TJ Oshie scored a hat trick. He scored two in regulation and then beat Fleury in OT to win it for the Capitals. Ovechkin is currently on the Oshie roller coaster of emotions. He really doesn’t know where to stand on Oshie OT goals.

The Penguins and the Capitals is already shaping up to be a terrific series. A terrific series the league needs, what with the second round being all small(ish) markets. I think this series could go to seven, although this is based on both teams not knowing each other yet and coming in off tough series. But based on that one game, we could see seven.

Fleury was shut down against the Rangers. Not to say this game was his fault, but I’m sure the Penguins weren’t expecting him to allow four goals. The Penguins tried to do their job up front, scoring three in regulation, but they were unable to get one past Holtby, and we can’t really blame the Penguins offense. Holtby is the for-sure Vezina winner this year. There are no other proper finalists. (Still not over Crawford’s snub.)

There were a ton of sticks flying around this game as well. Sticks getting stuck in helmets, in skates, in scoring position. Unfortunately, with all these sticks flying around, Pittsburgh gave up too many (five) penalties, against the number one power play in the league. And yet that number one power play didn’t score. The Penguins got lucky. They shouldn’t be in the future.

The Penguins offense really tried last night. They won more than 50% of faceoffs, didn’t give the puck up too much, and had 45 shots on net. The Penguins defense blocked 27 shots as well. This is a case where the fault really does lie in the goaltender, and if that doesn’t improve, the number one offense will be rolling into the third round.

Not to say Washington’s offense wasn’t impressive. It’s just that the one impressive offensive player was Oshie. Ovechkin didn’t score. Backstrom didn’t score. Two of Oshie’s goals came unassisted. One performance does not a series make – as we’ve learned this season – and the Great 8 will need to find his scoring sooner than later.

All in all, exciting start to the big second round matchup. Hopefully, for the sake of the league, that continues.