Gästebuch » WASHINGTON (AP) — The calendar said December

. The intensity felt like late spring.The third meeting this season between longtime rivals Pittsburgh and Washington featured tight checking Mark Scheifele Jersey , strong goaltending and more than a few punches. The Penguins won 2-1 on Wednesday night, yet the Capitals appreciated the ferocity with which the game was played.“It was a good game, especially this time of year, one with playoff mentality,” Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. “We haven’t had one of those since Vegas.”Holtby was referring to the 2018 Stanley Cup finals, when the Capitals beat the Golden Knights to earn their first championship.Washington came in with five straight wins and a 12-2 record since Nov. 14.“Obviously, you don’t want to end up on the losing side, but I think we did a lot of good things tonight and both teams played really well,” Holtby said. “It’s one you can really learn from.”Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins. They were scuffling along with a 15-12-6 record before playing one of their best games of the season.“We’ve got to build on it,” Crosby said. “It’s a divisional game, a rivalry, a team that we’ve seen a lot, so these kind of intense, emotional games seem to bring out the best in us. We understand we need that same intensity, same desperation every night if we want to win.”It was the third meeting this season between the rivals, each of which has been decided by one goal. Pittsburgh has won two of them. In this one Mathieu Perreault Jersey , Crosby had a hand in both Pittsburgh goals and logged more than 22 minutes.Facing Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals is all the motivation Crosby needs to bring his game to a higher level.“When you play these rival-type games, there’s an elevated level of emotion associated with it,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “My experience of being around Sid is that he’s at his best in those situations.”Rust broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period with his sixth goal in five games, and the Penguins held on behind goaltender Matt Murray, who stopped 31 shots.“They’re a heck of a team,” Murray said. “They won last year for a reason. They gave us all we could handle.”Ovechkin was held without a goal for the first time in seven games and had his career-high run of games with a point end at 14.In addition, Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov had his streak of eight straight games with an assist come to an end, one shy of the franchise record.Lars Eller put the Capitals up 1-0 at 6:38 of the second period, pushing the puck past Murray after taking a lead pass from Tom Wilson.Crosby tied it less than three minutes later, deflecting a pass from Evgeni Malkin into the right side of the net with Pittsburgh on the power play.Rust made it 2-1 with just over a minute left in the period, hacking away at the puck in front of the net before it finally popped Holtby.In the third period, Holtby snagged a shot by Malkin on a breakaway to keep Washington within striking distance.Twice over the final 20 minutes, Kuznetsov took shots that slipped through Murray’s legs, only to be swatted away by Pittsburgh defensemen an inch before sliding past the goal line.Early on, it was apparent that this wasn’t just another midseason game. With less than a minute elapsed, Wilson and Pittsburgh defenseman Jamie Oleksiak shed their gloves and got into a fight. Oleksiak was helped off the ice with a cut on his cheek Patrik Berglund Jersey Womens , and both players received five-minute penalties. Oleksiak did not return.Four minutes later, Ovechkin and Kris Letang traded blows behind the Pittsburgh net before being sent to the penalty box for roughing.The scoreless first period featured more penalty minutes (18) than shots on goal (17).NOTES: The Capitals’ run of 14 straight games with at least three goals ended. … Crosby took over the team lead in points with 38. Crosby, Phil Kessell and Malkin all entered with 36. …. The Capitals fell to 9-4-3 when taking at least 30 shots. … Pittsburgh has earned point in seven of nine games and 12 of 16. … Crosby has 35 goals and 63 assists in 73 games against the Ovechkin-led Capitals. Ovechkin has 46 goals and 37 assists in those games.UP NEXTPenguins: Host Minnesota on Thursday night.Capitals: Host Buffalo on Friday night, a rematch of Saturday’s game won by Washington in overtime. WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and said the expansion Vegas Golden Knights sent a message, bouncing back with a 3-1 series-evening win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference final.”Every time we need a big game as a group, we show up,” Marchessault said. ”We showed the hockey world we earned the right to be here.”Tomas Tatar scored 6:37 into the game for the Golden Knights and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 30 saves.Kyle Connor scored midway through the third period to pull Winnipeg within a goal. Marchessault restored the two-goal lead 1:28 later.Connor Hellebuyck had 25 saves for the Jets.After losing the series opener, Marchessault told reporters the team faced a must-win game.”If you’re going to talk out there in the media that you have to be better, I think you need to lead by example,” he said. ”I tried to do that.”Game 3 is Wednesday night in Las Vegas.”I don’t think anybody is panicking,” Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba said. ”We like our road game. We like where it was in the Nashville series.”Winnipeg won three times on the top-seeded Predators’ home ice, including Game 7 last week.The expansion Golden Knights appeared to be rusty in the series opener and the Jets scored three goals early in a 4-2 win about 48 hours after advancing out of the second round.It looked like they were going to pick up where they left off.”They came out flying again with a lot of speed,” Fleury said.Fleury, who helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win three Stanley Cups, made key stops early and got help from teammate and a post in the opening minutes to keep the puck out of his net.”Fleury had to make three or four really good saves in the first seven minutes http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-nikolaj-ehlers-jersey ,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”We rebounded after that. We got that 2-0 lead and it was a different game for us. When teams are chasing the lead, it’s tough for teams to battle back.”Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele, who has postseason-high 12 goals , got the puck past Fleury in the opening moments of the game and Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt cleared it from the crease .Vegas generated offense by making plays without the puck, forcing turnovers to set up goals.”We were on them,” Golden Knights forward Erik Haula said. ”That’s our game. We’re a fast team. I think we showed that.”Indeed.After the Jets failed to control the puck out of a corner in their end, Tatar ended up stuffing the puck in the net after hitting the side of the net with a shot.Connor was pressured into turning over the puck near center ice late in the opening period and Reilly Smith set up Marchessault, his former Florida Panthers teammate, at the blue line and he scored on a breakaway backhander.”There was about 57 minutes of that game that was pretty good for us,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”Three minutes of it got away from us.The Jets closed the scoreless second period and started the third on the power play and still couldn’t get the puck past Fleury.Yet.Winnipeg kept up the pressure on by relentlessly forechecking and drew another penalty early in the third. Connor took advantage, squeezing a shot between Fleury and the post from the bottom of the left circle 7:17 into the third.That whipped the white-clad fans into a frenzy – triggering jeers of ”Fleu-ry! Fleu-ry!” – and were quickly quieted by another Marchessault backhander that beat Hellebuyck.The Jets pulled their goaltender to add another skater over the last couple minutes of the game, but Fleury didn’t let the puck get past him again.NOTES: Vegas put Tatar and Tomas Nosek in place of David Perron and Oscar Lindberg. Gallant said Perron was not a healthy scratch. ”He wasn’t feeling well,” Gallant said. ”I think he’ll be fine.” … The Jets have not lost consecutive games this postseason. … Vegas acquired Tatar from the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline for a first-round pick and he played in just his fifth game of this postseason and scored his first goal. ”What a luxury to be able to put Tomas Tatar into a game in the playoffs,” Schmidt said. ”The guy has been an incredible player in this league and proved it for many years.”—