Capitals beat Penguins, stave off elimination
WASHINGTON -- Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored goals 27 seconds apart in the third period, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Saturday night to stay alive in their Eastern Conference semifinal.
Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist for Washington, which trails the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins 3-2 in the best-of-seven series with Pittsburgh set to host Game 6 on Monday night.
Kuznetsov gave Washington a 3-2 lead when he beat Marc-Andre Fleury from a sharp angle at 7:20 of the third. Ovechkin, after his initial shot on the rush was blocked by Ron Hainsey, got the puck back and wristed it past Fleury for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
In 19 career games when facing elimination, Ovechkin has 10 goals and 10 assists.
Braden Holtby stopped 20 shots for Washington, while Fleury made 28 saves.
Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead into the third period, but Washington tied it at 2:49 when Nicklas Backstrom and Burakovsky worked a give-and-go on the rush and Backstrom's wrister beat Fleury to the far side.
As indicated by Friday's practice, Ovechkin skated on the third line and Burkovsky moved up to the first.
Forwards Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary of the Penguins returned five days after suffering concussions and Crosby had an assist.
Carl Hagelin gave the Penguins 1-0 lead in first period and Phil Kessel put them up 2-1 in the second.
Evgeni Malkin picked up an assist and has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 10 playoff games
Washington's Lars Eller had two assists.
Despite being outshot early once again, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Hagelin's first goal of the playoffs at 10:24 of the first period.
After Hainsey kept the puck in the zone along the right boards, Nick Bonino one-timed a pass to Hagelin in the slot. Hagelin was able to deftly direct the puck from his skate to his stick and fired a wrister that deflected off Holtby and in.
Burakovsky, playing on the third line on this shift, took a drop pass from Kevin Shattenkirk as he entered the zone, toe-dragged the puck by a defender and wristed a shot past Fleury on the short side for his first goal of the playoffs with 30 seconds left in the period.
It was the first Capitals' first goal from a bottom-six forward in the series.
Pittsburgh regained the lead early in the second period on a pretty passing sequence with Washington's Nate Schmidt off for holding. Malkin, in the right circle, took a pass from Crosby and then fed through the slot to Kessel, who beat a sliding Holtby at 4:20 for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
NOTES: Nicklas Backstrom's goal gave him 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 11 postseason games. He moved ahead of Dale Hunter on the Capitals' all-time postseason points list with 73. ... With his assist, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby tied Mario Lemieux's franchise playoff record of 96 assists. ... During the Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era, the Penguins are 16-14 (1-2 this year) in games when they can eliminate an opponent. ... The Capitals scored first in 58 of 82 regular season games, but in only 4 of 11 postseason games. They gave up the first goal four times against Pittsburgh.