WASHINGTON — Sidney Crosby outdueled Alex Ovechkin in a vintage goal-for-goal showdown between the NHL’s top teams, and Nick Bonino and Marc-Andre Fleury put the finishing touches on a playoff classic.
Crosby scored two goals in 52 seconds, Bonino had the winner in the third period and Fleury made dazzling saves with and without his stick, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 Thursday night in Game 1 of their highly anticipated second-round series.
Almost eight years after their “dueling hat tricks” game, Ovechkin answered Crosby with his fourth goal of the playoffs, but his team couldn’t compensate for the Penguins captain’s greatness.
“They’re special athletes, both those guys, and they look for those big moments and they capitalize on those big moments,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “They’re special players.”
Crosby scored twice in the first 64 seconds of the second period to give him as many goals as he had points in the Penguins’ series against the Capitals a year ago.
“That’s how it goes sometimes,” Crosby said. “You don’t get some for a while and then they come in bunches.”
With linemates Jake Guentzel and Patric Hornqvist playing a game of “Get Crosby the puck and watch him do his thing,” the 2016 playoff MVP capitalized on a couple of Washington mistakes and looked as if he had a third goal in him a few more times.
“He was a threat all night,” Penguins center Matt Cullen said. “He was dangerous. He was attacking.”
“Bones is a guy that’s a high-stakes player,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He brings his best game when the games are most important, and we’ve got a lot of guys on our roster that we can say that about.”
In Ottawa, Erik Karlsson scored on a bad-angle shot with 4:11 left in the third period, sending the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in the opener of their second-round playoff series.
The Senators captain beat fellow Swede Henrik Lundqvist from just above the goal line. The shot pinged off Rangers center Derek Stepan before going into the net.
“Just wanted to get the puck in there and hope for a good bounce and got a great bounce,” Karlsson said. “Those are always nice to get. And I think that the amount of pucks that we put at the net we deserved one of those.”
It was Karlsson’s first goal and seventh point of the playoffs. The 26-year-old defenseman, who has been playing with a foot injury, also logged more than 28 minutes in the win.
Game 2 is Saturday.
“I think the players didn’t want to get swept in four,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “We heard from everybody how good they are. It’s all you could hear is how much they’re going to crush us.”
Ryan McDonagh scored for New York, and Lundqvist finished with 41 saves.
Craig Anderson stopped 33 shots and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, which eliminated Boston in six games in the first round. — AP
