Crosby's availability in question as Pens bid to bounce Caps

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WASHINGTON -- As the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals prepare to play Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Saturday night, questions surround the status of the teams' marquee players.

Sidney Crosby, just days after suffering a concussion, was a full participant in Friday's practice and could return when Pittsburgh tries to close out Washington for the second straight year.

Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin, who admittedly struggled in Wednesday's 3-2 loss in Game 4, practiced with the third line Friday while Andre Burakovsky skated with the first line.

Ovechkin has one goal and three assist in the series.

Washington, which boasted excellent scoring depth during the regular season, hasn't received a goal from its bottom-six forwards in the series against Pittsburgh.

The Capitals used 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Games 3 and 4, and Trotz talked about possibly of double-shifting Ovechkin.

"The bottom line is we need him to be really good. He's got to respond this next game and be a difference maker for us," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. "We need contributions from everybody in our lineup."

Ovechkin said: "I hope it's gonna work well, we're gonna produce and we're gonna score and we're gonna win."

Washington has been outscored 14-9 in the series despite getting 49 more shots on goal than the Penguins. In Game 4, Washington had a 38-18 advantage, but was undone by mistakes. A goal deflected in off Dmitry Orlov's skate and the team took six offensive-zone penalties, including one as Holtby was being pulled for an extra attacker.

"We all know we're not doing as good as we want so we kind of expected some changes to be made," T.J. Oshie said. "We didn't know what they were gonna be but ... as far as having (Burkovsky) up there, he's fast, he got those young legs, he's going to be buzzing around and he could create space."

Washington has overcome a 3-1 series deficit twice in franchise history, most recently in the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the New York Rangers.

The Penguins return to Verizon Center with the prospect of getting both Crosby and forward Conor Sheary back after they sustained concussions in Game 3 on Monday.

"He's day-to-day. He's going through part of the process," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Crosby. "He was in a full-contact practice today. We'll see how he responds and we'll go from there."

Asked about playing Saturday night, Crosby said: "Yeah, we'll see. I don't want to rule it out. It's not really up to me. You just kind of relay how you feel and they direct you from there."

Crosby had two goals and two assists in the first two games before being injured on a play involving a slash by Ovechkin and a cross-check to the head by former Penguin defenseman Matt Niskanen.

"The slash, I think he's just trying to prevent a goal. It's a pretty common play for the most part," Crosby said. "The other play, it's hard to say. I'm not going to sit here and guess. It's not one that happens too often."

At some point, it would seem Pittsburgh has to pay a price for the disparity in scoring chances, and Sullivan hopes to eliminate that disparity.

"We've defended extremely hard," Sullivan said. "I think going forward we have to spend less time in our end zone. I've said this for a couple of games and we have to continue to strive to do that."

During the Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era, the Penguins are 16-13 (1-1 this year) in games in which they can eliminate an opponent.

More importantly, during that time the Penguins are 8-0 in series when they take a 2-0 lead -- as they did in this series.

"We're very capable of winning three games in a row," Trotz said. "We've done that many times in the last three years, but it is a challenge. The challenge is a big one, but at the same time it's not impossible."