BOSTON — “Please make this save.”
That’s what Brian Dumoulin recalls thinking as the play transpired that ended the Penguins’ season and bid for a third straight Stanley Cup championship.
A turnover in the neutral zone turned into a breakaway for Washington. Alex Ovechkin made a quick touch pass up the middle and Evgeny Kuznetsov went backhand to forehand, burying the winner between Matt Murray's pads to send the Capitals into the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in two decades. He flapped his imaginary wings and the celebration was on inside an otherwise silent, stunned PPG Paints Arena.
“He made a good move,” Dumoulin remembered of Kuznetsov. We spoke Friday night at the Comm Ave. Charity Classic, an all-Boston all-star affair featuring multiple NHL players at Boston University's Walter Brown Arena. “In overtime, there’s a fine line. They made that one extra play and we didn’t. I’ve been on the other side of that, too. Now, being on the other side, it’s tough. But obviously, we need to get better.”
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