Both teams played as though pumped full of adrenaline; the pace was ferocious, the checking fierce, and the goalkeeping phenomenal. In the end, it was an unlucky bounce that decided the game.
Fast First Period
The first fifteen minutes of the game were played at a feverish pace: lots of shooting, lots of hard hitting, lots of pressure at both ends. Both goalies were tested; neither letting a shot by. It seemed each team sought to overwhelm the other through sheer energy.
The last five minutes of the first period saw both teams slowing down somewhat, spreading out on the ice and trying to run plays, instead of assaulting the puck in a mad scramble.
The Caps got a half-a-dozen good chances late in the period when the Penguins got a penalty, but Pittsburgh survived the pressure.
The Capitals seemed to have the offensive advantage in the first period but Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was unbeatable.
The Scoring Starts
The Penguins started the scoring as center Jordan Staal beat Caps goaltender Simeon Varlamov with a quick shot from ten feet out on the right side of the net, after getting a pass from behind the net from Miroslav Satan.
At 13:44 Alex Ovechkin tied it up with a wrist shot from the left point. Instead of charging, Ovchenkin backed away from Penguins’ defenseman Brooks Orpik, and fired a rising shot past Fluerry who was screened by players in the crease.
The Capitals maintained their offensive edge in the second period, keeping the pressure on the Penguins net through much of the period. Pittsburgh had its chances; but Varlamov, with some help from the goalpost, kept the toll to one goal.
The Capitals took advantage of a power play with 5:25 left in the second, when Nicklas Backstrom picked up the puck on the right side of the net, passed it to Federoff behind the net, and moved towards the net to pick up the return pass from Federoff. The Penguins defense followed Federoff and were caught looking when Backstrom snapped a quick shot past Fleurry to give the Capitals a 2–1 lead.
Deadlock
The Penguins tied the game with barely a minute gone in the third period. Evgeni Malkin skated the puck down the left side across the blue line and headed towards the net, dropping the puck for his teammate Ruslan Fedotenko, who was steaming in behind him. Fedotenko drove a shot high over the glove of Varlamov, who never saw the shot.
The Caps didn’t surrender by any means. But good hustle by the Penguins defense, and Fleurry’s amazing glove hand kept the Penguins ahead until the four-minute mark.
Mike Green carried the puck in on the right, then threaded a pass through the defense to Backstrom, all alone in the center. Backstrom held the puck until all eyes were on him; then he dumped it off to Ovechkin on the right corner of the crease. Ovechkin’s quick flip was in the net before Fleury could react.
Both teams turned up the intensity for the final few minutes of regulation play, but neither could get an edge, and the game went into overtime.
Overtime Error
In the end, the Caps beat themselves. Evgeni Malkin came charging down the wing, beating Federov, but lost control of the puck. Malkin tried to shovel the puck towards the net; the puck caromed off the stick of sprawling Capitals defenseman Tom Poti and slithered through the legs of goalie Varalmov, who was focused on the charging Malkin.
In the end, neither team clearly beat the other; up until the final second, the game was a hard-fought draw. But luck is as important as effort and skill, and the final break went to the Penguins.
The Penguins now have a 3-2 lead in the series.
