NHL PLAYOFFS Penguins waste rally; Caps steal momentum

Pittsburgh overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period but lost in overtime.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
PITTSBURGH -- No Washington Capitals player could appreciate an overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins more than 24-year-old Maryland native Jeff Halpern.
Halpern's point-blank shot from the slot beat Penguins goalie Johan Hedberg 4 minutes, 1 second into the extra session, to give the Capitals a 4-3 win and tie the best-of-7 Stanley Cup playoff series at two wins apiece.
"There's no better way to win a hockey game in the playoffs," Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig said.
Game 5 will be played Saturday afternoon in Washington's MCI Center, and Game 6 is Monday at Mellon Arena.
Tide turns: Capitals winger Ulf Dahlen, whose third-period tripping penalty triggered a two-goal rally by Pittsburgh, made amends when he intercepted a clearing pass by Penguins defenseman Marc Bergevin along the boards near the blue line.
Dahlen dumped the puck behind the goal where winger Steve Konowalchuk retrieved it and found a wide-open Halpern about 10 feet from Hedberg.
"Obviously, that's my biggest goal, by far, but you have to hope it leads to better things later," said Halpern, a lifelong Capitals fan.
"Ulf Dahlen and Steve Konowalchuk have been doing the dirty work for me all year, and it's amazing that they can create offense from battles one-on-one, one-on-two against the boards," he added.
"Taking that shot, [I was] just hitting it as hard as I can. Maybe if I was a [Mario] Lemieux, I would have been aiming top-shelf, but I just let it go maybe with my eyes closed."
Washington overcame a furious rally by the Penguins, who scored two power-play goals in a span of 2:36 to tie the score at 3 with 6:10 remaining in the third period.
Taking advantage: First, Jaromir Jagr scored at the 9:46 mark, just 28 seconds after Dahlen was called for tripping.
Lemieux set up the goal when he swooped in on the puck behind the Capitals' goal and fed a backhand pass to Jagr in the face-off circle.
Kolzig stopped Jagr's shot, but the puck bounced out about 4 feet and Jagr slipped it past Kolzig.
With 7:53 remaining, Washington's Joe Reekie was whistled off for interference.
The Penguins tied the score when Jagr carried the puck into the Capitals' zone, then dumped it into the slot where it deflected off Robert Lang's skates to Janne Laukkanen, who buried the puck into an open net.
In overtime, the Penguins' best chance to win came early when Jagr broke in on Kolzig, but couldn't get off a shot.
Lemieux said the Penguins felt revived during the third intermission.
"That was a really good feeling coming out and we had some good chances early in the overtime. Jagr had a great chance, [Alexei Kovalev's] line had a great chance."
As for momentum, Lemieux said, "We had it last game, they've got it now."
In agreement: Capitals coach Ron Wilson agreed.
"We regained home-ice advantage. When we lost it, all we could hope for was to get one win in Pittsburgh."
Penguins coach Ivan Hlinka was frustrated that the Penguins gave up three power-play goals in regulation.
"It's not only the penalty-killing, it's the bad penalties we took before that."