Capitals vs. Penguins: Game 4 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NHL Playoffs

Sixteen years ago to the day, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost a five-overtime heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. On Wednesday night, Patric Hornqvist gave Penguins fans a reason to celebrate with an overtime decision, firing the game-winning goal 2:34 into the extra period to give the Penguins a 3-2 Game 4 win and a 3-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals. 

His chance came off of a Mike Weber turnover, via the NHL:   

Down two defensemen with Kris Letang suspended and Olli Maatta injured, Penguins rookie goalie Matt Murray continued his dream postseason with 34 saves on 36 Capital shots as Pittsburgh managed to absorb plenty of Washington pressure and found a way to win.  

Washington was also down a defenseman as Brooks Orpik sat out the first of three games after his hit on Maatta forced the Penguins player out of Game 3.

Pittsburgh had to play from behind early. Jay Beagle was the first to penetrate the short-handed Penguins defense three minutes into the game with a sharp-angled backhanded goal that beat Murray up high, via NBCSN:

The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan pointed out how that goal refuted his comments to her from earlier this season:

Blueshirt Banter's Adam Herman saw it as a lucky goal, though:

Pittsburgh almost answered a minute later but couldn't convert a chance created by Evgeni Malkin, who slalomed through the Capitals defense and saw his centering pass pop up to the left of Braden Holtby's goal. Defenseman Justin Schultz made solid contact with the airborne puck. But it hit the post, and neither Bryan Rust nor Malkin could turn in the rebound. 

With 10:44 left in the period, defenseman Trevor Daley did beat Holtby when his wrist shot was deflected off of Karl Alzner and ever-so-softly glided under Holtby's pad and into the back of the net, via the NHL:

Things finally began getting chippy with less than five minutes to go in the period, and it was two of the less physical players who were in the middle of it. Capitals winger T.J. Oshie was hit high by Carl Hagelin away from the puck. 

It was only a two-minute minor for interference, but the hit invoked visions of the Letang and Orpik hits. Former NHL agitator Matthew Barnaby believed Oshie could have milked the hit for more:

Hagelin's infraction ushered in a parade of penalties in the final minutes of the first period, with three more in less than two minutes. 

But it wasn't until things were all even three minutes into the second period that the Penguins took the lead through ageless wonder Matt Cullen. 

The 39-year-old went in alone on Holtby thanks to a pass from Tom Kuhnhackl, and he slotted his chance down low under the Washington goalie, via NBCSN:

With his eighth NHL team, Cullen scored his 15th career playoff goal in his eighth-ever postseason appearance. His first came with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as a 22-year-old in 1999, and he keeps wowing viewers, including Adam Gretz of CBS Sports:

He is playing with the energy of a much younger forward, according to the Tennessean's Adam Vingan:

Another high hit, though, became a talking point after Malkin went up on Daniel Winnik, which forced the Capitals forward to leave the game.

PG Sports Now's Alex Iniguez showed the play in question:

It went unpenalized, much to the chagrin of CSN's Alan May:

On just the sixth shot of the second period, Washington tied things up with 3:41 to go in the period, as John Carlson exploited Murray's weakness once again with a wrist shot that went high glove side, via the Capitals:

The quick shot impressed ESPN Radio's Freddie Coleman:

The teams went into the third period, and Murray needed to be sharp to keep the Penguins tied. The NHL showed his finest save of the night on Oshie:

Pittsburgh's chances of winning seemed to take a catastrophic hit with a little less than 14 minutes to go in the game when Alex Ovechkin slashed Sidney Crosby in the hand, forcing him to head to the locker room for evaluation. 

It didn't look good based on Crosby's reaction, via Pete Blackburn of Uproxx:

WPXI implored the NHL to do something about the unpenalized sequence:

TSN's Ian Mendes found it ironic that the slash came on this day:

But he was back on the bench four minutes later, and the Penguins picked their game up. With nine minutes to go, Cullen's wrist shot beat Holtby but not the crossbar, creating a sound that is the bane of a goal scorer's existence. 

Crosby did get a penalty call with 3:38 to go after he took a cross-check to the head by Alzner, and the Penguins had a golden opportunity to find a late winner, but they couldn't muster a single shot on Holtby's goal. 

As regulation ended, the NHL reminded fans to try to relax:

If Pittsburgh didn't already have all the momentum, it has it now after this overtime win. With a commanding lead, the Penguins will try to close out the Capitals on Saturday in Washington, which is no easy task given they went 29-8-4 at the Verizon Center this year. 

But with the way Murray has played this series combined with Pittsburgh's resiliency, the Penguins have deserved this 3-1 series lead with a trip to the conference finals on the line. 

Postgame Reaction

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was singing Hornqvist's praises after his game-winning goal, via NHL.com's Dan Rosen:

Defenseman Ben Lovejoy echoed those sentiments, via Rosen:

It's just another night when a different Penguins player steps up and makes a big play. In the postseason, that's the mark of a team that can go deep and challenge for a championship. 

It's even more impressive that it's coming against a Capitals team that won the President's Trophy with 120 points. 

This kind of loss could be a backbreaker for Washington, as head coach Barry Trotz didn't hold back in describing what this loss does for his team's psyche, via Sportsnet's Chris Johnston:

The Capitals have to try to put this game behind them and come out flying in Game 5; otherwise, their promising season, in which they looked unstoppable at times, will come to another dissatisfying end.