The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals were on centre stage again Monday night as the only game on the NHL schedule.
And they didn’t disappoint.
Perhaps the most exciting series of the second round, the Penguins and Capitals again gave us a lot to talk about — from another controversial hit, to a fabulous start from rookie netminder Matt Murray, and a late surge by Alex Ovechkin.
There may have only been one game on the docket, but here are three things we learned Monday night.
NO GOALIE CONTROVERSY HERE
Matt Murray has been excellent in these playoffs filling in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury. He came into Monday’s Game 3 with four wins and a .939 save percentage in five games. His only loss came in OT of Game 1 against the Capitals, when the puck squeezed past him by the smallest of margins.
Fleury returned to the bench Monday night and played backup to Murray. The Penguins weren’t about to start Fleury over Murray because the latter has been on fire so far. But if Murray had a bad start and a loss? Well, then we may have had the makings of a “goalie controversy.”
You can put that to rest for now, though.
The 21-year-old Murray had 47 saves in Game 3 as the Penguins won 3-2. Murray had more than double the workload of his Vezina-calibre counterpart Braden Holtby and was clearly the first star of this game and stole a home win for the Penguins.
Prior to the game, with Fleury on the bench, you had to wonder what might happen if Murray had a bad start. Would the team have turned to Fleury in Game 4 under that scenario?
Now, it would surely take two consecutive poor starts for it to even be a question of whether the Penguins turn to Fleury. But even if that were to happen, are you actually going to turn to a goalie who hasn’t played since March 31? And after Murray surrendered four goals in Game 1, he bounced back with a terrific Game 2.
Murray, just 19 games into his NHL career, is the Conn Smythe front-runner. Has to be.
KRIS LETANG SHOULD BE SITTING DOWN FOR A GAME…OR TWO OR THREE
Whether you want to call it a charge (because of the jump), a head check (by Rule 48) or interference (because of the tweet to follow) there are a few different reasons why you could build a case to suspend Penguins defenceman Kris Letang.
Really, this one should be all about the leap and the connection with the head. In the immediate aftermath of the three-game suspension to Brooks Orpik for a hit to the head, Letang delivered a similar type of blow to Marcus Johansson. And he did leap into the check too, so that’s charging, not “following through a legal hit.”
Letang received a minor for interference on the play.
The biggest situational difference between this incident and the Orpik hit on Maatta is that Johansson returned in the second period after he said he passed concussion protocol. Maatta left Game 2 after he was clearly woozy leaving the ice and he missed Game 3 with an “upper-body injury.” That may be how Letang escapes supplemental discipline here.
But what are we talking about? Both were checks to the head. Both came a hair late, after the player gave up the puck (minor detail in these eyes). In fact, Letang’s may have been even worse because of how he jumped into it, even if the result wasn’t as bad. Yes, you’re taught to explode into your hit. No, you’re not allowed to jump into it.
Letang should miss at least Game 4, if not Game 5 as well. If he does, that makes this Game 3 win even more important. Letang played 27:57 Monday night, his lowest total so far this series. In Game 2, he played four of the last five minutes as the Penguins tried to shut down the Capitals.
Without him, the Penguins’ suspect defence becomes much more vulnerable.
ALEX OVECHKIN CAN’T DO IT HIMSELF
Don Cherry may have called out Ovechkin after the first period Monday night for “doing nothing” but the Russian sure turned it on towards the end of the game.
Cherry specifically called out Ovechkin for his lack of physicality.
“He hasn’t hit one guy,” Cherry exclaimed. “They put him down as two hits. Are you kidding? They were rub outs. When he’s not hitting and banging they’re in trouble.”
Well, Ovechkin started hitting and banging in the third period and these weren’t just rub outs. His biggest one was on Ian Cole, which may have been borderline charging, but he did glide into it. Fair game here.
And aside from just getting more physical, Ovechkin scored his first goal of the series to pull Washington within one with this devastating wrist shot. I mean, this thing is deadly accurate and hard. Is it any wonder he’s chasing (and, in my estimation, will eventually break), Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record?
Ovechkin had nine hits and seven shots on goal in Game 3 and was easily the Caps’ best player, especially late in the game.
Coming into this series, the natural narrative surrounded the Crosby vs. Ovechkin rivalry and which star could carry his team the most. Neither has stood out as much as we expected yet, but you get the feeling that at some point, they’re going to explode.
Ovechkin started to take over in Game 3 and was the reason the Caps were coming on so strong. This loss is not on him.