the underlying pattern. If Wilson were putting headshots on folks every game, that would be a serious problem. But if Wilson is putting hits on folks every game that are deemed clean but injure people nonetheless, that’s still a serious problem. The league has ostensibly given Wilson its blessing. He plays within their rules, which are dumb and get people hurt.
  • Sidney Crosby has been on-ice for every goal the Penguins have scored this series. His own goal in this one was remarkable for what happened away from him. Jake Guentzel positively danced Dmitry Orlov. It was a hoedown at the Sally Hawkins, whatever that means.
  • Also Crosby:

  • (After that, Tom Wilson served a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Irony is rich as hell.)
  • The Capitals had killed 24 consecutive penalties before Patric Hornqvist finished off a beautiful play by Evgeni Malkin. The streak dated back to Game Three of the Columbus series, Braden Holtby‘s first start. He had saved somewhere around 30 power-play shots before that one got past him.
  • Should the Capitals’ season end prematurely, I will not be kind regarding Barry Trotz‘s usage of Jakub Vrana. Vrana played five shifts in the game’s first 40 minutes and still generated offense anyway. With Burakovsky out, Vrana could have effortlessly slotted in anywhere in the middle six, but Trotz isn’t changing his stripes this late in his time as coach. The most we can hope for is a couple extra shifts, which is exactly what happened in the third period.
  • I’m not gonna belabor the point, so please just consider this the placeholder bullet for me to kvetch about the officiating. Even when the calls go the Caps’ way, the refs have been oppressive this series. Make-up calls and no-calls feel either arbitrary or the result of some inscrutable mental tally they’re keeping secret. Each faceoff is a negotiation wherein one or both parties are at risk of getting kicked out. A soft trip is called in the first period, but a hard trip in the third is not. (Hypothetically.) Shoot. I said I wasn’t gonna belabor this. I totally belabored it.
  • I know I say this every time, but Nicklas Backstrom VERY QUIETLY had a three-point game. As if he does anything un-quietly. Yes, I make this comment about all the Caps Fennoscandians who have big games.

This was a wild game, but I think maybe it was a good one – officiating aside. The talent levels were off the whatever-you-measure-talent-levels-on. The goals were gorgeous, except when they were ugly, which is just a different kind of gorgeousness. There were ebbs and flows to play, but at least there was flow. Once the Caps squeaked their way back into a tie in the third, they really took control, pressing on almost every shift until the inevitable Ovi thing happened.

I don’t know what it looks like when the Capitals beat the Penguins in a playoff series, but maybe I’m starting to get the picture.

Full Coverage of Game Three

Headline photo: Kirk Irwin

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