Sixteen years ago today, Kris Letang kept the Penguins alive.
Sixteen years ago today, a young Kris Letang played the role of hero for the Penguins as the Washington Capitals nearly put them on the ropes in the first of several playoff series between the two rivals in the Crosby-Ovechkin era.
The 2009 second round series between the Penguins and Capitals was must-watch television. Both teams were stacked with young talent and offensive firepower and it felt like no lead was ever safe.
The Penguins returned home to Mellon Arena for Game 3 of the series after falling behind with two tough losses on the road in Washington. A third loss would’ve put the Penguins into a hole they likely wouldn’t have been able to recover from.
Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Ovechkin traded goals during the first two periods of the game before Evgeni Malkin gave the Penguins a late lead with a power play goal.
Because no lead was truly safe, Nicklas Backstrom equalized with less than two minutes left in the game, sending things to overtime.
One shot was all it was going to take to change the series one way or another…and that’s when Kris Letang had his moment.
The Penguins were back in the series, just like that.
Pittsburgh would go on to win the following two games as well, turning a 2-0 series deficit into a 3-2 series lead. The Penguins would lose Game 6 in an overtime contest at the Mellon Arena, but their best was yet to come in Game 7.