Marc Staal collected the puck off John Mitchell's face-off win, glided a bit to his left, and then let fly with a slap shot that seemed to deflect a bit off a Caps player along the way before settling into the back of net behind a screened Braden Holtby for the game-winning goal 1:35 into overtime of Monday night's critical Game 5. And with that Staal had scored the most important goal of his career, and landed himself a post-season Broadway Hat.
"We obviously learned a huge lesson from the Ottawa series that Game 5 is a huge game, so we wanted to come out on top badly in this one," Staal said after the game. "We still need another one (win), but we're happy to take this (win) back there (to Washington on Wednesday)."
Staal played 24:05---third most on the team---and finished with two points, as he also assisted on Anton Stralman's game-oppening goal in the first period, while also playing a solid defensive game.
