Round 2 - Washington Vs. Pittsburgh

if Gonchar's hurting bad, much as Shabbs has stated, and misses more than one game, the Pens are in deep dung. I'm sure they'll rally, but missing that key experience and calmness of Gonchar will hurt...

I don't see Ovie getting suspended, despite what that idiot Orpik, who's laid MUCH more questionable hits on players, said.

I really hope the Caps trounce the Pens and then end it in the mellon for game #6.

This one is going 7 Cronie with the pens moving on

Gonchar out several weeks.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=278120

No discipline for Ovie.

After this i migth change my mind Cronie

Crap, this one had every chance going to seven. That would have been 6 points for me if Pittsburgh won. It still might go 7, but winning in Washington without Gonchar?

By the way, can anyone explain to me this:

In the Pittsburgh home games, the crowd wore white, the Pens wore black, the Caps wore white. Isn't the object of the game to wear the same colour as your team and not their opponent?

wprager wrote:Crap, this one had every chance going to seven. That would have been 6 points for me if Pittsburgh won. It still might go 7, but winning in Washington without Gonchar?

By the way, can anyone explain to me this:

In the Pittsburgh home games, the crowd wore white, the Pens wore black, the Caps wore white. Isn't the object of the game to wear the same colour as your team and not their opponent?

You're old enough to remember the Jets in the playoffs right? They started the sea of white and Pittsburgh picked up that tradition.

I know about the Sea of White, but that's when your team wears white, or at least when the opposition doesn't.

It was very odd. It's like if the PR department told all Sens fans to wear red, then the team shows up wearing whites. That would be odd. But then if they are playing the Habs and they show up wearing red, that's a whole other level of odd.

Aslong as there is no Ole chants it could be accepted...

wprager wrote:Crap, this one had every chance going to seven. That would have been 6 points for me if Pittsburgh won. It still might go 7, but winning in Washington without Gonchar?

By the way, can anyone explain to me this:

In the Pittsburgh home games, the crowd wore white, the Pens wore black, the Caps wore white. Isn't the object of the game to wear the same colour as your team and not their opponent?

Penguins win without Da Gonch.

You must be ecstatic.

Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3

	1	2	3	OT	T
PIT	0	1	2	1	4
WAS	0	2	1	0	3

Final OT

7:00 PM ET, May 9, 2009, Verizon Center, Washington, DC

Malkin's pass deflects for OT winner as Caps tie late but fall towards brink

http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=290509023

WASHINGTON (AP/ESPN)-- When it comes to the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins excel at playing from behind. They've done it so well they finally have the lead.

The Penguins overcame a third-period deficit, survived Alex Ovechkin's tying goal late in regulation, then won the game on Evgeni Malkin's power-play tally 3:28 into overtime Saturday night for a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko and Matt Cooke also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for the Penguins, who have won three straight after dropping the first two games of the series. Since 1991, Washington has lost five series in which it blew a lead against Pittsburgh, including 2-0 advantages in 1992 and 1996.

The winning goal came with one second remaining in the advantage. Defenseman Milan Jurcina had been sent to the box for tripping Malkin to stop a possible breakaway. Malkin's winning shot deflected off the stick of defenseman Tom Poti and past rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov, giving the Penguins a chance to close out the series Monday at Pittsburgh.
The Penguins became the first road team to win in the series and they were the first to win after scoring first.

Although the series was tied 2-2, there was little debate the Penguins had played better. Sidney Crosby's team dominated a 5-3 victory Friday night in Game 4, and -- thanks to back-to-back games caused by next week's Yanni concert in Pittsburgh -- the young Capitals came home with little time to regroup from two fragile performances.

Ovechkin scored his ninth and 10th goals of the playoffs, and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals. Varlamov made 38 saves, rebounding from his first poor game of the playoffs the night before.
Crosby, who entered with nine goals and 16 points in the playoffs, had a five-game point streak snapped.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead in the second period when Staal, unmarked near the crease, traded passes with Miroslav Satan and chipped a close-range shot inside the far post.

The Capitals tied it 59 seconds later when Ovechkin fired a shot from beyond the left circle that Fleury couldn't see. Ovechkin celebrated by sticking his left index finger high in the air. Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik appeared to object by raising his hand toward Ovechkin's chest.

A penalty for too many men on the ice led to a Capitals goal late in the second period. Backstrom worked a nice give-and-go with Sergei Fedorov before beating Fleury to the glove side from the right circle.
The Penguins tied it early in the third on Fedotenko's shot from the top of the left circle. Pittsburgh then took the lead with 13:33 left in regulation when former Capitals left wing Cooke lifted a rebound over Varlamov.
The Capitals came to back one more time on Ovechkin's second goal.

Varlamov was shaken up in the first minute of overtime in a collision involving Crosby and Capitals defenseman Brian Pothier.
Soon afterward, the Penguins were awarded the decisive power play when Jurcina brought down Malkin.

The nasty feelings between the teams resurfaced after the first-period horn, when Ovechkin gave Orpik a late shove. The ensuing scrum resulted in roughing penalties for Ovechkin, Orpik, Malkin and John Erskine.

Orpik had been critical of Ovechkin after Friday game, in which the Capitals superstar injured Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar with a knee-to-knee hit. "To us, we got the feeling he's really trying to hurt guys at times," Orpik said.

Game notes
Ovechkin's 10 goals lead the NHL. ... Backstrom has scored in three straight games, and his goal gave him the franchise record for consecutive games (8) with a point. The previous mark was set by Geoff Courtnall in 1990. ... Gonchar, as expected, was scratched, although Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said the defenseman's injury was not as severe as initially thought. The Penguins recalled rookie D Alex Goligoski from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

davetherave wrote:

wprager wrote:Crap, this one had every chance going to seven. That would have been 6 points for me if Pittsburgh won. It still might go 7, but winning in Washington without Gonchar?

By the way, can anyone explain to me this:

In the Pittsburgh home games, the crowd wore white, the Pens wore black, the Caps wore white. Isn't the object of the game to wear the same colour as your team and not their opponent?

Penguins win without Da Gonch.

You must be ecstatic.

If Vancouver pushes it to 7 I'll be even better. If Chicago wins in 6 dennycrane not only gets 4 points over me for the winner, but an extra 2 for 6 games. If they push it to 7 I'm still on top (pending the Detroit series).

Gonchar may have a torn MCL...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/05/09/gonchar_injury/

I blew my MCL out back in 2000... it ain't fun.

shabbs wrote:Gonchar may have a torn MCL...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/05/09/gonchar_injury/

I blew my MCL out back in 2000... it ain't fun.

As much as we accept hockey as a violent sport, it's excruciating to learn of the injuries these players suffer.

Gonchar is such a talent...and he seems to have the qualities of a leader.

It's doesn't matter who you cheer for. The courage these guys have is unreal.

Wishing him a full recovery--if at all possible.

Washington 5, Pittsburgh 4

	1	2	3	OT	T
WAS	0	2	2	1	5
PIT	1	1	2	0	4

Final OT
7:00 PM ET, May 11, 2009, Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Steckel's OT goal helps Caps fend off elimination vs. Pens

MORE FROM ESPN HERE: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=290511016

PITTSBURGH (AP/ESPN)-- The Washington Capitals supposedly can't win without Alex Ovechkin scoring. They can't win an overtime playoff game. They can't beat the Pittsburgh Penguins when a series is on the line.

All that's ended, and it means a riveting, entertaining series matching the NHL's two biggest names and two of its best teams is anything but over.

David Steckel scored on a deflection of Brooks Laich's shot and the Capitals finally won an overtime playoff game, beating nemesis Pittsburgh 5-4 on Monday night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
"I think it's going to be great game," Ovechkin said. "I think the league wants us to play Game 7 [on Wednesday]."

This one couldn't have been much better. The Capitals, losers of their previous seven overtime games, failed to hold a 4-3 lead late in regulation when Sidney Crosby scored. They made up for it when Steckel went to the net immediately after winning a faceoff. Laich wristed the puck from the right circle and Steckel tipped it past Marc-Andre Fleury 6:22 into the overtime.



The game before, Steckel couldn't score into an open net early in overtime and the Penguins won 4-3 in Washington on Evgeni Malkin's goal to force the potential closeout game on Monday.

"I told myself if I had a chance again, I wouldn't miss," Steckel said. "I was in the right place at the right time. I personally didn't know where it went or anything. ... It was the biggest goal of my career so I didn't know what to do. I just jumped around."

It was the third overtime game of the series, the most in any round of these NHL playoffs. Pittsburgh won the first two, both on deflections off Capitals defensemen.

Also, the Penguins had won eight of their previous nine overtime games and had been 7-1 against the Capitals in OT.

Fast Facts


• This became the third series in a row in which the Caps faced elimination before Game 7 and then forced a seventh game.
• Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury fell to 5-1 in playoff OT games.
• Including the final game of the 2007-08 regular season, Washington is now 7-1 in the last two seasons when facing a win-or-go-home game.
-- ESPN Stats & Information

Ovechkin, so dominating while scoring seven of Washington's first 15 goals, didn't get a goal but had three assists and has 13 points in six games. Crosby has 10, including six goals.

"They're incredible, both of them, and Malkin is just as incredible," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They play at a level other people can't attain."

Viktor Kozlov scored twice for the Capitals in the fourth game in six nights, all of them tight and tense. All but one has been decided by one goal.

"There was a lot of talk before the series started, and it's everything it was made up to be. We would have loved to finish it off here, no doubt, but we did a lot of good things and it could have worked out. We were a couple of inches from finishing it off," Crosby said. "Let's just say it's not surprising it's going seven."

Now that they've forced a Game 7 that didn't look all that certain after they ceded home-ice advantage, the Capitals hope to finally close out a series against the Penguins. Five times since 1992 they've led the Penguins by two games in a series, including this one, but have won only in 1994.

Maybe they can take something from this: The Capitals won in Pittsburgh for the first time in this round despite trailing 1-0 and 3-2 and being outshot 42-24, and did it without a goal from Ovechkin for the second straight road game.

"It's always fun when Ovie scores, but it's hard because the other team pays a lot of attention and is very close to Ovie, so it's a good thing other people give us goals," Kozlov said.

Washington came back from Kris Letang's second career playoff goal, both in this series, to take a 4-3 lead early in the third on goals 29 seconds apart by Alexander Semin and Kozlov. Semin hadn't scored since the first round against the Rangers.

Crosby tied it with 4:18 left in regulation by batting down Brooks Orpik's shot and pushing it past Simeon Varlamov, who made 38 saves -- 17 in the first period alone.

The Penguins shook off the Capitals' promised desperation to dominate that period, outshooting them 18-5 and limiting them to two shots in the final 16:22. However, Pittsburgh managed a single goal while constantly controlling the puck, by Bill Guerin, and Crosby said it would have helped considerably to get a second goal.

"They wanted not to make a game of it," Boudreau said. "I think they just wanted to come in and blow us out."

Washington, also outshot by nearly 2-to-1 during its 3-2 overtime loss last Wednesday, began controlling the play early in the second period and took a 2-1 lead on goals by Kozlov and Tomas Fleischmann about eight minutes apart.

Pittsburgh tied it on defenseman Mark Eaton's power-play goal with 34 seconds left in the period, his fourth of the playoffs -- as many as he had in 68 regular-season games.

Game notes
Pittsburgh also lost a potential elimination game on home ice, 3-0 to Philadelphia in Game 5 of the first round, but won Game 6 on the road. ... Washington F Donald Brashear's six-game suspension ended, but he was scratched. ... Washington blew two-game leads against Pittsburgh in 1992, 1995 and 1996.

It doesn't get much closer than this.

What a game last night this was...and what a contest Game Seven will be.

:##:

AND WE LOVE OVERTIME!

A Game 7 going to OT would be hella exciting. That's for sure.

HA HA HA

:___: ^ CUTE!! I love it!