The Capitals dominated the beginning of the game and there was an air of expectancy about who would score the first goal and, sure enough, Ovechkin scored on a rocket bomb from his spot on the power play. Despite the eye test showing the Capitals enjoying extended zone time in the Penguins area they were behind on shots for the whole game and only ended up with 19 to Pittsburgh's 31.
Not that the shot count mattered as Washington scored thrice but a lot of their shot attempts were being blocked valiantly by the Penguins defencemen or being sent wide of the net. Pittsburgh managed to get their first power play goal of the series just 7 minutes into the period with Kunitz picking up off a Kessel rebound and prodding home in front of Holtby.
That goal was about as good as it got for the Penguins all game. Their usually strong penalty kill struggled in this one and gave up another one to the Capitals power play with T.J Oshie getting his 5th goal in the play offs. Oshie's goal came in the second period and the Capitals owned that the scoreboard with Williams scoring the Capitals 3rd mid-way through.
Some people have raised a question about whether Murray should sit the next game and Fleury should play but I don't see why that is even a topic. Sure, Murray had a .842SV% on 19 shots but none of the goals were his fault. He didn't play badly, if anything, he kept the Penguins at least within touching distance for most of the game. Changing the goalies would not help at all. The Penguins need to ride Murray until they are forced to make a change or really need to.
The Penguins biggest problem in this game is one that has been seen in the play offs briefly at times. They are able to get shots on net and take a large number of shot attempts but at times struggle to convert. In Game 6 they need to come out heads up and guns blazing to crush any push by the Capitals. A Game 7 could be suicidal.
0 comments:
Post a Comment