Capitals Oust Penguins In Overtime Thriller

Los Angeles, May 8 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th May, 2018 ) :Evgeny Kuznetsov scored an overtime winner as the Washington Capitals ended Pittsburgh's dream of a Stanley Cup hat-trick on Monday to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference finals.

Kuznetsov's overtime strike sealed a dramatic 2-1 win for the Caps as the 2017 and 2016 champion Penguins bowed out before their home fans at the PPG Paints Arena. The win handed Washington a 4-2 series win and sees them advance to a showdown against the Tampa Bay Lightning for a place in the Stanley Cup finals.

After a scoreless first period, Washington took the lead through Alex Chiasson early in the second. Kris Letang levelled for Pittsburgh with a long-range effort which deflected off a stick and past Braden Holtby.

After a nerve-wracking third period which saw both sides fail to break the deadlock, the game went to overtime. The decisive moment came at 5:27 when the Penguins coughed up possession cheaply to leave the Caps with a breakaway.

Russian star Alex Ovechkin slipped the puck to Kuznetsov, who darted through the Penguins defence before beating goaltender Matt Murray with a clinical finish. "We believe in each other," Ovechkin said afterwards.

"It doesn't matter what happened in the past. We have to stick together. "We knew it was there. We just had to battle, and we just had to fight through it. Again, great feeling right now and we're going forward." Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said his team would learn from the loss.