Pens tie series, head home 1-1

The Pittsburgh Penguins put in a dominant performance in Game 2 of the Series between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins to win 2-1 after a hard fought battle which pushed the Penguins to the limit and beyond. The Penguins relied again on Matt Murray to keep them alive and their depth to win it.

The Penguins fell short in Game 1 and didn't forgive themselves for their lack of effort in overtime. They came out of the blocks in this one and dominated the game defensively for the first two periods, restricting the Capitals to a measly 10 shots through the first 40 minutes. For the second game running Pittsburgh outshot the Capitals heavily.

The Penguins biggest player on defence was Kris Letang who logged over 35 minutes on the ice, his ice time was high mostly due to the poor hit that Brooks Orpik laid on Olli Maatta. Olli Maatta had passed the puck away and was turning but Orpik continued on his path and checked him in the head. It is likely Maatta has a concussion based on his reaction and inability to stand up without wobbling. Orpik has a hearing with the league and if they do their job they'll suspend him for a few games.

Despite having a large number of chances the Penguins failed to take them and were kept in check by a strong Braden Holtby in goal once more. The Penguins carried the puck and as a result drew a lot of penalties, however, despite having 5 power plays the Penguins failed to make them count.

The power play for the Penguins has been really poor in this series and have failed to convert on 7 straight power plays now. The biggest issue appears to be a lack of shots, they seem to be more inclined to pass rather than shoot. The Capitals penalty kill is good as they pressure heavily and take away the lanes but the Penguins are making it a lot easier by continually passing it around with threatening the goalie.

Pittsburgh did take the lead through a neat move involving Bonino again who dropped the pass from behind the net to Hagelin. Hagelin was open in front of Holtby and easily finished it. The Caps tied it on a rebound from Marcus Johansson 5 minutes into the third but could have tied it earlier were it not for Kuznetsov sitting on Murray's head and getting it disallowed.

The Penguins won it out of nowhere really, Eric Fehr scoring on a redirect in front the net off Malkin, who has been the best player for the Penguins offensively this series so far. To go back to Pittsburgh tied is what the team would have wanted and they will be confident on winning both when you look at how close they were to beating the Capitals in Game 1. This could easily be 2-0 Pittsburgh. Game 3 is on Monday. 8pm of course.