Caps Author Comeback in Third for 6-3 Win in Game 5

This is how it all got started, way back on Oct. 5. The Caps were opening their season on the road in Ottawa, and they were down a goal heading into the third period. Washington's top line came to the fore, manufacturing three goals in the third - all of them off the stick of Alex Ovechkin - and leading the team to an eventual 5-4 shootout win over the Sens.

Fast-forward exactly seven months. The Caps are again down a goal heading into the third period, but this time it's at home and in a critical Game 5 of a tied playoff series against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. For the first time in months, that same line is reunited: Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana. Once again, that trio was instrumental in turning the tide of the game late, and on a much bigger and more important stage.

Kuznetsov tied the game on a breakaway in the first minute of the third, and Vrana scored what would prove to be the game-winner with just 4:38 remaining. The Caps added a pair of empty-netters from T.J. Oshie and Lars Eller to earn a 6-3 win, and they'll head to Pittsburgh with a 3-2 lead in the series and a chance to close out the Pens in Monday's Game 6.

"We stayed in the game," says Vrana. "We kept pushing and we kept pushing all of the third period."

The Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Vrana unit was the Caps' top line when the 2017-18 regular season got underway, back when Washington winger Tom Wilson was sitting out a suspension, a four-game sentence from the NHL's Department of Player Safety. On their first shift of the third period in Saturday's Game 5, Vrana sent Kuznetsov into Pittsburgh ice all alone with a precision pass. Kuznetsov did the rest, tucking the puck between the wickets on Pens goalie Matt Murray, and tying the game at 3-3 just 52 seconds into the third, before the Pens could even fall back into a prevent defense.

Fourteen and a half minutes later, Vrana scored off the rush, burying a feed from Ovechkin mere seconds after Washington goalie Braden Holtby bailed his team out with the latest in a succession of clutch saves that kept the Caps within striking distance, a dazzling one-on-one stop on Pens defender Brian Dumoulin.

"We got a huge save right before that winning goal, a huge save," says Trotz. "We parted the seas a little bit and Holts made a great save. We went back down the other way. [Ovechkin] made a real great play to [Vrana] and he cashed in."

After yielding the game's first goal on the first shot he faced - a point shot from Jamie Oleksiak - Holtby stopped every shot sent in his direction at five-on-five for the rest of he night. Five games into this series, Pittsburgh has scored just six goals at five-on-five, or 18 fewer than they scored in six first-round games against Philadelphia.

Washington rebounded from that rough start with a pair of goals 33 seconds apart late in the first period. A day after he became a father for the second time, Caps defenseman John Carlson tied the game with a power-play goal from the point at 18:22 of the first.

Just over half a minute later, Washington winger Brett Connolly scored the Caps' first five-on-five goal since Ovechkin's late game-winner in Game 3, putting the Caps up 2-1 with 65 seconds left in the first. But Ovechkin was boxed for a slashing penalty with less than two seconds remaining in the opening period. The Caps would kill off that minor, but it would be the beginning of a string of four straight Pittsburgh power plays.

Holtby was nicked for a pair of goals on 18 shots in the second, both of the tallies coming on the power play. Sidney Crosby made at a 2-2 game at 4:43 of the second when Phil Kessel's shot from the left circle hit the Pens' captain's hand and went in. Three minutes later, Patric Hornqvist scored with the extra man to give the Pens their second lead of the game. With the help of the Caps' continuous parade to the penalty box, Pittsburgh took that one-goal lead to the room after 40 minutes of play. Washington spent much of the middle period under siege in its own end, and because of Holtby's netminding excellence, the deficit was just a single goal heading into the final 20 minutes.

The Caps were able to overcome that.

"I think we just expected more out of ourselves come the third period," says Holtby. "At times like that when a period is going on, it's going fast and you've taken a few penalties, sometimes you just need an intermission to kind of regroup and refocus as a team. I think we realized that we're not far off, we just have to stick to our plan and believe in ourselves, and we did that."

Despite the defeat, the Pens played a strong game themselves and aren't hanging their heads by any means.

"I think we can build a lot of confidence," says Pens coach Mike Sullivan. "There was a whole lot of this game that we really liked. It might have been our best game of the series, and we didn't come out with the result that we're looking for. But I know our group is capable, and our players know that as well. So we've got to take what we can from it, out it behind us and look for the next game."

There was a downside to Saturday's exhilarating Caps victory, and it's potentially a significant one. Center Nicklas Backstrom took only three shifts in the third period, and three of those were under a dozen seconds in length. He was not seen again after the 6:48 mark of the third period.

According to Trotz, Backstrom has an upper body injury and more information may be available as to his condition on Sunday ahead of the Caps' departure for Pittsburgh.

Flash back to Oct. 7, and the Caps' home opener against the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena. The Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Vrana line combines for four goals - all of them from Ovechkin, again - and nine points. The unit stayed together for much of the season's first month, and remained productive for much of that stretch.

Vrana finished the regular season with 13 goals and 27 points in 73 games. He started the campaign with two goals and five points in the first six games, all skating on that line with Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.

There's a fairly decent chance you'll see them together again on Monday in Pittsburgh for Game 6.

"I'm really happy for today, but I try to stay cool," says Vrana. "Next game is huge. We got it done today, but the next game is huge. We are already preparing for next game."