Steckel's OT Winner Forces Game 7

As if the second round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals couldn't get any more entertaining than it had been through the first five games, it did on Monday night. There were three lead changes, shots off the iron, goals off the most unlikely of sticks and, of course, overtime.

After the dust settled on a wild game that saw both teams go through the motions numerous times thanks to playing four games in six nights, it would be Washington's David Steckel who sent the Mellon Arena crowd home unhappy and this series to a seventh game on Wednesday night.

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The Penguins came out of the gates firing, out shooting the Caps 18-5 in the opening period and looking like they wanted no part of a trip back to Washington for Game 7. Bill Guerin scored his fourth goal of the playoffs and the Pens took a one goal lead into intermission.

Somewhere during that intermission, Pittsburgh lost its way. Maybe all the games finally caught up with the Penguins, as this was the fourth game of the series since last Wednesday. But for as dynamic as Pittsburgh was in the first and how easily they controlled the play, they rolled over in the second period and allowed the Capitals back in the game. To their credit, the Caps seized the opportunity and gave the Penguins all they could handle for the rest of the night.

The teams exchanged goals the rest of the way in another entertaining game in a series that seems only to produce great hockey. The Capitals would control the play in the second and jump out to a 2-1 lead, but not before the Mark Eaton answered in the final minute to tie the game before intermission. Eaton, amazingly, has four goals in these playoffs. He had four goals all season, which tied a career high.

The third period was more of the same wild play. Kris Letang gave the Penguins back the lead almost five minutes in, but by the time six minutes had elapsed, the Capitals had stormed back with two goals to retake the lead, 4-3. Sidney Crosby broke through with five minutes to go to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Pens would have a huge chance to take the win with 2:02 to go when Brooks Laich took a slashing penalty that broke the stick of a Penguin. The Pens power play unit held the puck in the Capitals' zone for the first 80 seconds of the man advantage and kept Crosby on the ice for the full two minutes to try and find a game winner. They managed to get quite a few chances but the defense and netminder Simeon Varlamov wouldn't give in. With the penalty killed, the two teams would head to overtime for the third time in the series.

In overtime, the unlikely hero would be David Steckel for Washington. He had only eight goals in 73 games this season, but tipped home a shot from Laich for his third goal of the series. And now the Capitals head back home for their second Game 7 of these playoffs on Wednesday night. In both instances the Capitals had to rally just to get there. They were down 3-1 against the Rangers in the first round before storming back to win the series at home in seven. Against the Penguins, they had lost their last three games and were down 3-2 before ekeing out a win that could have easily gone either way.