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 And a player who barely played in the first five months of the
season is the reason.
Rookie goalie Matt Murray made 47 saves while standing up to
Capitals' avalanche of shots, and the Penguins turned two goals a
minute apart in the first period into a 3-2 victory on Monday in
Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
"It's about winning right now, and he is definitely playing well,"
Crosby said of Murray, who has won 12 of his last 13 starts.
Coach Mike Sullivan agreed, saying, "I thought he (Murray) was
terrific. They had the puck all night -- and we didn't. They
outplayed us in a lot of aspects of the game."
Game 4 will be on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored before the midpoint of the
first period, and Carl Hagelin added a goal in the second to make it
3-0 and the Penguins, the NHL's best team over the last two months,
held on to top the Capitals, easily the league's best team all
season.
 Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season against the
Penguins in the third period, and linemate Justin Williams scored in
the final minute as the Capitals tried frantically to rally.
However, it was not enough as the 21-year-old Murray, the youngest
Pittsburgh goaltender to ever win in the postseason, improved to 5-1
in the playoffs.
"You come here for a split, you're hoping for a split, they got one
and now it's our turn. Excuses are for losers, and we're not losers
and we're going to try to improve in Game 4," Williams said.
Murray's saves were the most by a Pittsburgh goaltender in a
regulation-length playoff win.
"That's the way things are going to go sometimes," Murray said of
the Capitals' huge shot advantage. "We can't worry about it. We've
got to keep going forward and keep getting better as we go along."
Murray, who began the season in the minors and played only four NHL
games until March, made the difference as the Penguins were outshot
49-23 yet still controlled the scoreboard even as the Capitals
controlled the stats sheet.
The Penguins, on the fringe of the playoff race much of the season,
have won 20 of 24 games since March 8 -- with Murray in net for 11
of the wins -- and are 6-2 in the postseason.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby made 20 saves.
At least statistically, the Capitals were dominant from the start
except in the number most important: goals.
They doubled up the Penguins in shots for most of the first two
periods -- it was 28-14 after two -- yet Murray turned away scoring
chance after scoring chance.
Penguins defenseman Kris Letang appeared to be in the center of
everything, and a pair of stretch passes by him led to two goals in
exactly a minute.
Letang, who played a remarkable 35:22 in Pittsburgh's 2-1 win in
Game 2 on Saturday, threw the puck up ice to rookie Conor Sheary to
start a 3-on-2 break. Defenseman Trevor Daley's slap shot from the
high slot deflected off Hornqvist's stick and into the net at 6:37
-- Hornqvist's fourth goal in eight games.
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The Penguins kept the pressure on, and this time a Letang pass from
deep in his zone began a 2-on-1 break, with 39-year-old center Matt
Cullen's pass from the left circle deflecting off rookie Kuhnhackl
and past Holtby.
Later in the period, Letang leveled Capitals left winger Marcus
Johansson with an apparent shoulder hit to the head, putting
Johansson out of the game briefly.
"It's the playoffs, it's a lot more physical than the regular
season," Letang said.
The hit angered the Capitals, who are without suspended defenseman
Brooks Orpik through Game 5 for his Game 2 hit to the head of
Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, who sat out on Monday.
"I didn't see him coming, (and) he hit me from the blind side,"
Johansson said. "I just looked at it (on video), and he left his
feet and hit me in the head. That's the kind of plays you want out
of the league. It doesn't look good."
Asked if Letang should also receive a suspension, Johansson said,
"Yeah, I'd say so."
Several Capitals players later went out of their way to hit Letang,
who was upset himself after Nicklas Backstrom clipped him with a
knee to the head following Letang's hit on Ovechkin late in the
second.
"Certainly it does (make you mad), when you see one of your own
players on the ground, it's going to upset you," Backstrom said. "We
want to try to hit him (Letang) all the time ... he played 35
minutes the last game."
However, while the Capitals were getting their shots, it was
Pittsburgh that took advantage of its best scoring chances. Hagelin
made it 3-0 at 15:03 of the second, knocking Nick Bonino's backhand
pass to the crease across the goal line.
"We got the lead early and kind of sat back," Letang said.
Or exactly what the Capitals know they cannot do Wednesday -- sit
around and expect goals to come from a lineup filled with scorers.
"We've got to score more goals, and I've got a feeling we'll do it
Wednesday," Backstrom said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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