Penguins Avenge Cheap Shot on Crosby With Big Win Over Capitals

While it must have been tempting for the Pittsburgh Penguins to resort to maximum violence as revenge for the Washington Capitals’ injury of superstar Sidney Crosby, the Pens kept their cool and in doing so won a huge game on Wednesday.

The 3-2 victory has the defending champions one game away from advancing to the Eastern conference finals and a matchup with either the New York Rangers or Ottawa Senators.

It was a fitting result for the Capitals after what appeared to be an intentional strategy of head hunting against Crosby who was knocked out with a concussion in the first period of game 3.

Washington had a shot late in the game to tie it up but blew it when forward TJ Oshie was hit with a high-sticking call, depriving the Caps of a late extra man advantage. The call had Capitals fans howling in outrage as they accused Penguins Nick Bonino of taking a dive but karma is a bitch sometimes.

When the series resumes on Saturday at the Verizon Center in Washington the hometown fans will be especially antsy over the prospect that another chapter in the long history of playoff gag jobs will enter the history books. A loss would mark the second consecutive year that Washington had accumulated the most points in the league and were spanked in round one.

In even worse news for the Caps, Crosby is skating again and may be back for this must-win game.