Monday, Apr. 23 7:00pm ET
Pens avoid Game 7 with OT victory
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Finally, overtime was kind to the Pittsburgh
Penguins.
|  | | Martin Straka delivers the winning goal in overtime past Olaf Kolzig. |
Martin Straka stole the puck from Sergei Gonchar to score at
13:04 of overtime and the Penguins held off two Washington Capitals'
comebacks for a series-ending 4-3 victory in Game 6 Monday night.
The Penguins had lost five of their last six overtime games,
including the memorable five-overtime Game 4 against Philadelphia
last season that effectively decided that series.
"That doesn't mean anything," Straka said. "That's over
now."
And so is the series -- the sixth time the Penguins have
eliminated the Capitals in their seven playoff series since 1991.
Pittsburgh now plays Buffalo in the playoffs for the first time
since 1979, a matchup of Mario Lemieux, one of the game's greatest
scorers ever, against one its best goalies, Dominik Hasek.
Not without a big sigh of relief by the Penguins, though.
With the Penguins dominating play in overtime in a desperate
attempt to avoid a Game 7 on visiting ice, Straka grabbed the puck
off Gonchar in the Capitals' zone and beat Olaf Kolzig inside the
near post for his first goal of the series.
"Everybody was saying on the bench he was going down on every
shot, so I went up high," Straka said. "I tried to beat him low
on a breakaway down low in Game 3 and he stopped it. This has to be
the biggest goal I've ever scored."
And one of the biggest Kolzig has allowed.
"I didn't have any problems with breakaways the whole series,"
he said. "I figured I could stop that one. It just hit the shaft
of my stick. I don't know where it ended up going in the net -- I thought
I made the save after it hit my stick."
Straka didn't -- he knew it was in.
"It's unbelievable. It's a great feeling," he said.
Not for the Capitals, who seemed convinced after they rallied
from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits they would be playing a Game 7 at home
Tuesday.
"Even when we were down 2-0, I never thought we weren't going
to win it," Steve Konowalchuk said. "It would have been a very
interesting Game 7. I don't think they were looking forward to
that."
They weren't, with rookie goalie Johan Hedberg saying, "I would
have rather played three overtimes than play in Washington again."
The Penguins opened a 2-0 lead on goals by Lemieux and Robert
Lang, then lost it during a frantic 3 1/2-minute stretch of the second
period. But they avoided a potentially series-swinging collapse
with one of the timeliest goals in their playoff history -- Alexei
Kovalev's score with one second left in the second period.
With the Penguins briefly in a two-man advantage, Kovalev skated
to the puck after a faceoff in the Washington end and powered a
slap shot over Kolzig's shoulder just before the period-ending horn
sounded.
"I looked at the clock before the faceoff and I thought that if
the puck came to me, to release it right away," Kovalev said.
"And that's what happened."
That goal wasn't enough, however, as Calle Johansson scored with
2:40 left to force the second successive overtime in Pittsburgh.
The Capitals avoided going down 3-1 in the series by winning 4-3 in
Game 4 on Jeff Halpern's goal Wednesday.
The Capitals had tied it at 2 when defenseman Brendan Witt
scored a fluky bad-hop goal from the blue line at 14:07 of the
second, and Jeff Halpern lifted a shot over Hedberg's blocker to
tie it at 17:28.
Both teams had numerous good scoring chances in a back-and-forth
game that was far more frenetic than the previous five games, in
which only 17 goals were scored and the team that scored first
quickly went into a defensive shell. The Penguins led in shots
36-31.
Washington's dual comebacks overcame Pittsburgh's dominating
first period. Lemieux scored his fourth of the series at 7:21 on a
power play, and Lang scored 1:38 later to make it 2-0.
After being quiet most of the series, all three of Pittsburgh's
second liners scored -- Straka, Lang and Kovalev.
Game notes
Washington is 1-5 when trailing 3-2 in a playoff series.
... It was the ninth time in 11 playoff games the teams have played
a one-goal game. ... The Capitals are 0-10 against the Penguins
when a playoff series returns to Pittsburgh. ... Adam Oates, who
tied Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr for the NHL regular-season lead in
assists, didn't have a point in the series. ... Sixth-seeded
Pittsburgh scored its third consecutive opening round victory as a
lower-seeded team. The Penguins beat second-seeded Washington a
year ago and top-seeded New Jersey in 1999.
 Send this story to a friend
|
|
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Washington Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Penguins-Capitals Series Page
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 4
Washington 3
Los Angeles 3
Detroit 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Martin Straka scores the game-winner in OT to eliminate the Capitals.
avi: 968 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Calle Johansson's slap shot finds its way through traffic and beats Johan Hedberg to force OT.
avi: 1217 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Johan Hedberg sprawls out and makes a beautiful save while losing his goalie mask.
avi: 1096 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Mario Lemieux makes a nifty move in front of the net and scores on the backhand.
avi: 898 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Robert Lang nets the wrist shot just 1:38 after the Penguins' first goal.
avi: 728 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Washington's Brendan Witt and Jeff Halpren score during the second period to tie the game 2-2.
avi: 577 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
With time running down, Alexei Kovalev blasts home a slap shot at the second-period buzzer.
avi: 1404 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
 Martin Straka explains his series-winning goal against the Capitals.
wav: 126 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mario Lemieux is happy not having to play a Game 7 in Washington.
wav: 157 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
