Caps Fall to Pens in OT, 5-4

Despite a 5-4 overtime loss to the Penguins on Thursday night at Capital One Arena, the Caps clinched their seventh straight Stanley Cup playoff berth, punching their ticket to the postseason for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons. Washington did a lot of good things in Thursday's game, but was unable to overcome a pair of glaring mistakes in its own end that resulted directly in Pittsburgh goals and ultimately, a Caps loss.

"I think you can never take that for granted," says Caps center Lars Eller of making the Stanley Cup playoffs. "That's the first step you've got to accomplish. To be able to compete for the Cup, you've got to get in."

Jake Guentzel scored at 2:11 of overtime to give Pittsburgh the two points in a typical seesaw affair, the fourth of seven games between the two teams that has required extra time this season. The Pens have won all four of those games, taking two in each city. Three of the Pittsburgh victories were achieved in overtime and the other in a shootout.
"I don't think we gave much," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "The ones we gave were pretty big. There's a couple of turnovers, and they turn things around pretty quick if you don't take care of the puck and execute with it."
Washington took advantage of an early Pittsburgh mistake to grab a 1-0 lead in the front half of the first period. When Pens winger Evan Rodrigues put the puck over the window at 7:15 of the first, the Caps had the game's first extra-man opportunity. Playing without power play mainstays Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson, the Caps needed only a dozen seconds with which to jump in front.
The Caps gained control after the offensive-zone draw, and Nicklas Backstrom teed up Justin Schultz for a one-timer from center point. From just above the paint, T.J. Oshie redirected the drive past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry to put the Caps up top at 7:27.
Later in the first, the Pens pulled even on a rare miscue from Backstrom, whose pass through the middle of his own end was picked off by Kasperi Kapanen, who promptly put it past Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek at 15:27 of the opening period.
Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead at 8:32 of the second when Freddie Gaudreau - back in the Pens' lineup after a seven-game absence because of injury - got lost on the weak side and converted a feed from Justin Zucker.
As they've done frequently this season, the Caps responded swiftly. Backstrom won a left dot draw in Pittsburgh ice, pulling the puck back to Dmitry Orlov. From the left half-wall, Orlov cranked a blast that Jarry couldn't quite corral with his catching glove. It toppled out and wobbled over the goal line to make it a 2-2 game at 9:02.

Unable to regain the lead on a power play chance that came seconds after the Orlov strike, the Caps did so later in the middle stanza, scoring after another left-dot draw, five seconds after the final television timeout of the period. Evgeny Kuznetsov won the face-off to Orlov, who went across to Schultz at the right point. Schultz put it down low on the left side where fellow ex-Penguin Daniel Sprong netted his fourth goal in three games at 15:07, putting the Caps up 3-2.
Washington was unable to maintain that lead to the second intermission. A quartet of Caps was unable to tame a bouncing puck down low in the Caps' zone in the 19th minute of the frame, and Colton Sceviour was able to poke it free to Zach Aston-Reese. The latter carried to the cage and tucked a backhander through Vanecek's five-hole at 18:11, sending the game to the third all even at 3-3.
In the third, the Caps had a power play opportunity just ahead of the midpoint of the period but couldn't muster the go-ahead goal. Just over a minute after they completed the kill, the Pens took the lead once again on Kapanen's second goal of the game, a transition tally.
Tom Wilson's backhand feed for Evgeny Kuznetsov was broken up deep in Pittsburgh territory, and Jared McCann sent Kapanen into Washington ice with an indirect feed. Kapanen caught up to it, settled it and fired a short-side wrist shot past Vanecek to put the Pens back on top, 4-3 at 10:55.
Washington had to execute a late penalty kill, and it evaded a brush with death when the Pens put a long-distance empty-net bid off the goalpost in the penultimate minute of regulation. The Caps had difficulty gaining possession with the extra attacker, and they had to put Vanecek back in for a defensive zone draw with 69 seconds remaining.

The Caps finally gained the Pittsburgh zone and got set up in the final half minute of regulation. Kuznetsov rang a shot off the outside of the right post, then went into the right-wing corner to retrieve it. He fed Wilson in front, and the big winger had enough time and space to settle and shoot from just above the paint, tying the game with 14.3 seconds left in regulation.
Washington had some possession and a couple of shots on net in overtime, but Pittsburgh prevailed when Guentzel converted John Marino's feed at 2:11 of the extra session. Guentzel's goal put the Pens in the postseason for the 15th consecutive season, the longest active streak in the NHL.
"It's never good when you give up a goal like that in the last however many seconds there," says Guentzel, referring to Wilson's tying tally that enabled the Caps to clinch a playoff berth as well. "But you've just got to look at it like you get a point, and you've got to try and get the next one, so you've got to move by it pretty quick."
Guentzel went on to recount his game-winner, his second game-winner against Washington this season.
"Heads up play by [McCann] in the corner there to find [Marino] in the slot," says Guentzel, "and just a really nice play by Johnny to find me on the back door. Really good play by those two, and I was just on the end of it to be pretty lucky there."
Like the Caps, Pittsburgh knows that making the playoffs in the NHL isn't easy and isn't a given.
"We're going to enjoy this one tonight," says Pens coach Mike Sullivan. "These guys have competed extremely hard all year long to earn the privilege to compete for the Stanley Cup in the playoffs. And it's a hard league, and it's not easy to make the playoffs. I'm certainly proud of the group for what they've accomplished to this point. By no means are any of us satisfied. We understand that there is a lot of work to do here, but we're going to take a deep breath tonight and just enjoy it."