NHL Playoffs Roundup: Capitals Only Delaying the Inevitable with Game 5 Win

It is only one out of three. And if it turns out to be two out of three, it will still be bad for the Washington Capitals.

Anything less than three straight wins will still represent total failure for the Caps, who at least came closer to total redemption Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series at Verizon Center. The series stands at 3-2 in favor of Pittsburgh, with Game 6 on Tuesday at Consol Energy Center.

The odds are still vastly in favor of the Penguins, and I say they close it out in Pittsburgh. This was merely a postponing of the inevitable. What are the historical odds, you ask? According to WhoWins.com, home teams are 45-16 (.738) in potential Game 6 conference semifinal closeout games.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

But let's pay one night's homage to Washington. The Caps did what they had to do. They took advantage of a Pens team that said all the right things coming in, about respecting Washington's desperation and the need to match Washington's do-or-die attitude, but played a Washington Generals-style road game (look it up, kids).

Pittsburgh did not play with any of the desperation and opportunism that has marked its play to this point. The Pens phoned this one in. There were points early on when they had the chance to stun Washington into true panic mode, but they failed to capitalize and seemed to lose interest after that.

The Penguins outshot Washington 12-4 in the first period, but they had only a 1-1 tie to show for it, with Alex Ovechkin scoring on one of the four shots on Matt Murray. When the Caps realized they were still in the series, they took it to Pittsburgh the rest of the way. T.J. Oshie made it 2-1 on the power play at the four-minute mark, and veteran Justin Williams made it 3-1 at 9:58. 

That was enough for Caps goalie Braden Holtby, who faced only minimal pressure after that. 

For the Caps, this was the kind of result they deserved in either one of Games 3 and 4 but didn't get. And that's the problem, ironically: Pittsburgh has yet to play its best game in this series, but it still has a 3-2 lead. It says here that they will come out flying in Game 6 and end it early.

The Penguins are going home now, and things will come easier. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were quiet in Game 5, but with a ticket to the Eastern Final on the line and a partisan crowd yelling them on, they'll play their best games of the series Tuesday.

The Capitals still haven't gotten things going offensively against Pittsburgh. While Ovechkin got a goal, guys such as Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov continue to be stymied. They can't go another game without anything on the scoresheet if Washington wants to send this to a seventh game. While Backstrom got a power-play assist on Ovechkin's goal in the first, he failed to get a shot on net overall. He needs to be more selfish if the Caps want an easier time scoring goals.

If Washington can somehow steal Game 6, all the historical odds go back to it. Home teams are 34-7 (.829) in conference semifinal Game 7s.

But it won't happen. It ends Tuesday night.

Blues' second-period adjustments do in Stars in critical Game 5 win

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

All it took for the St. Louis Blues to completely turn around Game 5 was a little elbow grease. After trying to trade scoring chances with the Dallas Stars in the first period, the Blues adjusted their forecheck in the second period, completely disrupting the Stars in a 4-1 victory at American Airlines Arena.

The Blues can advance to their first Western Conference Final since 2001 with a victory in Game 6 on Monday at Scottrade Center.

Simply put, the Blues moved everything up a little in their defensive scheme after the first period. The defensemen jumped up higher in the neutral zone, and the forwards tried to get in deeper on the forecheck. The risk in doing that against a fast, skilled team like Dallas is getting caught flat-footed and odd-man rushes against, but that didn't happen. 

The Blues bottled everything up in the neutral zone and created turnovers with the more aggressive forecheck, and they got some offense out of it too. Dmitrij Jaskin got what proved to be the game-winner at 10:31 of the second, after Stars defensemen Alex Goligoski and John Klingberg were too passive around the front of the net.

Troy Brouwer made it 3-1 shortly after that, and Brian Elliott did the rest. Here is the Blues goalie making a huge stop on Cody Eakin to keep it a 3-1 game:

The Stars defense is just not as solid as that of the Blues. St. Louis plays with better structure, and when it gets its forechecking game going like it did in the second period, it wins the game.

Sharks hold serve, look to close out Predators on Monday  

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

The Nashville Predators still have not lost a home game in their Western Conference Semifinal series with the San Jose Sharks. You're not in true danger, the saying goes, until you lose a home contest in a postseason series.

But that's not true here. The Preds are in real trouble heading into Monday's Game 6 at Bridgestone Arena against a Sharks team that really took it to them in Saturday's easy 5-1 Game 5 win. San Jose, up 3-2, can advance to its fourth Western Conference Final with one more victory.

Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture were the stars in the Sharks' win. Pavelski, the captain, scored twice, and Couture notched a goal of his own. Pavelski's playoff goal output is now at eight, tied with Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov for most in the league. 

The Predators seemed to have little energy in this one, perhaps fatigued by their fifth trip to California so far this postseason (three times in Anaheim in the first round). But that's not to take anything away from a Sharks team that made them look listless. 

Couture's goal, a backhander through the five-hole of Preds goalie Pekka Rinne 35 seconds into the second period, was the biggest of the game. It made the score 3-1 and seemed to stun Nashville into submission. Couture snuck in behind Nashville defender Mattias Ekholm before the shot.

The Preds do seem to feed off their home crowd, and they proved to themselves in the first round they can win a Game 6 at home and then go on to win on the road in a seventh game. But it's an awful lot to ask that again, and this Sharks team seems ready to move on.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report