Murray Epic in 3-2 Penguins’ Win

It certainly didn’t unfold the way Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff envisioned. For the better part of last night’s Game 3, the Pittsburgh Penguins were outshot, outworked, outhustled, outhit and outplayed by the Washington Capitals.

Indeed, nearly everything about last night’s 3-2 victory over the Caps was ugly. From Tom Kuhnhackl’s off-the-numbers tally to Kris Letang’s shoulder-to-the-chops hit on Marcus Johansson to the 49 shots on goal yielded by the locals.

Everything except the outcome.

Thank the kid.

Rookie Matt Murray stopped 47 shots to literally save the day for the Penguins, who now hold a 2-games-to-1 lead in this dogfight of a second-round series.

“I thought [Murray] was terrific,” Sullivan said. “The disparity in shots were because they had the puck all night and we didn’t.”

The black and gold sprinted to the early lead, courtesy of a pair of first-period goals 60 seconds apart. From his office in the high slot, Patric Hornqvist redirected Trevor Daley’s drive from center point past a well-screened Braden Holtby.

The packed house at Consol Energy Center barely had retaken their seats when Letang found Matt Cullen with a long stretch pass. Cullen’s diagonal feed hit Matt Niskanen’s stick, smacked Kuhnhackl in the back and bounded in.

Up 2-0, it appeared the Penguins might win in blowout fashion. Then Letang clocked Johansson with a hard, late hit.

The sight of their teammate sprawled face down on the ice lit the Caps’ competitive fuse. For the remainder of the contest they bore a striking resemblance to the Presidents’ Trophy winners who rampaged through the NHL during the regular season.

Thanks to Murray’s epic performance, the Pens somehow managed to stay one step ahead. The HKB line provided some insurance with five minutes left in the second period when Phil Kessel picked off a sloppy clearing attempt by Caps defenseman Nate Schmidt and quickly fed Nick Bonino in the slot. With a brilliant bit of trickery, “Bone’s” stickhandled around Holtby and slipped the puck to an onrushing Carl Hagelin, who poked it home for his third goal of the playoffs.

The Pens would need every bit of their three-goal lead. Alex Ovechkin ruined Murray’s shutout bid eight minutes into the final frame with a blistering long-range blast. The Caps proceeded to pour it on, to the tune of 21 third-period shots.

Fortunately, Murray was in top form. The rangy netminder held the visitors in check until the final minute, when Justin Williams banged a juicy rebound into a wide-open net. Following some tense moments, Murray celebrated with his teammates.

“[Murray] was awesome all night,” said Marc-Andre Fleury, who served as backup. “He kept us in the game, that’s for sure.”

Rust Hurt

The Pens played most of the game without sparkplug Bryan Rust. The energetic forward was injured while blocking a pair of shots just 36 seconds into the contest.

Should Rust be unable to return for Game 4? Forward Oskar Sundqvist is waiting in the wings.

Letang Suspended

Letang was suspended one game for his ill-advised hit on Johansson, the NHL announced today.

Losing “Tanger”–even for one game–is a huge blow to the Pens. Under heavy fire from enemy checkers, he’s performed brilliantly. The Montreal native’s tallied a goal and six assists in the postseason while shouldering a huge workload (29:14 ATOI).

He’ll likely be replaced for Game 4 by Justin Schultz.

Flower Returns

Fleury dressed for the first time since March 31, when he suffered his second concussion of the season against Nashville. All told, “Flower” missed 14 games.