Penguins humble Capitals in Game 2, as Holtby is pulled

The Pittsburgh Penguins took a 2-0 series lead in their second-round showdown with the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, with a 6-2 victory. They took the Caps’ best punch in the first period, shook it off thanks to Marc-Andre Fleury and then let Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel carry them back home.

Meanwhile, the Capitals saw their Vezina Trophy-nominated goalie, Braden Holtby, pulled after two periods while Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves on 36 shots) outplayed him – again.

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The Capitals talked about getting an early lead and not “chasing the game” after their Game 1 loss. They did everything but score in the first period, outshooting the Penguins 16-5 and out-chancing them with 35 shot attempts to just eight for Pittsburgh.

They started the second period with a power play. And the suddenly, the Penguins had the lead.

That’s 40-year-old Matt Cullen with the shorthanded goal, blocking a Kevin Shattenkirk shot and then stealing the puck from him. More on Shattenkirk later.

The Capitals got one back less than a minute later on the power play, as a blown coverage by Ron Haisney left Matt Niskanen alone for a blast past Fleury for the 1-1 game.

Then Crosby decided to influence the game.

Check out this zone entry by the Penguins’ captain, before dishing to Kessel for an unstoppable snipe:

That made it 2-1 at 13:04 of the second period. Crosby was at it again at 16:14, this time on the defensive end:

Justin Williams was staring at three Capitals around Fleury, and did the one thing he simply couldn’t do, which is put the puck right off Crosby, who helped spring Jake Guentzel for a goal to Holtby’s glove side that the Capitals netminder simply had to stop.

Holtby was on the bench to start the third period. It didn’t matter. Philipp Grubauer gave up Kessel’s second of the night at 2:19 of the third, on the power play, for the 4-1 lead. That power play happened when Shattenkirk, the Capitals’ big trade deadline acquisition, sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.

The Capitals attempted a comeback. Alex Ovechkin, with no quit in him, made a sharp move to the Penguins’ net, fired and Nicklas Backstrom was there for the rebound goal at 3:44.

But Evgeni Malkin tipped home an Ian Cole shot for the 5-2 lead at 5:31 – a goal that was initially waved off as goalie interference, but that call was reversed on a coach’s challenge.

Guentzel scored into an empty net for his seventh goal in seven career playoff games.

According to WhoWins.com, visiting teams have gone up 2-0 in a series 87 times. They’ve gone on to win 69 times.

This is a Penguins team playing without its best defenseman, playing without the starting goalie that eliminated the Capitals last postseason and playing through several other injuries. And now it’s two wins away from eliminating the best NHL team in the regular season, which would drop to 1-9 against Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in franchise history.

Game 2 started like the Capitals wanted it to. It ended like the Capitals feared it would.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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