Fear with the game winning goal and to even the series at 1-1.
As the Penguins were just about to start Game 2 of this series, their goal was to bounce back from a thrilling overtime loss in Game 1, steal home ice advantage and even the series at 1-1. They accomplished their goal by getting help from a former Capitals player who scored the game winning goal. That former Washington Capitals player would be Eric Fehr.
Fear waiting to pressure the Montreal Canadians
Eric Fehr has scored in Verizon Center before, but this one was a little more special. Fear's goal with 4:28 remaining in the third period gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Second round at Verizon Center on Saturday. The best-of-7-series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 at Consol Energy Center on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports). Malkin and Kunitz were created with the assist on the gaol. "It does feel a little bit different," said Fehr, a forward who played nine seasons for the Capitals before joining the Penguins as a free agent this offseason. "Obviously I had a lot of years here, and to be able to get that one to tie up the series and bring it back home with a split is enormous for us. You don't want to come out of here down 2-0 against the Presidents' Trophy winners. That would be a tough battle. Now we gave ourselves a chance and we're excited to get back home." He also stated "That was a big game for us. After they tied it up on the power play we could have folded and said it was a good try, but our team didn't give up. You gotta go hats off to [goalie Matt] Murray; he made some huge saves for us when the game was tied and gave us the opportunity to get the win." Murray made 23 saves on 24 shots during the Penguins 2-1 victory while Braden Holtby made 24 saves on 26 shots.
Carl Hagelin with the goal and his teammates coming over to celebrate.
Pittsburgh led 14-5 in shots on goal after the first period. T.J. Oshie's shot with 1:03 left in the period was the last one for the Capitals until Alex Ovechkin put one on net with 5:12 to go in the second. Hagelin scored at 7:08 of second period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. From behind the net, Nick Bonino connected with Hagelin in the slot, where he beat Holtby glove side for his second of the postseason. "I thought we managed the puck through the neutral zone the right way," Sullivan said. "We tried not to feed their transition game. We tried to make the right decisions. When we do that we're a team that can be hard to play against, we can control territory. I thought for long stretches in the first two periods that's exactly what we did." Johansson tied the game 1-1 at 4:08 of the third period with a power-play goal. He tapped in a rebound that trickled off Murray in the paint for his second of the playoffs. Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta was injured 4:13 into the first period after a hit from Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik and did not return. Orpik, who played for the Penguins from 2002-14, was penalized for interference. He will have a in person hearing from the Player Safety Department on Sunday. He will be suspended for Game 3 for sure but the Department is thinking of adding a longer suspension and a big fine he must pay to the league. The Penguins look to win a decisive Game 3 tomorrow in front of the home crowd and to take a commanding 2-1 seres lead. Lets Go Penguins!!!
Brooks Orpik laying the body on Oli Maatta during the second period.
For T.J. Oshie, scoring a hat trick in overtime in a Stanley CUp Playoff game was something he'd only dreamed about as a young boy. Oshie turned that dream into reality when he scored the game-winning goal at 9:33 into overtime to complete the hat trick and to give the Capitals a 4-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at The Verizon Center yesterday. "I haven't won too many championships in my lifetime," Oshie said. "Maybe through the youth years. That's kind of the stuff you dream about when you're a kid playing in the backyard by yourself is scoring the OT winner and getting a hat trick. It was awesome." Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is on Saturday at 8 p.m. (ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports) as the Capitals look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead while the Pittsburgh Penguins look to even the series at 1-1 before they head to Pittsburgh for games 3&4 at the Consol Energy Center.
Game 1 was a very close tight game as both teams traded chances in the first period but couldn't capitalize until Andre Burakovsky scored at 10:13 of the first to give Washington the 1-0 lead. As the second period started, the Pittsburgh Penguins began to the pressure on the Capitals and at 10:40 of the second, Ben Lovejoy tied the game up at one when tipped in the rebound off of Nick Bonino's shot after Bonino stick handled through Capitals Defensemen Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Orlov and put a shot on net. That was Lovejoy's first goal of the playoffs this year. 57 seconds later, Evgeni Malkin scored to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. Oshie tied it up at 2-2 at 12:10 with a breakaway goal after he picked up a turnover by Penguins Defenseman Olli Maatta in the neutral zone, skated down the wing with speed, and beat Murray glove side for his second goal of the playoffs. But he wasn't done yet, Oshie scored again at 3:23 of the second period to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead and that was his second goal of the game. But the Penguins would not give up and they would tie this game up at 3-3 when Nick Bonino< sitting in the right circle, received a pass from Carl Hagelin from behind the net for his first goal of the postseason. The remained tied after three periods of play and the Oshie would end the game in overtime with his third goal of the game to complete the hat trick. The Pittsburgh Penguins look to steal home ice advantage tomorrow and carry the moment back to Pittsburgh. Go Penguins!!!!!!!!!!
The Pittsburgh Penguins kept history from repeating itself as a second-period surge gave the Penguins a 6-3, Game 5 win against the New York Rangers that ended their Eastern Conference First Round series at Consol Energy Center on Saturday. After losing to New York in each of the past two Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins won three straight games eliminate the Rangers 4-1. Coach Mike Sullivan stated that, "We certainly didn't want to have to go back to New York for Game 6, I think when you have teams at that elimination point, you want to do your best to take care of business right then and there. We did speak about that with our group." And they'd just that by scoring five unanswered goals after they were trailing 2-1 with less than ten minutes left in the first period. Their first goal was scored by former Ranger Carl Hagelin who tied the game up at 1-1 when he drove the crease to receive a pass from Phil Kessel and past Lundqvist's left pad with 10:10 remaining in the first. After the Rangers scored 45 seconds later to make it 2-1, the penguins answered right back when Phil Kessel took a snap shot from the right circle over Lundqvist's blocker for his third goal of the series and a 2-2 tie with 8:21. As the second period began, the Penguins got right back to where they left off. Forward Bryan Rust gave the Penguins their first lead, 3-2, 5:21into the second period when defenseman Trevor Daley sent a slap pass to him on the right of the New York net, allowing him to shoot past goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Matt Cullen extended the lead to 4-2 when he gathered a loose puck in the high slot and shot it by Lundqvist's glove 9:26 into the second period. Rookie forward Conor Sheary scored the Penguins' third goal (assisted by Rust) as well as the fourth goal of the period to push their lead to 6-2. As the third period begins, Rangers goalie Antti Raanta replaced Lundqvist and the Rangers managed to get one more goal, but it wasn't enough to extend the series. Pittsburgh will face either the Washington Capitals or the Philadelphia Flyers in the Second Round. Washington leads that best-of-7 series 3-2 with Game 6 on Sunday.
As the Chicago Blackhawks face elimination tonight against the St. Louis Blues they look to steal a victory to keep this series alive, but they will be missing one of their star players due to suspension he received from game 4. The player that the Blackhawks will be missing is forward Andrew Shaw. Shaw was suspended one game by the NHL for the slur, fined $5,00 for directing an obscene gesture toward on-ice officials in the same game, and is required to undergo sensitivity training. Shaw said yesterday at a conference at O'Hare International Airport, "I want to apologize for my actions. I have no excuses for anything. I want to apologize to the gay and lesbian community. That's not the type of guy I am." He watched the video of the incident when he got home Tuesday and didn't like what he saw. He said, "It was hard to see. Emotions got the best of me and I didn't get any sleep last night. It was tough on me> You know, I'm upset with myself, obviously. I want to apologize to the organization, the NHL, my teammates, my family and my friends. I don't know; obviously I'm sorry. It's a tough time for me right now." The media asked him if he would ever use the slur again and he said, "I'll never use that word again, that's for sure. I do [understand]. I mean, I get it. It's a hurtful word. It's 2016 now. It's time that everyone is treated equally. It's a hurtful word, I know that. I'm serenade I want to apologize."Shaw has two goals and two assists in the series. His absence will leave a void on the Chicago forecheck and in front of the net during power plays."We're in a really tough spot," coach Joel Quenneville said about Shaw missing Game 5. "But I think that there's been some learning situations as we've progressed here [this season] and I think our group's had situations comparable in the past that we've had to learn from that make us better players and better people as well."Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said he hopes the situation will be used as an educational tool going forward."I think it's a moment to bring more attention to this sort of thing, especially pro sports," Toews said. "At the end of the day, I think it is a teachable moment for us to realize that going forward it has to be something that is scrutinized much more, something we think about much more and something that we're much more critical of ourselves, when it comes to these matters." The good thing is that he learned his lesson and he will become better hockey player role model both on and off the ice.
Going into today's game the Penguins were looking to put the Rangers in a 2-0 hole in the series but the Rangers decided to turn the tables on the Penguins. The Rangers won today by a score of 4-2 to make the series tied up at one all. Lot of people thought that Henrik Lundqvist wouldn't play today but they were wrong. Lundqvist had a great game stopping 29 shots out of 31 while Jeff Zatkoff stopped 24 shots out of 28. The game remained scoreless until they got into the second period and that's when the Rangers started lighting up the scoresheet. The first goal of the game didn't go to the Rangers but to the Penguins instead, Phil Kessel scored at 3:21 of the second period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead, Daley and Bonino were created with the assists. But the Rangers would storm back and score three unanswered goals to make it 3-1 Rangers. The goals were scored by Keith Yandle, Derick Brassard, and Mats Zuccarello. When the third period got underway, the Rangers put the pressure on and added another goal to extend their lead curtsy of Chris Kreider. Five minutes later the Penguins would respond to make it 4-2 on a goal by Phil Kessel and that was his second goal of the game. Bonino and Malkin got the assists on the goal. The Penguins kept putting the pressure on but the Rangers held their ground and came away with the victory. Game 3 is on Tuesday and this time the series shifts to New York at Madison Square Garden. Can the Penguins regroup from their loss and get back on the right track or will the Rangers take that victory as momentum for the next game. Let's cheer on your Penguins to victory on Tuesday. Go Pens!!!!!!!!!
Before game 1 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs started for the Pittsburgh Penguins, there were a lot of questions asked on how the team would do with out there star goalie Fleury and star forward Evgeni Malkin. Well they got a little help from their secondary players that help the Penguins to win 5-2 over the New York Rangers in game 1.This series between the Penguins and Rangers marks the third year in a row that these two faced each other with the Rangers winning the first two. The Penguins started goalie Jeff Zatkoff in net on Wednesday and this marked the first career start in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He went up against "The King" Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. Lundqvist had to leave during the game because he got poked in the right eye by his teammate Marc Staal. There wasn't any scoring until Patric Hornqvist scored at 19:42 of the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. When the second period got underway the Penguins kept the surge going by adding another goal by Sidney Crosby to make it 2-0. As the final period got underway the Rangers put the pressure on the Penguins and finally got on the board curtsy of Derek Staphan to cut the lead in half. But the Penguins would anwser back with two more goals curtsy of Kuhnhackl and Hornqvist for his second goal of the night. The Rangers would answer back with Stephan getting his second goal to make it 4-2. Hornqvist would seal the deal with an empty netter to make it 5-2 and to complete a hat trick for him. That game marked the first victory for Zatkoff in the playoffs. Can the Penguins pull off another victory to take a 2-0 series lead or will the Rangers steal the win to make the series even? Come on out tomorrow and cheer the Penguins to victory.
As the NHL regular season draws to a close, the 16 teams that made the playoffs are ready for a chance to win the Stanley Cup. The Philadelphia were hanging on to the second wild card position and they needed a win within the next two games to make the playoffs and they punched their ticket in today with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins started off strong by scoring the first goal of the game by Nick Bonino. Hagelin and Kessel were credited with assists on the goal. The Flyers would answer back by getting a goal from Wayne Simmonds and then he would later score again to give the flyers the lead and his second goal of the game was the game winner. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored an empty net goal to seal the deal for the game and for the Flyers to make the playoffs. With that lost, the Pittsburgh Penguins ended their eight game winning streak. Pittsburgh will face either the New York Rangers or New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs, while the Philadelphia faces the regular season champions Washington Capitals. The playoffs begin on April 13th and it's time to cheer on the Pittsburgh Penguins as they look to capture their fourth Stanley Cup. Lets Go Penguins!!!!!!!!!