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BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins aren't beating the
Washington Capitals with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, offense
and more offense. Remarkably, they're doing it with a goalie who
never got a chance and a former star who was down to his last
chance.
|  | | Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev, left, hugs Marty Straka after scoring a third-period goal. |
Kevin Stevens, buried on Philadelphia's bench earlier in the
season, scored his second key goal of a low-scoring series, and
Johan Hedberg had his first career shutout as the Penguins beat the
Capitals 3-0 Monday night.
The Penguins, abandoning the shoot-the-works style that has
marked their play for a decade, have allowed only two goals in
three games to lead the Eastern Conference series 2-1 going into
Game 4 Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins? Winning with defense? Now that's an upset.
"What we're doing isn't easy, but everybody is buying into it --
everybody," defenseman Marc Bergevin said. "I like it. We've got
the greatest player (Lemieux) to ever play the game buying into it.
He's got fire in his eye."
Alexei Kovalev and Jan Hrdina also scored in a 2:39 span of the
third period, but it was two players rescued off hockey's scrap
heap -- Stevens and Hedberg -- who were the big stars on a team
usually dominated by two of the game's big names, Lemieux and Jagr.
Hedberg, playing in only his 12th NHL game, turned aside a
succession of good Capitals scoring chances while making 25 saves
in the first two periods -- many while the game was still scoreless
-- and 34 overall in his first career shutout.
"We've run into a hot goalie and we've got to try to find a way
to score," Trevor Linden said. "Yeah, it is frustrating, but he
is playing well."
Hedberg, a 27-year-old career minor leaguer, was only fourth on
San Jose's depth chart until a month ago, when the Penguins dealt
for him at the trading deadline. He has since gone 9-2-1 to turn
what was the Penguins' biggest deficiency, their goaltending, into
a strength.
"It's been kind of amazing so far," Hedberg said. "We're
ahead, but the series isn't over. They're doing a great job in
front of me and I'm just trying to do the best I can."
In the Penguins' 2-1 victory in Game 2, Stevens was credited
with the first goal when Lemieux's slap shot grazed his stick and
flew past goalie Olaf Kolzig.
This time, Stevens earned his goal, steering a shot past Kolzig
from the slot at 9:23 of the second period -- right about the time
it seemed the game's first goal would win it.
Stevens was a star on the Penguins' 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup
championship teams, but has shuffled from team to team since last
appearing in the playoffs with Pittsburgh in 1995. He was involved
in a well-publicized drug arrest with the Rangers last season, and
was so deep on Philadelphia's bench he was told at one point to not
even bother practicing.
"They wanted to go with younger players, and I understood
that," Stevens said. "But I'm back where I wanted to be."
Perhaps fittingly, Aleksey Morozov, himself stuck on the
Penguins bench much of the season, set up the Stevens goal. He
grabbed the puck behind the net and threw it toward the goal, with
Wayne Primeau deflecting it perfectly to an open Stevens for his
45th career playoff goal.
Pittsburgh protected the lead by killing off a Washington
two-man advantage lasting 1:21 later in the period. The Capitals
had only one good scoring chance, a Sergei Gonchar slap shot that
Hedberg easily smothered.
"They didn't give us too much tonight but give us credit, too,
we didn't give them a whole lot, either," Lemieux said.
Kovalev made it 2-0 at 4:59 of the third, with a hard wrist shot
from the right faceoff circle dot off Robert Lang's cross-ice pass
with the Capitals pressing for a turnover.
With the Penguins now enjoying more open ice than they had seen
in the series, Hrdina got his first of the series at 7:37, slipping
the puck into a vacated side of the net as Jagr occupied Kolzig's
attention on the opposite side.
"They can put a game out of reach real quick," Kolzig said.
"They can throw a lot of weapons at you. We've played three real
good games, yet we're down 2-1."
It was the first time in seven games since the Penguins' 7-0
victory in Game 1 of their five-game playoff victory over
Washington last season that a Capitals-Penguins playoff game has
been decided by more than one goal.
"We're playing our style, so we can't be too disappointed,"
Capitals forward Dainius Zubrus said. "They're just playing
great."
Game notes
Pittsburgh is 9-0 against Washington in the playoffs when a
series returns to Pittsburgh. ... The Penguins have beaten
Washington five times in six tries in the playoffs since 1991. ...
Washington had 34 shots, 11 fewer than it had in the first two
games. ... The Penguins had lost their last three home playoff
games, in a conference semifinals against Philadelphia last season.
... Hedberg has stopped 77 of 79 shots in his first playoff series.
... Washington hasn't scored in 5 1/2 periods, or since Peter Bondra's
power-play goal in the first period of Game 2.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Washington Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Penguins-Capitals Series Page
Leonsis' word is his Bond-ra
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 3
Washington 0
Toronto 3
Ottawa 2
Philadelphia 3
Buffalo 2
St. Louis 6
San Jose 3
Colorado 4
Vancouver 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 The Penguins' Jan Hrdina scores off a spectacular pass by teammate Jaromir Jagr.
avi: 1170 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
The Capitals' Olaf Kolzig makes a pair of big saves early in the first period.
avi: 1080 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Aleksey Morozov's centering pass finds Kevin Stevens for the Penguins' opening goal.
avi: 1300 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev fires the puck over Olaf Kolzig's shoulder.
avi: 1080 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Despite the lopsided score, Kevin Stevens felt Game 3 could have gone either way.
wav: 456 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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