Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | featured news

The standings will show that Saturday night's NHL Winter Classic - an outdoor game played in front of more than 68,000 fans on a soggy Pittsburgh evening - counted exactly the same for the Washington Capitals as the 39 games that preceded it, and as the 42 games that will follow. The Capitals won, 3-1, behind two goals from unheralded winger Eric Fehr, earning the standard two points in the standings.

First the Capitals, now the Penguins. The Canadiens, the worst-record team in the playoffs, keep sending home the NHL's best. Brian Gionta had two power-play goals, Mike Cammalleri scored his seventh goal of a series in which he upstaged Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Montreal built a stunning four-goal lead before beating the Penguins 5-2 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

A classic series and a promising season come to a deflating end for the Capitals, who are shoved into a 5-0 hole by Pittsburgh before losing, 6-2.

The Washington Capitals came to Pittsburgh with a two-games-to-none lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals and a chance bury some demons that have haunted the franchise for the better part of two decades.

The Penguins's 3-2 victory is their first of the series and cuts the Capitals' lead to two games to one. Washington had won five games in a row. Game 4 is in Pittsburgh Friday.

Key saves by rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov help Washington to 3-2 victory over Penguins.