By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Marc-Andre Fleury allows the winning goal by the Capitals' David Steckel in overtime of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal last night at Mellon Arena.
Character? The Penguins insist their cup runneth over. Resiliency? That, too.
We're about to find out for sure.
In a fabulous Stanley Cup playoff series that probably was destined to go the distance, the Penguins and Washington Capitals will play Game 7 tomorrow night at the Verizon Center in our nation's capital. The Capitals assured as much by coming into Mellon Arena last night and putting their own character and resiliency out there for all to see. It was a marvelous performance, more than enough for them to survive a first-period onslaught from the Penguins and bring them back from a 3-2, third-period deficit to win Game 6, 5-4, in overtime. It was a depressing outcome that left the big crowd dazed and disappointed, wondering if they had seen the last of their beloved birds in this hockey season.
Sadly, that seems a lot more likely than it did at this time yesterday.
What really hurts is that it all was there in front of the Penguins to take, that third-period lead, on home ice, in front of their rockin' fans, the chance to finish off a very good Washington team in six games and not have to make that dreaded trip back to D.C. But they couldn't get it done. Center David Steckel scored the winner for the Capitals on a deflection at 6:22 of overtime.
"Right now, we feel more energy and more excited than Pittsburgh," Capitals star Alex Ovechkin said. "They knew it would be tough if they lost and had to go back [to Washington] because the fans are going to be crazy over there, and we're going to be flying out there, too."
Pretty hard to argue with the man, isn't it?
Not that Penguins star Sidney Crosby didn't try.
"We would have loved to finish them off here, no doubt," he said. "It's a challenge, but if any group of guys is capable of doing it, it's the guys in that locker room. We really believe in the way we're playing. If we do that again, it'll work out."
The unfortunate thing is it should have worked out last night. The game wasn't lost in overtime. It was lost in the third period when the Penguins couldn't protect their lead. It also was lost in the first period when they fired 18 shots at Capitals goaltender Simeon Varlamov and could get just one by him. It was lost in that same first period when they had a 5-on-3 power play for 56 seconds and couldn't score.
Sergei Gonchar or no Sergei Gonchar, that 5-on-3 failure is inexcusable.
"The first period, they wanted to not make a game of it," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I think they just wanted to come and blow us out."
Yeah, that was the Penguins' plan, one they couldn't quite execute.
"It wasn't a lack of effort or a lack of focus, that's for sure," Crosby said.
Still, it was a terrific opportunity lost.
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Sidney Crosby scores against Capitals goaltender Simeon Varlamov late in the third period to force overtime last night.
What a waste of the Penguins' stirring 4-3 overtime win at the Verizon Center in Game 5. Now, they must beat the confident Capitals again in their building, a tough assignment under any circumstances, let alone without, in all likelihood, Gonchar.
Good luck with that.
You had better believe the Penguins are going to need every bit of their character and resiliency.
They're still planning on showing up, though.
"The composure level of this team is pretty high," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "Everybody stays on board."
There's no question the Penguins have a right to be confident themselves despite this punishing loss. Certainly, they've beaten some pretty big odds just to get to this sudden-death Game 7.
Their odyssey started with an 18-3-4 surge down the regular-season stretch, a run they needed to even make the playoffs. It continued with a clinching Game 6 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round when they dug out of a 3-0 hole to win, 5-3, on the road. And it maybe peaked when they won three consecutive games against the Capitals -- the final two virtually without Gonchar, who was knocked into street clothes by a knee-on-knee hit from Ovechkin early in Game 4 -- after losing the first two games of the series in Washington.
Naturally, the Penguins didn't want to hear anything about that peaking business.
They want us to believe their best will come tomorrow night.
"We know we're capable of doing it," Crosby insisted.
The stakes couldn't be more clear.
Win Game 7 and the Penguins move on down the hallowed playoff road, building even more character and resiliency as they go.
Lose it and they'll spend all summer thinking about the Game 6 at home that got away.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on May 12, 2009 at 12:00 am
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