The hardest part is over.
If the Penguins were going to have a shot in this series at all, they were going to have to steal one of the first two in DC.
Winning Game 1 is just an added bonus.
There are still miles and miles to go and a lot, a lot, can change. The playoffs are a fickle beast. If nothing else, this puts all of the pressure back on the Caps. Do they have to win Game 2? Maybe not. But you also don’t want to french fry when you should have pizza’d even against an injured Penguins squad.
Last night was certainly a far cry away from the 8-7 track meet the last time these two teams met. For some portions of the game, they looked like spitting images of one another, much as Jesse previously predicted they would be. For other portions of the game, the Penguins didn’t even look like they were on the ice at all.
Despite that, they still found a way to gut out the W. That says more about this team than any words in a blog post ever could.
FIRST PERIOD
Had to love the start from the Pens. Despite the week long layoff, they didn’t come out flat like literally every single game in Round 1, earning a powerplay just 3:38 into the game after Ovi took down Hornqvist in the neutral zone.
For most of the first, it was one way traffic in the Pens favor. Washington didn’t get their second shot on goal until about 5:17 left, but when they did, they started coming.
A minute later, they nearly made it 1-0. Ovi with the dart that sorta handcuffed Fleury into a tough rebound. Had to make a second kick save to deny Dumoulin the own goal too. But Jake Guentzel fucking robbed him like the good boy he is.
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Team Russia retroactively trying to call Grendel up for the Olympics. What a save. If Oshie scores there, I may have put in my two weeks notice in on life. Not a single player in the league more of shitstain than TJ Oshie and it’d have brought the house down. Four shots over the span on 90 seconds for the Caps after being held nearly 10 full minutes without even an attempt at 5v5 to finish out the period with the ice tilted in their direction.
SECOND PERIOD
But Sidney Crosby does not give a shit about your momentum or your feelings or your general well-being. Because 12 seconds into the period, 87 made it 1-0.
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And 52 seconds later, Sully got his top line out there in a mismatch up to stun the Verizon Center. 2-0
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— Mike Pfeil (@mikeFAIL) April 28, 2017
Give Sullivan all the credit in the world, getting 87 and Co. out almost immediately after the first goal. It was as if the Penguins ripped the Caps dicks off, covered them in Cholula sauce, and force fed them their own dicks.
The Caps were stunned for about 10 minutes. Then they didn’t let the Pens see the puck for basically the rest of the game. The Birds held the fort as much as they could, but with under 2 minutes left, the Capitals would cut the lead in half.
The whole sequence started with Carlson laying out Malkin with a big open ice hit to send Oshie. Lars Eller vomited up his own cock trying to handle the puck and get to the bench and got it to Ovi jumping in. Vintage Ovechkin goal. 2-1
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Game on.
THIRD PERIOD
The late goal had the Caps motoring. Just knew they were going to even things up. And midway through the period, they did just that.
Kuznetsov lurking and throwing a grenade in front. Hainsey unable to bat the puck further than Niskanen. Lost in the confusion was Kuznetsov, who did not lose sight of the yawning 4×6. 2-2
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With Williams battling Hainsey in front, you gotta wonder why Sheary didn’t just drop down to pick up Kuzya. He knew it, too.
But once again, the Penguins did not give a shit about your momentum, your mother, or your couch. Transition play city from Schultz/Cole to work it up the wall to Wilson. What an area feed from Scotty Don’t too to hit Bones. Bonino making Orpik look like a quadriplegic trying to disco. 3-2
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With Justin Williams acting like a fucking rim job, the Pens got themselves a late powerplay to try to ice it.
Justin Williams has been pretty much an idiot for most of the night.
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) April 28, 2017
When Grover calls you an idiot, you can safely assume you’re an asshole. Pens killed two minutes off the clock. Caps killed the penalty and came back at the Pens in full force, getting no less than 40 chances on some insane yard sale sequence in front of MAF with under 3 to play.
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Doesn’t matter how, just matters how many times it stayed out. Holtby to the bench with about 1:45 left, of which was spent almost exclusively in the Pens zone. Fleury dialed right in on all of the shots that somehow made it through the maze of bodies in front. Heroic effort from Hornqvist, too, blocking unlimited shots. Pens iced it twice, but it was enough to alleviate the pressure and end it.
Game.
NOTES
- Big boy game from MAF.
- If history has anything to say, it’s gonna be a game of Horse between 8 and 87. Give Crosby the W again in this one.
- What a difference maker Hornqvist was with 87 and 59. Forced both turnovers that immediately led to both Crosby goals and opened up a universe worth of space for those two to operate and decimate.
- Cole and Schultz were difference makers too. Cole credited with 8 blocks despite having the least amount of ice time among D-men because why not?
- Thank science for Bruce Orpik
- Pens got absolutely hammered in possession. Washington with 72 (!!!) shot attempts at 5v5 compared to the Pens 32. So obscene. Only Guentzel (-2)-Crosby (-2)-Hornqvist (1) were close to breaking even for the Pens. Ain’t gonna see anything like that the rest of the way.
Game 2 Saturday night. Do it.
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