Kris Letang lifts Penguins past Capitals, 7-6 in OT
By DAN SCIFO, Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins gained a measure of revenge against a rival that ended their season last spring.
Kris Letang scored his second goal 1:20 into overtime and the Penguins opened theseason with a 7-6 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
“I think we wanted to respond to last season,” Letang said. “I don’t think it mattered if it was (Washington) or another team.”
Letang beat goalie Braden Holtby with a slap shot from the point on a power play. Letang finished with three points, tying Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for the most by a defenseman in team history with 440.
“I always looked up to him,” Letang said. “It’s pretty cool to have your name next to his.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan believes the three-point opener will give Letang confidence moving forward.
“I thought he had a really solid night,” Sullivan said. “He plays big minutes and in all of the situations for us. I’m happy for him because I know how hard he works.”
Jake Guentzel also scored twice, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, and Derick Brassard and Jamie Oleksiak added goals in Pittsburgh’s opener. Matt Murray made 30 saves.
T.J. Oshie scored twice for Stanley Cup champion Washington, coming off a 7-0 home victory over Boston on Wednesday night in the Capitals’ opener.
Alex Ovechkin had his second of the season and 609th overall, passing Dino Ciccarelli for 18th on the NHL list. Brooks Orpik scored his first goal in 182 regular-season games. Jakub Vrana and John Carlson also scored. Holtby made 34 saves.
The Capitals met the Penguins for the first time since eliminating Pittsburgh in six games during the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The winner of Pittsburgh and Washington’s second- round series the past three playoffs has gone on to win the Stanley Cup, including the Capitals’ first-ever championship last season. During the previous three seasons, the Penguins and Capitals met 32 times in the regular season and playoffs with 16 of those 32 games decided by one goal.
The Capitals return 20 of 22 players who won the Stanley Cup, while Pittsburgh seeks its third championship in four seasons with a lineup largely unchanged from last season.
“Both of these teams have so much firepower throughout the whole lineup,” Oshie said. “When you get a sloppy game, guys making misreads defensively, turning the puck over at the wrong time, each team is going to make you pay.”
Malkin scored 2:45 into the third period, putting Pittsburgh ahead by two, but Oshie tied it at 6 with goals 21 seconds apart.
“It was not a pretty game,” Letang said. “It was ugly. It was that type of game.”
Five of the first seven shots were goals as the Capitals held a 3-2 lead eight minutes into the game.
Both teams scored in the first four minutes of the second, but Pittsburgh closed the period with goals from Guentzel and Brassard scored less than two minutes apart, giving the Penguins a one-goal lead going into the third.
“It was hard to get momentum in this game,” Letang said. “The first one is never pretty. We got it out of the way and obviously it’s good that we got the two points.”
NOTES: This is the second time in the past three years Pittsburgh opened its season with Washington. Pittsburgh is 6-0 against Washington in season openers. … D Jack Johnson played his first game for Pittsburgh after signing as a free agent for five years and $16.25 million on July 1. .. Ovechkin is one goal behind Bobby Hull for 17th. … Orpik’s last regular-season goal came Feb. 26, 2016, against Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Vegas on Wednesday night.
Penguins: Host Montreal on Saturday night.

2nd Period scoring

Pit- k. Letang (0:30)

Caps- J. Carlson (3:54)

Pit- P. Hornqvist (15:09)

Pit- D. Brassard (16:58)

1st period goals

Pit- J. oleksiak (1:49)

Caps- J. Vrana (3:30)

Caps- B. Orpik (4:18)

Pit- J. Guentzel (7:27)

Caps- A. Ovechkin (8:00)

Caps drop Penguins in OT to advance to conference finals
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov’s breakway goal 5:27 into overtime gave the Washington Capitals a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 on Monday night, and a berth in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 20 years.
Kuznetsov took a lead pass from Alexander Ovechkin and tucked the puck by Matt Murray to end Pittsburgh’s two-year reign as Stanley Cup champions and propel the Capitals into the NHL’s final four for just the third time in franchise history.
Braden Holtby stopped 21 shots for the Capitals, who will face Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference finals. Alex Chiasson scored his first playoff goal in four years during a taut, tight contest through regulation.
Kris Letang scored for the Penguins and Murray finished with 28 saves but couldn’t close his legs fast enough to stop Kuznetsov’s forehand flick from in close as Pittsburgh’s bid at becoming the first team in 35 years to win three consecutive Cups came to an abrupt end.
The Capitals played without center Nicklas Backstrom, who was scratched due to a right hand injury suffered in the third period of Washington’s Game 5 victory. Forward Tom Wilson also sat for a third straight game while serving a suspension for an illegal hit on Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese in Game 2.
Washington spent the series saying its forgettable playoff history littered with squandered leads and blown opportunities — particularly against the Penguins — is not a factor. That this time is different. That this team is different. Twice the Capitals rallied in the third period to stun Pittsburgh, including a four-goal outburst in Game 5 that pushed them to the brink of their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 20 years.
That last step, however, has always been tricky. Four times previously during the Ovechkin Era the Capitals won three games in the second round only to come up short in Game 7.
The Penguins, by contrast, have been impossible to finish off since head coach Mike Sullivan took over in December 2015. Pittsburgh came in 4-0 in elimination games under Sullivan, including a 2-0 victory in Game 7 in Washington last spring on its way to a second straight title.
The stakes led to an unusually slow start for both before the Capitals broke through 2:13 into the second when Walker held off Pittsburgh’s Derick Brassard behind the Pittsburgh net and fed Chiasson in the right circle. Chiasson’s shot slipped under Murray’s left arm for his second career playoff goal and first in more than four years when he played for Dallas.
The deficit, however, hardly appeared to stoke the Penguins. Instead they continued to plod along, staying only one goal behind thanks in large part to the play of Murray. He stuffed Jakub Vrana on a breakaway to keep Pittsburgh’s hole from getting any larger and at about the game’s midway point, Sullivan had seen enough. He reshuffled the lines — putting Patric Hornqvist alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin alongside Phil Kessel — and the energy shifted immediately.
The score soon followed.
Crosby won a faceoff in the offensive zone and fed it to Letang, whose shot from the point Washington’s Chandler Stephenson and slipped by Holtby 11:52 into the second to tie it and set the stage for more drama in a series and a rivalry that continues to one-up itself spring after spring.
NOTES: Washington forward Andre Burakovsky missed his 10th straight game with an upper-body injury. … Crosby’s assist pushed his career playoff total to 185, tied with Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman for 10th most all-time. … Walker’s assist was the first ever in the playoffs by an Australian.
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