Maybe Next Year Alex

11 May, 2017

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going back to the Eastern Conference Final, trying to get back to the Stanley Cup Final.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves in a 2-0 win against the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Verizon Center on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh won after losing Games 3, 5 and 6.

“It was a long series against a good team,” Fleury said. “They came hard at us till the end, and we’re proud of the way we played tonight and the way we handled the pressure and these guys over the series.”

Pittsburgh, the defending Stanley Cup champion, will play the Ottawa Senators in the conference final. Game 1 is at Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington, which has not reached the conference final since 1998.

“You need all 20 guys to win at this time of year. When guys aren’t playing great, the other guys [have to] pick them up and someone’s got to carry the torch, and tonight we didn’t have that,” Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said.

Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist scored for the Penguins, who have won six in a row on the road in Game 7.

Rust gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 8:49 of the second period, his first goal of the series after scoring four in a six-game, first-round win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who missed Game 4 after sustaining a concussion in Game 3, had an assist, his 10th.

Hornqvist scored at 4:14 of the third period to make it 2-0 with his fourth of this postseason.

It was Fleury’s ninth Stanley Cup Playoff shutout, first this year. He has played every game since starting Game 1 of the first round after Matt Murray was injured during warmups.

Ovechkin was minus-2 with four shots on goal. “We didn’t execute on our chances. We tried. We tried our best,” the Washington captain said. The Capitals are 4-11 in Game 7, 3-7 with Ovechkin

NHL.com

Image Yahoo sports twitter

Mentioned In This Post: