Washington Capitals right wing T.J. Oshie (77) skates with the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta (3), of Finland, during the second period of Game 1 in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series, T. “We just regrouped and went back at them and found a way to get the two points”.

“There are some areas that I feel that we can be a little bit better at”, Vigneault said.

“Braden’s our backbone, he has been all year”. “It’s not always going got work like that, but you have to be able to win different ways and with the start we had we needed to find a way to get momentum back”.

For his part, Holtby said it just wasn’t his night.

“We came off and then got out there again”.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates his goal with Patric Hornqvist (72), of Sweden, and Jake Guentzel (59) during the second period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against th. Teams that have won the first two games on the road in a best-of-seven series are 69-18 all time. The period ends 0-0. And if you’re not, you open things up against them and before you know it, you’re down by two or three. He showed how quickly he can change a game, even a series, by scoring two goals in less than a minute. The Caps gave up a shorthanded breakaway and the forward went five hole. Andre Burakovsky made a strong move to the net from the right side and attempted to tuck the puck inside the far post.

In fact, Letterman did root for the Caps and told The Washington Post he went to Ball State University in IN with captain Alex Ovechkin. The four teams that played Saturday combined to have only two power-play goals.

Cullen said he could sense Crosby was primed for a productive game. They entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs after they won their second straight Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team. In the first-round series against Toronto, Holtby was criticized after he allowed four goals in three straight games, almost getting benched in Game 4. Braden Holtby has given up 22 goals on 248 shots faced and Philipp Grubauer have allowed two goals on nine shots.

Two second-period strikes from Sidney Crosby made the Pens look exactly like, well, the offensive juggernaut that ran through the Columbus Blue Jackets in the opening round of the postseason.

Fleury was then stellar to the finish, especially during an extended scramble in front of him with about three minutes left.

After a smattering of boos for the first goal, Verizon Center fell silent. “That 3rd goal, that’s a big moment”.

“I have a lot of trust in this group”, Trotz said. “Obviously, I was frustrated that I didn’t do that”.

“Flower was great for us and he kept us in it”, Kessel said.

Sure, Washington had a nice advantage in shots again in Game 2, but the Capitals don’t have the stars up the middle that Pittsburgh does. Saturday night was a frustrating continuation of dominating the Penguins without reaping a reward.

In the second period, with the Capitals on the power play, Cullen blocked Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the point, poked the puck away from Shattenkirk and came in on Holtby ahead of the defense.

Suffice it to say, when alternate captain Nicklas Backstrom and other leaders spoke up, it wasn’t a cheery message. Henrik Lundqvist was outdone, if only barely, in Game 1, but it’s hard not to appreciate the efforts he gave in the net after an already impressive first-round showing.