Capitals’ Kevin Shattenkirk scores OT winner vs. Penguins (Video)

The Caps defenseman put his team back in the series with his overtime goal.

The Washington Capitals have a fighting chance now in their NHL Playoffs series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, thanks to Kevin Shattenkirk. The blueliner scored his first goal of the 2017 postseason in overtime of Game 3 to hand the Penguins a 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh’s own PPG Paints Arena.

The win halved the Pens’ series lead to 2-1, after Washington lost the first two games at home. Shattenkirk helped keep his team alive with an absolute laser on the power play, just 3:13 into the extra frame. The goal was pretty much all the work of Shattenkirk, who played a perfect pass to Nicklas Backstrom to enter the Penguins’ zone before receiving an impeccable return feed from his centerman. All alone at the point, Shattenkirk made no mistake firing the puck over Marc-Andre Fleury’s right pad.

The Caps went on the power play after Trevor Daley took a holding penalty to neutralize a potential breakaway. With the win, Washington fans will breathe a little easier, after their team blew a two-goal lead in the last two minutes of the game to send it to overtime.

The Pens beat Braden Holtby twice in under a minute at the end of the third period to quickly erase the 2-0 deficit, much to the delight of the home crowd. The Caps, who have a recent history of playoff disappointment, would’ve really felt the pressure had Pittsburgh gone on to win it in overtime.

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Instead, Washington now has a fighting chance against the Penguins, with an opportunity to tie the series in Game 4 on Wednesday. Pittsburgh will be hoping that star center and captain Sidney Crosby is okay, after he left the game early with what looked like a potential head injury. As for the Caps, they’ll hope that defenseman Matt Niskanen won’t face any supplemental discipline for that hit on Crosby.