WASHINGTON -- The Penguins on Thursday clinched their 15th consecutive postseason appearance streak.
It's the longest active streak in the NHL, with an eight-year difference separating them and the holders of the next longest streak, after the Capitals clinched their seventh straight postseason appearance on Thursday.
The streak is the current longest in all of North American professional sports, with the next-longest of four major professional leagues belonging to the Los Angeles Dodgers at eight straight appearances.
The Penguins' consistent success over the last decade and a half is simply unlike anything else happening in major North American professional sports.
They secured their 15th postseason appearance in a row in dramatic fashion, with a 5-4 overtime win over the Capitals here at Capital One Arena, a game that turned into a clinching scenario after the Rangers' regulation loss earlier in the day.
After leading 4-3 for most of the second half of the third period, the Penguins almost squandered the opportunity to clinch on this night.
When the Capitals pulled goaltender Vitek Vanacek in favor of the extra attacker late in the game, a misplay by the Penguins allowed Tom Wilson to be alone in front of the crease. Wilson buried a wrist shot with 14.3 seconds remaining in the game to ultimately force overtime:
"Just kind of a puck battle in the corner and a nice play by them," Jake Guentzel said of Wilson's late goal. "Just a miscommunication by me. I'm not really sure, I haven't really watched it, but just rewinding it in my head I think just a miscommunication by me and we'll learn from that."
"We gave them an extra point today," Kasperi Kapanen said. "There's no denying that."
The Penguins had to quickly move on and regroup for the start of overtime. Guentzel proved to be the hero, scoring the goal that made 15 straight postseason berths official:
(For some perspective, Guentzel was 11 years old last time the Penguins missed the playoffs.)
"A heads-up play by (Jared McCann) in the corner there to find (John Marino) in the slot," Guentzel said. "Just a really nice play from Johnny there to find me on the backdoor."
"What I liked about it was the response," Mike Sullivan said. "We didn't let (Tom Wilson's goal) get us down, we just stayed with it, and we were able to get a big goal in overtime."
The Penguins had to show that resiliency from early on in the game. When the team was already trailing 1-0 from an T.J. Oshie power play goal, the Penguins were forced to play with a shortened bench for most of the game after Evan Rodrigues left midway through the first period after he was struck by a shot in the lower leg.
Kapanen tied the game several minutes after Rodrigues' departure, capitalizing on a Nicklas Backtrom turnover:
Freddy Gaudreau, playing in his first game back since his lower-body injury, gave the Penguins their first lead of the game in the second period.
A funny bounce from a Dmitry Orlov shot and a Daniel Sprong redirect regained the Capitals' lead, then Zach Aston-Reese's backhand five-hole shot tied the game back up.
Colton Sceviour earned the lone assist, his second of the game after recording the secondary assist on Gaudreau's goal.
The entire group stepped up in Rodrigues' absence.
"I thought the guys competed hard," Sullivan said. "That's a good team we're playing against. For me, it was a real good team effort. It wasn't perfect by any stretch. But I thought there were moments in the game when we had momentum, there were moments in the game when Washington had momentum. We tried to compete through it, we were defending hard. I thought our role players did a great job, I thought our leadership group was terrific through some of the adversities throughout the course of the game. We didn't let it get us down. We just kept playing the game."
Kapanen scored his second goal of the game in the third period off of a beautiful indirect feed from McCann, a lead the Penguins would hold until Wilson's late goal that forced overtime.
"Canner and (Jeff Carter) were doing really good work in our defensive zone," Kapanen said. "I saw Canner got the puck and he kind of threw it behind me off the boards. I just tried to use my speed and shot it on net, and it went in."
The overtime point earned by the Capitals gave them 69 points, tying them with the Penguins for the most in the East Division. Because the Capitals have a game in hand, they hold the tiebreaker.
With only four points separating the Penguins and the third-place Islanders (with the Islanders having a game in hand), home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs is far from secured. The Penguins will look to secure that home ice through these last five games of the regular season, with a real shot at winning the division title and securing home ice advantage for at least the first two rounds.
The job isn't over yet.
"It's a start," Guentzel said of clinching. "We did what we wanted to do at the beginning of the year, get in the playoffs. Our division is tough. We got our first step there, and now we have to keep grinding these last five games to see where we can finish up in the division here."
"We have a lot to play for," Kapanen said. "The last five games will be crucial for us."
"We're going to enjoy this one tonight," Sullivan said. "These guys have competed extremely hard all year long to compete for the Stanley Cup in the playoffs. It's a hard league, and it's not easy to make the playoffs. I'm certainly proud of the group for what they've accomplished to this point. By no means are any of us satisfied. We understand that there's a lot of work to do here. But we're going to take a deep breath tonight an enjoy it."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins won 51 percent of all draws, but the defensive zone was the only zone in which they won more than they lost, winning 56 percent. They won 48 percent in both the neutral zone and offensive zone.
• Sullivan didn't have an update on Rodrigues yet after the game. He's still being evaluated.
• Gaudreau said he "felt good" in his first game back.
"It was good to get out there, and my body felt great," he said.
• Kapanen and Zucker switched spots for this game, with Kapanen being bumped up to second-line right wing and Zucker playing third-line right wing. Kapanen didn't seem to need much time to adjust, with his night.
"It's easy to play my game when I get to play with centers like (Evgeni Malkin), I got to play with (Sidney Crosby) this year, and now I've got (Carter) there," Kapanen said. "Three phenomenal players. They play really smart, they play with confidence and experience. I'm just trying to play my game and use my speed, get on the forecheck and make plays and try to shoot as much as I can. I've got to thank my linemates for sure."
• Tristan Jarry made 33 saves on 37 shots.
"He made a lot of big ones," Sullivan said. "The one that jumps out at me is the one in overtime right before we scored. That type of save is a game-changer. Tristan and (Casey DeSmith) have both been consistently good for us for quite a long time now. That's all you can ask from your goaltending. I thought he was really good for us, he made some timely saves for us."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Capital One Arena
1. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
2. Kasperi Kapanen, Penguins
3. Dmitry Orlov, Capitals
THE INJURIES
• Forward Evgeni Malkin has resumed practicing with contact after sustaining a lower-body injury on March 16. He's expected to return before the end of the regular seasons.
• Forward Brandon Tanev has resumed practicing, albeit without contact, after suffering an upper-body injury on April 3. He's not expected to return before the end of the regular season.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Jason Zucker
Colton Sceviour-Freddy Gaudreau-Evan Rodrigues
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Peter Laviolette's Capitals:
Daniel Sprong-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary-Lars Eller-Michael Raffl
Carl Hagelin-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov-Justin Schultz
Brendan Dillon-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Zdeno Chara-Nick Jensen
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice at noon on Friday at Capital One Arena, which will be closed to the media due to local building regulations. They'll play the Capitals on Saturday at 7:08 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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