Phil Kessel scores his second against Braden Holtby (Video)

Phil Kessel is doing his part to get the Pittsburgh Penguins into the Conference Final.

With the Washington Capitals’ season on the line, they have laid an egg against the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, when the Penguins have a pure goalscorer that’s as good as Phil Kessel, there’s not much you can do. Kessel set the tone early by scoring the first goal in the opening minutes, then added another one to double the lead:

That opened the floodgates as Carl Hagelin scored just seconds later to put the Penguins up 3-0.

Kessel’s performance in an elimination game is sure to silence his detractors — the same detractors that drove him out of Toronto because they questioned his work ethic. While this marks just his 33rd career playoff game, he has 18 goals. Despite his weight, he’s one of the best goalscorers in the league, and he’s the reason that the Penguins are in good position to move on to the Conference Final.

As for the Capitals, they have been criticized from time to time for failing to show up in the playoffs, and having finished with the best record in the NHL, many thought this could be the year Alex Ovechkin would finally win a Stanley Cup. Braden Holtby may have had a Vezina-like season, but he failed to show up in a do-or-die game. There’s still time for them to pull this one back, but they’ve been flat-out dominated so far and there’s no evidence suggesting that they will.

If this is the end of the Capitals season, there’s going to be a lot of soul searching in that locker room.

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