PITTSBURGH — Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored a minute apart in the first period, Matt Murray stopped 47 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins took control of their Eastern Conference semifinal with a 3-2 win in Game 3 on Monday.
PITTSBURGH — Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored a minute apart in the first period, Matt Murray stopped 47 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins took control of their Eastern Conference semifinal with a 3-2 win in Game 3 on Monday.
Carl Hagelin added his third goal of the playoffs for Pittsburgh, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series on another contentious night guaranteed to keep the NHL player safety office busy. Two days after Washington’s Brooks Orpik earned a three-game suspension for an illegal hit on Pittsburgh’s Olli Maatta, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang took a shot at Capitals forward Marcus Johansson sure to be reviewed before Wednesday’s Game 4.
Alexander Ovechkin and Justin Williams scored in the third, but the Capitals find themselves in a deficit against a franchise they have beaten just once in eight previous playoff meetings.
The Penguins were hardly crisp but turned Washington mistakes into goals while Murray did the rest. The 21-year-old rookie outplayed Vezina Trophy finalist Braden Holtby to move Pittsburgh within two wins of a spot in the conference finals.
Playing with the urgency they lacked early in a 2-1 loss in Game 2, the Capitals outshot Pittsburgh 49-23 and outhit the Penguins 58-25. It hardly mattered.