But the Capitals' breakthrough Saturday might be a sign their luck is about to change.
Given the explosiveness Washington displayed in the third period, the Penguins will have to do better. That said, there was reason to be wary about the chance their beloved Washington club could mount a third-period comeback.
But imagine for a second that your franchise has lost eight of nine series' against another team and hadn't gotten out of the second round of the playoffs since the new millennium.
Or the Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET), when the Capitals will try to do it again, down 3-2 in the series to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
CORRECTS SPELLING OF CAPITALS IN SECOND SENTENCE Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov (92), from Russian Federation, celebrates scoring the game winning goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins with teammates, T.J. Oshie (77), John Ca.
Lately, he's been putting on a show for his parents - who are here from Russian Federation - and the Capitals fans who have grown to love him for his dazzling puck-handling abilities, along with a little showmanship that occasionally reveals itself while flapping his arms like wings after big goals.
You can say what you will for Washington's unwillingness to drop the series in five games or the heart and effort and desire and all the intangibles that went into defeating a team that has done so well to close out games in the final frame, but the truth is we should have been expecting a game like this to come at some point in the series. Washington's stars emerged in the third period of a must-win on Saturday at Verizon Center to keep the Capitals' slim playoff hopes alive.
The Penguins confidence stems from still having a 3-2 series lead, home ice in Game 6 and getting Crosby back five days after he was concussed. In fact, it hasn't even really been all that close.
Macron Defeats Le Pen For French Presidency
Chancellor Angele Merkel had a warm, friendly phone call with President-elect Macron congratulating him on his win. The Macron team said that the new president had had a "cordial" telephone conversation with Ms Le Pen.
The Capitals are still down 3-2 against their rivals, and however sweet Saturday night's win was, the focus has already turned to Game 6.
Through five games thus far, the Capitals have managed to boast a 5-on-5 Corsi for percentage of 63.2 percent. Through two periods the teams combined for 45 shot attempts at even-strength. They trailed the Pittsburgh Penguins heading into the third period. The Capitals' dominance was again the case in Game 5, too.
"That was a huge, huge goal by Backy", Ovechkin said. Just two years ago, Kuznetsov's deployment was mostly sheltered to the offensive zone because Trotz didn't trust him yet.
"They know way more about it than the rest of us do".
Braden Holtby has been struggling for this entire series against the Penguins. "In these tight games, we need our best players to step up and do the hard work and be difference makers and I think that's what they were tonight". "We start believing. We start play the way we're capable of playing". I think we were patient that way (in Game 5), waited for good shots, and it paid off. He's got great awareness, great playmaking ability, great ability to carry the puck - some of the best I've seen. That gels more with what the Capitals were able to manage against Fleury in the regular season, too, as they beat him 11 times on 95 shots across two outings. There were three lead changes, punches and counter punches, acrobatic saves and near-saves, and the consistently superlative play of Erik Karlsson in a thrilling matinee that pushed the Senators one win from their first conference final in a decade.
Conor Sheary was also back after missing Game 4 with a concussion that came as a result of a collision with teammate Patric Hornqvist on Monday. "They're going to have to be all in", Washington coach Barry Trotz said Sunday during a conference call with reporters.
The only team that can play that card is the Washington Capitals.
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