PITTSBURGH — T.J. Oshie thought it was the opposite of Game 1. The Washington Capitals took several shots on goal. They had plenty of scoring chances. They won individual matchups.
And, as if to prove his theory, they lost.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 victory on Monday gave them a 2-1 lead in the teams’ second-round playoff series. Yet, Oshie and his teammates expressed a steadfast belief that they should have been the ones claiming a victory and an advantage based on their performance throughout the game.
“When we’re playing good, we seem to keep continuing to do that — and especially when things don’t go our way and we play good, it seems like we really stick with it,” Oshie said. “So, we’ve got to do the same [and] make a couple of adjustments. That’s what happens in a playoff series. You got to make adjustments to what they’re doing, what’s not working for you, but a lot of things went well tonight.”
The Capitals took 49 shots on goal, tying a franchise record for a regulation playoff game, and coach Barry Trotz said they generated 30 scoring chances. They had 85 total shot attempts, moved the puck well on their four power-play opportunities and were credited with 58 hits — more than double the 25 given to Pittsburgh.
They also mounted some semblance of a comeback in the third period, with Alex Ovechkin scoring 8:02 in and Justin Williams drawing them closer with an extra attacker at 19:04.
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“Good job by the guys not letting off the gas,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “I think a pretty energized effort from us. We made a couple mistakes that they scored on. It could have easily been 2-0 after one in our favor if a bounce or two goes different.”
Coach Barry Trotz said after the game that players were asking if there was a practice scheduled for Tuesday because they were eager to return to the ice.
The last time that Trotz was as pleased with the Capitals’ performance was following Game 5 of the first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers — a game that the Capitals also lost. Strong goaltending was also the culprit then, as the Flyers’ Michal Neuvirth stopped 44 shots in a 2-0 shutout victory.
Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray’s 47 saves were not only a career high, but they were the second-most by any rookie goaltender in a playoff game dating to 1967-68.
“We’re playing a very good hockey team and we’ve got to play our game,” Trotz said. “The type of game that we played today, with our puck management and our decision-making, for the most part … we were pretty good. You look at the number of chances, it was very high, very lopsided. We’ll continue. We feel good about where we went. The only thing I don’t like about it is our result.”
“I feel like we have a positive attitude in here,” center Nicklas Backsrom said. “I mean, you have to look at it positively. We played all right tonight, but we just have to execute. We have to score some more goals. I have a feeling that we’re going to do it on Wednesday. We have to keep going.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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