Penguins stay cool despite tough loss

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — If the Pittsburgh Penguins need any solace after Saturday’s 3-2 series-opening loss to the Washington Capitals, they could use their opponents as a guide.

Just as the Washington Capitals did in the opening game of their first-round meeting with the New York Rangers, the Penguins took an early lead and conspicuously out-shot their opponents, only to lose by one goal on a third-period game-winner their goalie thought he could have saved.

Just as the Capitals were in that game, the Penguins were foiled by a tremendous individual effort from an opposing goalie.

And just as the Capitals did last month, the Penguins reacted coolly to their Game 1 defeat, with several players saying a similar effort will likely pay off as this series progresses.

“I’m sure if we keep getting 40 shots a game,” Maxime Talbot said, “we’ll like the result.”

The Penguins actually finished with 36 shots, one more than the Capitals put up in their Game 1 loss to the Rangers.

They had six shots before the Capitals had any, took a 1-0 lead on a goal from star center Sidney Crosby, controlled the play for at least the first 10 minutes and equaled the Capitals’ production at even strength, all factors they pointed to after the game while justifying their still-healthy confidence.

“We have to keep focusing on the way that we played, and do it for 60 minutes,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “We played well, I think, and we had some chances. Forget about the loss and start again tomorrow.”

Fleury was commonly seen as an advantage in this series for Pittsburgh, the top overall draft pick in 2003 who excelled in the Penguins’ first-round victory over the Flyers and helped lead his team to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago. He was oddly unreliable in four regular-season games against the Capitals, with a .862 save percentage, and Saturday yielded three goals on just 26 shots.

“If you watched the last series, I don’t think anyone has any concerns,” defenseman Brooks Orpik said of Fleury. “I mean, he was awesome for us in the Philly series. Last year in the playoffs he was awesome. I think everyone’s got a lot of confidence in him. He plays well, and he gives everybody else in front of him confidence. The goals they scored today, he didn’t really have much of a chance on.”