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What. A. Night.

If you wanted a wild Game 3 in the Eastern Conference's premier series, then Monday delivered.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals were the only teams on the ice Monday night, kicking off another week of second-round Stanley Cup playoff action, and it's a good thing they were, because the latest go-round of Caps and Pens offered its fair share of thrills -- and scares.

The defending champion Pens entered the day as maybe the top postseason contender outside of the West's surging Nashville Predators, and they left with superstar Sidney Crosby's health in question, not to mention their first loss of the series -- a 3-2 overtime defeat.

With Washington preventing the Penguins from taking a commanding 3-0 lead despite some major slip-ups, here are some takeaways from an intense start to the postseason week:

Kevin Shattenkirk redeemed himself -- and the Capitals -- in overtime

The Caps' big trade-deadline acquisition, Shattenkirk entered Monday's game with a handful of not-so-stellar postseason performances for Washington under his belt. But his winning shot past Marc-Andre Fleury in overtime Monday helped erase an otherwise scary game for both the former St. Louis Blues star and the Capitals.

A pair of goals from the Penguins' Evgeni Malkin and Justin Schultz in the waning minutes of the third period erased Washington's 2-0 lead and threatened to put the Caps in a 3-0 series hole. With the game headed to OT, an all-too-familiar Caps collapse seemed inevitable.

But the Caps can't be written off yet, not after Shattenkirk's shot. Even if just about everything else from their Game 3 showing suggested otherwise.

Sidney Crosby's health is priority No. 1 after a not-so-lighthearted game

Say what you will about the cross-checking that downed Crosby and sent the polarizing standout to the ice -- and some angles will suggest that the injury-inducing hit from Washington's Matt Niskanen came without much intent to harm the Pens star. But all eyes are on Crosby's health, both as a pivotal factor in this series and as the latest blow to a concussion-littered injury history for the scoring stud.

The top focus for the Pens, regardless of whether they claim otherwise, will be on whether Crosby can get back on the ice and, more importantly, whether he can get back and contribute. Pittsburgh battled through injuries to run by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, and durability concerns didn't stop them from jumping out to a 2-0 series lead over the much-maligned Caps, but they were missing Crosby, Kris Letang and Conor Sheary at the start of Game 3's third period, and now is not the time to be losing important bodies.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby will be evaluated on Tuesday.  

And as anyone who witnessed Crosby's exit -- or any other part of the Caps-Pens rematch, for that matter -- may have noticed Monday, things were about as physical as could be between the Eastern Conference rivals.

Couple the hard hits with Crosby's injury, and the Pens' overall health concerns amid the rough blow-for-blow of Game 3 suddenly returns as a big storyline in the middle of this series.

Marc-Andre Fleury is still getting the job done for Pittsburgh

Yes, he was responsible for surrendering an early Nicklas Backstrom goal and another score from Evgeny Kuznetsov, not to mention the game-sealing OT shot from Shattenkirk, but Fleury was also responsible for this:

And considering Washington's clear talent advantage, not to mention the aforementioned plethora of injury concerns on Pittsburgh's end of the ice, the Pens' veteran goalie has been an overlooked key to this series. As much as Crosby and Co. have driven the Penguins through high-frequency scoring, Fleury's play in the net has helped dampen Washington's powerhouse lineup. Even the the game-deciding goal came after Fleury endured a hard collision on a Trevor Daley-induced penalty.