Capitals Take Game 1
T.J. Oshie’s hat trick powered the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.
A matchup between the two best teams in the Eastern Conference and in some eyes, maybe the two best teams left in the playoff field, Game 1 played out to be mostly a 50-50 game.
“This game could have went either way,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It was an even game.”
The stats back that stance up.
Shots were Pittsburgh 45, Washington 35
5 v 5 Goals | Washington 4 – Pittsburgh 3 |
5 v 5 Shot Attempts: | Pittsburgh 66 – Washington 63 | Overall Shot Attempts (PIT 77 – WSH 76)
5 v 5 Scoring Chances: | Pittsburgh 30 – Washington 24 |
When it came to special teams play, both penalty kills were excellent, Washington 0-4 on the power play, Pittsburgh 0-2.
There are a lot of areas to nitpick for both clubs in Game 1 but at the end of the day, this was just the beginning of the start of two evenly matched clubs with a slight edge to the Capitals coming in.
Game 1 had a lot of different waves in the game which should be expected.
Pittsburgh opened the game with a 5-1 shot edge in period one, Washington then out-shot Pittsburgh 14-4 over the final 14:30 of the period and led 1-0 after twenty minutes.
In the second period, the territorial edge went to Pittsburgh. They erupted with two goals in 57 seconds that led to a back and forth game.
Pittsburgh out-shot Washington 30-12 in the final forty minutes of regulation, out-attempting Washington 47-29.
Overtime things went back into the Capitals direction who had numerous chances to end this one before Oshie’s wrap around goal. Washington carried the play with a +7 advantage in 5 v 5 attempts during overtime.
Individually it was second tier players (good Bonino, Oshie) and bad performances (Maatta/Daley) than the stars being the difference either way.
Evgeni Malkin had a beautiful back hand goal but had a costly turnover leading to the Capitals opening goal and his puck management was extremely poor when entering the zone.
Sidney Crosby while strong in the faceoff circle (19-6, 68%), and at driving possession (58 CF%), was pointless and a minus-3 as Crosby was on the ice for 0 even strength goals for and 3 against.
For the Capitals Nicklas Backstrom was pointless. Alexander Ovechkin had an assist on Oshie’s go-ahead goal in the third, but was stopped on two breakaways and denied on a glorious attempt in front moments into overtime.
None of the stars changed this game one way or another.
The best players on the ice were no question T.J. Oshie and Nick Bonino.
Oshie who the Penguins considered trading for last summer prior to acquiring Phil Kessel, former assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald is said to have pushed hard as hell for Oshie, just did it all for the Capitals tonight. It wasn’t just about the goals, the little things in keeping plays alive, taking a beating in front of the net, he gave the type of performance the Penguins didn’t get out of Patric Hornqvist tonight.
For Bonino, he was sensational for Pittsburgh in the loss.
He showed tremendous poise and creativity with the puck, setting up the Penguins first goal of the game with a great individual play and the puck was just following all night, leading to his game tying goal in the third.
Bonino going head-to-head with Evgeny Kuznetsov, owned the Capitals second line center in this one. If that trend continues, it’s going to be good news for Pittsburgh in the coming games.
Injury Watch
Chris Kunitz left the game and did not return…..Conor Sheary took a knee from Tom Wilson but finished the game….
PIT Leaders
Points: Nick Bonino (1 goal, 1 assist), Carl Hagelin (2 assists)
Shots: Phil Kessel (6), Evgeni Malkin (5)
Hits: Kris Letang (7)
Blocked Shots: Evgeni Malkin (4), Ian Cole (4)
TOI: Kris Letang (34:02)
5 v 5 CF%: Carl Hagelin (67%)
was watching sportsnetradio and they said the kessel trade pens did in summer at a point wasnt moving as fast.
Some personel from pens wanted to move Same deal towards the blues for oshie
imagine pens wouldve have gotten oshie over that michelin tire kessel
Is anyone surprised that Sam was watching radio?
Hey Maloni… hear you’re rooting for a Sestito call up. You really think that’s a move that gonna help? In the slightest?
Sens might hire him
Malkin traded yet?
Boudreau Fired
Flames expected to sign czech forward Daniel Pribyl today
he kept the pens in with 2 ovi breakaways he did his job
pens were missing the net alot
Both of Ovechkin’s breakways were a result of him only having 1 option and failing to get off a quality shot, both shots were easy goals if Ovie gets the puck 12″ off the ice.
Here’s my problems/concerns with last night’s game and Murray in particular, the 2 bad goals don’t necessarily bother me because those happen to great goaltenders more often than people realize, my problem is the 3-4 other goals that could have been scored if not for lucky bounces or great defensive plays, his struggles tracking the puck, his very poor rebound control and the fact that these things have been somewhat a common occurence throughout his 4 playoff games. We saw all of those same issues occur in the NYR series but because they were playing an inferior team and the… Read more »
I think you’re being hard on him.
You’re probably right. There’s no doubt that I’ve been frustrated by people ignoring mistakes and glaring issues because they’Re blinded by the shiny new toy.
And because half the things he does do wrong, people shit all over Fleury for when it happens far less often.
I think he just had a bad night. Still the guy came up huge at points and while yes we are seeing a few growing pains he still gave the team a chance to win. He had rough moments but he had some very good ones as well. All but one of the goals given up can be directly correlated to a very bad play by a Pens player at the other end of the rink. I just watched the play prior to the winner… while it was Sid on the ice for the final tally Geno made another very… Read more »
We definitely see it differently, I don’t really think it was just a bad night and other than the 2 weak goals I feel like he played exactly the way he did against the NYR with the only difference being that he had a little less puck luck last night. Sure some, if not all of it can maybe be attributed to growing pains(only time will tell) but I’m very concerned for the present that if we don’t get incredible play in front of him like we did in Round 1 or get some really good puck luck like we… Read more »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNN9nL2vppM
Bennett healthy yet?
fuckoff
I’d ask if Sid played last night, but we all know he did – because he was on the ice for nearly every goal against. Playoff sid is BACK! #Canada #NoGoalsAgain
Malkin showed up. Bonino showed up. If 87 decides he wants to join in the fun, this team can go really far. I’d like to check his goal total in the last 25 playoff games he’s played in. He needs to produce.
Got to hold Murray to same standard as Fleury. He was terrible and cost them a winnable game. Sid, also a no show (surprise). Malkin’s goal was beautiful but he needs to be better. Both Sid and Malkin passed up opportunities to take the puck to the net opting instead to pull up (Sid) or dish off (Malkin). Not going to get it done. Still, Pens in 7
That 3 on 2 where the puck found Malkin in a prime shooting area.. he deferred to Sid… is exactly why I don’t like the two of them on the same line. Guy with the best shot on the team gives the puck away trying to force it over to the guy that is the inferior goal scorer lol.
murray was pretty lousy. the 3rd goal was a turd and there is nothing worse than getting scored on a wrap around.
st murray! your GOD!
Very accurate portrayal of Malkin – he didn’t have a great game by any stretch, but that goal was a thing of beauty. Sid must have taken a personal day.
Logically pens should trade the Russian he has no place in this team team . Better without him his play is easier to be replaced then Crosby plus his age is the perfect to trade. Can’t keep two players at that price and value goes down
That’s what we need – not the guy that produced – the one with the -3 and was a liability all night on the ice. Brilliant stuff, sam.
Despite my feelings on how the two played I still think youre a fucken retard. Malkin wasnt great but his tally is part of why we were even in OT dip shit.
At no point ever. .ever ever. ..should a post of yours start with “logically”. If you’re going to trade 1 of the two, trade Sid. He will get more and never scores in the playoffs.
If they had soccer nets last night pens would’ve won. How many shots they miss the net. Kessel alone had 3-or 4 of those
As did crosby
Ya, he actually missed a go ahead goal by like 2 feet from 2 feet away with 30 seconds left in the 2nd. Surprised you missed that Sam… they showed the replay a couple times.
i didnt say sid didnt miss read it i said pens missed many shots
but kessel was leading that chart thats all
Kessel led the team in shots on goal dumbass. Apparently he was finding it quite nicely. Where was Sid?
Wilson better get a 1 game suspension for that knee-on-knee BS. That is the only way the Captials could win this series is getting the edge by injuring players.
Agreed, that was fucking horrible. There was nothing about that play that doesnt warrant suspension. Oddly it was clear the Caps were targeting Sheary last night. There was a play where Niskanen rode him from about the slot all the way to the boards. At what point do you finally call interference or holding? Wilson is a fucking scumbag of the Rinaldo kind. I would love to see him get a couple… they took Schenn for 3 for targeting Oshie… this was a clear cheap shot with malicious intent. He changed direction and went straight after the knee. Sit his… Read more »
Mental Midget
Lol, if that was MAF this place would be littered with St Blurry rhetoric. Instead the coward is hugging his “Crosby cock” shaped pillow sucking in thumb in his starwars themed flannel PJs. Murray showed nerves last night, don’t expect it to be a nightly thing but he gave up two iffy goals. Malkin was very cavalier with the puck at the blueline. Sid had jump but was most ineffective, some of that is on Hornqvist who was not good and Sheary who showed the rust of not skating since NY. I also thought Kessel and Dumo had rough games… Read more »
Murray was terrible
He wasn’t great but he wasnt terrible either. He stopped OV on 2 breakaways and shut the door on the Caps early when the Pens gave the early momentum back. He made a number of very good saves but he gave up a couple of savable goals. The 3rd one along the ice was very bad, the winner was an unlucky bounce but I would have liked to see him track it better. I can’t get to upset about a 21 year old with nerves in a game like this as long as he can settle down for game 2.… Read more »
murray sucked last night. he gave up two freebees. you won’t win a playoff game that way.
Imagine how quickly Yogurt would have been here if Fleury were in goal last night and they lost on that OT goal….
Let us not forget the horrible 3rd goal that cost the Pens the lead and forced OT in the 1st place.
Well he is here… and he is consistent I will give him that.
Should have started Zak. Go with the hot hand. Just wait for Sid to show up!
Murray winless in playoff OT games for his entire career.