If the Washington Capitals are going to exorcise the demons of past playoff experiences, they're going to need their 21-year-old netminder, Simeon Varlamov, to steal a couple of games for them. After giving up a soft goal to Mark Eaton late in the second period, tying the game at two, it seemed reasonable to assume his confidence might be damaged, at least a little bit. Then again ... maybe it wasn't. After making the save of the playoffs on Sidney Crosby, Varlamov shut the door for Washington as it pulled out a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Aside from another strong performance from Varlamov, the Capitals' penalty killing was perfect, while the Penguins' collective power play effort was bad at its best, alarmingly incompetent at its worst. Pittsburgh went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, rarely creating a prime scoring chance, extending its power play drought to 0-for-its-last-18.
Through the first seven playoff games, the Penguins are just 4-for-38 on the power play, converting at a dismal 10 percent success rate. That's not going to cut it.
The Penguins carried the play for the opening 15 minutes of the first period, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to Crosby's fifth goal of the postseason. Varlamov, however, managed to help keep the Capitals in the game as they were outshot by a 7-0 margin midway through the opening period.
Dave Steckel tied the game when he took advantage of some sloppy rebound control by Marc-Andre Fleury, banging home a loose puck on the door step. Just four minutes later, Pittsburgh put itself in some penalty trouble and gave Washington a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly a full minute. Not the best strategy, as Alex Ovechkin made the Penguins pay by scoring his fourth of the playoffs just 40 seconds into the power play.
Tomas Fleischmann scored the game-winner at the 1:46 mark of the third period, sneaking in behind the Pittsburgh defense to one-time a pass from Nicklas Backstrom past Fleury, giving Washington a 3-2 lead.
As the Capitals tried to seal the win, Varlamov came up big one more time in net, making another big save on Ruslan Fedotenko.
Looking ahead to the keys for Game 2 on Monday night.
Pittsburgh
1) It's essentially a must-win game. To win this series the Penguins are going to have to win at least one game in Washington, and they certainly don't want to fall down 2-0.
2) Score a power play goal.
Washington
1) Tighten up defensively in five-on-five situations. The Penguins created a number of odd-man rushes in game 1, and while Varlamov was up to the challenge, you have to remember this isn't the New York Rangers they're playing against . Pittsburgh can actually score a little bit if given enough opportunities.
2) Continue to disrupt the Pittsburgh power play.
