Posted by Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun
From Scott Burnside:
WASHINGTON -- Wow. Talk about sucking the life out of a building, and maybe a team, all in eight seconds.
One of the themes of this terrific series has been the inability of either the Capitals or Penguins to create any separation between themselves and their opponents. Remember Game 6 when the Penguins dominated the first period but were only up 1-0? Well, the first period of Game 7 had much of the same feel with one major exception, the Pens struck twice in an eight-second span to open up a rare 2-0 lead in this elimination game.
The first goal came after a slashing penalty to Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, and guess who set up the game's first marker? Sergei Gonchar. His half slap-half pass bounced off a Washington defender in the slot to Sidney Crosby, who remarkably played the puck from his right skate blade to his stick and buried it. We've talked a lot about Crosby's hand-eye coordination, but to manage that for his seventh goal of the series was huge. Then, before most of us in the press box looked up, Craig Adams was burying a weak shot between Simeon Varlamov's pads.
As one press box wag noted, you can only hope to contain Adams for so long. It was the first goal of the postseason for the checking winger.
We have the grand fortune tonight of being joined by colleague Pierre LeBrun and he offers his thoughts on this opening frame.
From Pierre LeBrun:
Scotty, this reminds me so much of the opening period of Game 7 in the previous round, when I was here doing Rangers-Caps. Washington was tentative and ineffective in that period and I saw that again in their play tonight. The difference is, the Penguins can score, unlike the Rangers.
I also didn't like the penalty Sergei Fedorov took in the first period, 90 feet from his net. That's a selfish play and he should know better in such a huge game. Veterans should lead the way, not add to the problem.
A final point from me -- with the Penguins dressing only 11 forwards, you'd think that would be an advantage for the Caps, but it means Pittsburgh is giving Crosby and Evgeni Malkin more ice time with the team down to three centers. That's going to create matchup difficulties for Caps coach Bruce Boudreau and you saw that already in the first period.
More from Burnside:
Thanks, Pierre. You are the king. Now get a hot dog.
A couple of other things about the first period. We figured this would have to be a night when Marc-Andre Fleury had to outshine Varlamov if the Penguins were going to have success in a hostile building. Fleury has been OK in this series, but not great. But when Alex Ovechkin raced in alone early in the first, Fleury stoned him with a fine glove save. After that, the Caps had little to no scoring opportunities and were outshot 16-5.
At the other end, Varlamov probably should have had Adams' shot, but the rookie once again has shown pretty impressive resiliency as he made a handful of big stops, including a pad save on a Miroslav Satan one-timer and a couple of close-in chances on a late Penguins power play. It might be 3-0 or 4-0 without Varlamov.
Now we'll see if those stops are enough to get the Caps back in the game.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
