PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The game started like three of them did in the 2008-09 playoff series between the Pens and Capitals, Sidney Crosby scoring a goal. The Pens had control and a 3-0 lead early in the second before the Caps tied it. Thursday night, It was the other Russian future Hall of Fame that set up the winning goal.
Often forgotten in the conversation about the greatness of the series is the role Evgeni Malkin played in it. He now has 82 career points in 67 regular-season games against Washington. At age 39, it was Malkin’s pass that set up the game-winning goal by Bryan Rust. It was his 17th assist, tying him with Connor McDavid for the NHL lead.
“That was incredible,” Rust said. “I tried to find the open space in the slot. He took it off the wall and threw it on my stick. It was awesome.”
It was an on-point pass from Ben Kindel on the power play that led to Crosby’s first goal. He brought it from near the goal line straight onto Sid’s stick for a slap shot and a 1-0 lead. Crosby put home a rebound, also on the power play, for a 2-0 lead and his 11th goal in his last 15 games. Crosby has 35 career goals, 97 points in 74 career regular season games against Washington. Anthony Mantha’s seventh goal made it 3-0.
Caps got some momentum as Alexander Ovechkin grabbed a turnover from Phillip Tomasino directed it towards the net and Dylan Strome scored as Washington would add two more with the last one coming from Tom Wilson on a rebound with four seconds left in the second period.
“It was really cool, both got on the scoresheet there,” said forward Ben Kindel. “Kind of like the old Sid and Ovi rivalry there. It was great to see. It’s kind of what you grew up watching.”
Kindel comfy
Just a couple of handfuls of games in the NHL, the 18-year-old Kindel not only started on Crosby’s top line, played on the top power play unit and had a pretty assist on the first goal, the first of two against Washington.
“Obviously, you want to get the puck to those guys as much as you can,” Kindel said. “At the same time, you have to play your game and make the reads that you see as the game comes to you. Just got to play your game.”
“You can see he’s comfortable out there,” said Pens head coach Dan Muse. “He’s doing a very good job of getting to the right areas. The crispness of his play, it seemed like every pass he was making was quick and on the tape.”
“He’s been awesome,” Rust said. “He’s going out there. He’s obviously working really hard. He’s an extremely smart kid, knows where to be on the ice, knows which plays to make. When you combine that intelligence that his skill level, good things are going to happen.”
Overcame deficit
It was just the last game where the Pens blew a third period lead to give up four goals in a loss at Toronto. Thursday night, they were able to overcome in the third period. Head coach Dan Muse said they were trying to force things that weren’t there against Washington and had a couple of defensive breakdowns.
This time they responded.
“Credit to the guys, we were just in this situation three days ago. It would have been very easy for this group to cave. It would have been very easy for this group to play back on their heels, to play worried. I thought we came out in the third period and we did the things we needed to do to win the game.”
“At end of the day, the guys got the job done. They got the two points.”
“It was huge,” Rust said. “Hopefully we learned our lesson. Hopefully these things don’t continue to happen. I think we had a lot better mindset after the game got tied this time than we did last time.”
Up Next
Pens are at the Devils at 12:30p on Saturday and home to the Kings at 2p on Sunday.