PENS OFFENSE EXPLODES IN VICTORY OVER CAPS

The Washington Capitals’ talented young Russian goaltender Simeon Varlamov finally looked like a rookie for the first time in the postseason on Friday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins blitzed him for three first period goals en route to a 5-3 win.  The victory evened the best of seven NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2 with a quick game five rematch slated for Saturday afternoon in Washington, DC. 

Nicklas Backstrom’s goal from Alexander Semin just :36 seconds into the game gave Washington their only lead of the game, but it would only last for roughly three minutes as the Penguins’ Sergei Gonchar tied the contest with his unassisted power play goal at 3:55 of the opening period.  Bill Guerin would make it 2-1 Pittsburgh with his goal at 10:47 assisted by Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz, and Ruslan Fedotenko would stake the home team to a 3-1 advantage at 15:25 set up by Jordan Staal and Rob Scuderi.  The Caps would cut into the lead at 15:08 of the second period on Chris Clark’s goal assisted by Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin, but Pittsburgh would maintain a 3-2 advantage after two periods of play.

The Penguins would put the game away early in the third period on Sidney Crosby’s 9^th goal of the playoffs assisted by Miroslav Satan and Bill Guerin extended their lead to 4-2.  Washington’s Milan Jurcina would score a couple of minutes later with Boyd Gordon and Matt Bradley assisting on his shorthanded goal to make things interesting.  Pittsburgh would regain a two goal advantage with Maxime Talbot’s goal at 14:46 assisted by Ruslan Fedotenko and Rob Scuderi.  Despite pulling goaltender Varlamov for an extra attacker with over two minutes remaining Washington would get no closer and Pittsburgh would claim the 5-3 victory.

After the game, Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau reminded the media that his rookie goaltending phenom Varlamov is only human, as is superstar Alex Ovechkin who was a non-factor in game four:

"They were desperate down here. Alex is only human, he can't be unbelievable every night. He's a great player, he just had one of those nights where he's not going to get three goals."

Pittsburgh cashed sports betting tickets as a -170 home favorite, with the final score easily exceeding the posted total of 5’.  Both teams have gone OVER in six of their last ten postseason games, and the prospects are good for more offensive fireworks as the series progresses.  10 of the last 15 meetings between the two teams, including five of seven at Washington, have gone OVER the total. 

The usual scheduling of games on back-to-back days has been necessitated due to a concert by New Age keyboard player Yanni in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.  The quick trip to Washington will allow game six to take place in Pittsburgh on Monday and keep everything on schedule, but the Caps management has expressed their displeasure to the NHL about the situation.  The Caps have been installed as a -150 home favorite for Saturday night’s game five, with the total set at 5’ OV -117.