Washington Capitals Finally Looked like Themselves in Huge Win Over the Pittsburgh Penguins

By Djack

The Capitals refuse to be eliminated from the playoffs. With their backs against the wall, with the great regular season looking like it's going to be a waste once again, and then the switch finally flipped for the Capitals. The Pittsburgh Penguins were leading in game 5, 2-1. It looked like the Penguins were about to close this game out on the road and advance to the conference finals. They had Sidney Crosby back in the lineup and were rolling, then the third period rolled around, and everything changed.

If the Capitals go on to win the Stanley Cup, when they make the 30 for 30 on "It's the Caps year", they'll go back to this third period as the turning point in the playoff run. The period when the Capitals finally found their regular season groove in the playoffs. The Capitals tied up the game two minutes into the third period when Nicklas Backstrom beat Fleury for a goal.  About 5 minutes later the Capitals took the lead when Kuznetsov scored his 5th goal this postseason and gave the Capitals their first lead of the game. The Capitals continued to put pressure on the Penguins even with their lead. Alexander Ovechkin, who said after the game 4 loss that he needed to step up and play  better, backed up his words when he gave his team an insurance goal 30 seconds later. His first since game 1 of the series. Capitals lead 4-2, the crowd was elated, and the Caps looked like a totally new team.

The Capitals would continue to keep up the offensive pressure even with a 2 goal lead. Penguins were being aggressive since they faced a 2 goal deficit with little time to spare, so they still got a few good looks on net. Holtby played much better today, so all shot attempts from the second period on were sent away. For the first time all series I felt the Capitals were in complete control. The result would hold up and the Capitals win the game 4-2 to push the series to 3-2. Capitals still have to win another game on the road against the Penguins, which is going to be far from easy. If they play with the aggression, hunger, and precision that they did tonight I believe they can certainly pull it off. If the Capitals win game 6 they'll win the series without a doubt. Game 7 in Washington is bad news for the Penguins, so it's best if they don't let it get that far.