On this date in Penguins history: Evening the series with the Capitals in 2009

After falling behind 2-0 in their second round series to the Washington Capitals, the Penguins needed a spark. They found one from Kris Letang in overtime in Game 3, but Game 4 was just as pivotal. A 3-1 series deficit would be hard to recover from, and the Penguins were looking to even things up.

From the start, it didn’t look great. Nicklas Backstrom opened the scoring with a goal just 36 seconds into the game.

Thankfully, the Penguins would rally after this and put 3 goals past Semyon Varlamov in the first period from Sergei Gonchar, Bill Guerin, and Ruslan Fedotenko.

The Capitals wouldn’t go away easily, however, with Chris Clark pulling Washington back within a goal during the 2nd. While watching this again, it’s a stark reminder of how fast the Capitals were when speed and skill were still making their way out of the clutch-and-grab era from just a few years prior.

It was during this game that Sergei Gonchar would be knocked out of the game after a knee-on-knee collision with Alexander Ovechkin.

Sidney Crosby would stretch the lead back to 4-2, but a shorthanded goal from Milan Jurcina drew Washington within one yet again.

Maxime Talbot, with his second goal of the playoffs put the nail in the coffin and as the clock hit zeroes, we could all breathe a little easier.

From 2-0 down to 2-2 even, heading to Washington for a HUGE GAME 5.

Buckle up.