PITTSBURGH – A playoff pattern seems to be emerging for the Pittsburgh Penguins: the bigger their mess, the stronger their effort.
Playing without suspended No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang and two other injured regulars, the Penguins pulled together Wednesday to beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 on a goal by Patric Hornqvist at 2:34 of overtime. Leading 3-1 in the series, they can wrap up the Eastern Conference semifinal with a win Saturday in Washington.
“We know when we play our best hockey we are hard to play against,” Pittsburgh defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “We think we have the guys in this room to win overtime games. Maybe we haven’t had the best luck in overtime lately, but we are doing everything to change that.”
Pittsburgh’s franchise had lost eight consecutive playoff overtimes before Hornqvist found the net. That included a loss to the Capitals in Game 1 of this series.
“We knew going in, when you lose your top-minute guy, probably our best player the whole year, it wasn’t going to be just the six of us,” Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley said. “We all had to step up as a group.”
The Penguins had been 2-8-1 this season when Letang was out of the lineup.
Letang was out because he had to serve a one-game suspension for an illegal hit on Washington forward Marcus Johansson in Game 3.
The Penguins kept saying that it was impossible to replace Letang, but defenseman Trevor Daley clearly tried. He played 28:41, contributing one goal and finishing plus-3.
“I kind of knew what the situation was going to be like,” said Daley, who averages about 22:26 per game. “It’s the time of year, you have to take advantage of it. Every play, every game matters.”
The Penguins were also playing without injured regulars Olli Maatta and Eric Fehr. The Capitals were without Brooks Orpik, who was sitting out his second game of a three-game suspension for a head hit against Maatta.
Winning without Letang, their fire-starter offensively and defensively, is yet another sign of how different these Penguins are than the Pittsburgh teams of the past few seasons.
This Penguins group is resilient, ready for the rigors and challenges of playoff hockey. They are steely in the face of adversity. They no longer need Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin to carry them.
“You just have to believe in the way you play and trust we’ll get our chances and when we do someone will step up,” said Crosby who picked up his first assist of the series on Daley's marker.
Now, the Capitals’ resolve will be tested.
“That’s why it’s (called) sudden death,” said Trotz. “That’s what it feels like. We’ll have to deal with it.”
He said he believes in his team’s ability to find a way.
“This group has dealt with a lot of things, I think they’ve handled adversity pretty well all year so they’ll have to do it again," Trotz said. " We’ve dug ourselves a hole and see if we can dig ourselves out a little bit.”
Alex Ovechkin didn’t sound discouraged. “I think this team has lots of character,” he said
This series was expected to be the best of the semifinals and it has lived up to expectations. The first four games have included two suspensions, two overtime games, multiple injuries and every game decided by one goal.
Letang will be back next game, and the Penguins should be more dangerous offensively and tighter defensively.
“We're excited to have Kris back,” Lovejoy said. “He should be well rested after tonight. We're expecting him to play 44 to 48 minutes in Washington.”
