Tugnutt's name never has been synonymous with playoff success. But, until late in Wednesday's game, with the Capitals clinging to life, Tugnutt continued to outplay the man who had been the NHL's most dominant netminder for most of the season.

Then Tugnutt did something stupid.

His seemingly inexplicable slash of Richard Zednik -- visible behind the Penguin net -- put the Capitals on a power-play that led to the game-winner, a rebounder rookie Jeff Halpern sailed past Tugnutt to give Washington a 3-2 victory.

With that goal, the Capitals lived for another day.

The win gave them a glimmer of hope that, somehow, they can become only the third team in NHL history to rally from a 3-games-to-none deficit.

Obviously, with the Penguins leading the series 3-games-to-1, the math dictates Washington still must win three more games in a row to dismiss the 7th-seeded Penguins.

But if there is more optimism than normal for the Capitals in such conditions, it exists for two reasons.

First, they would play two of those three games at home, starting with Game 5 Friday night.

Second, with the exception of a 7-0 disaster in the series opener, the Capitals have outplayed the Penguins through a majority of the minutes in their other losses.

The reason Pittsburgh still enjoys a commanding lead is that it has made the vital, smart plays when they matter most.

That trend changed a bit with Tugnutt's slashing penalty.

The slash came just seconds after a post-whistle scuffle between Zednik and Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis. And it gave the Capitals a glimmer of opportunity just when so many things seemed to be working against them.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed. I took it late in the period (11:41)," Tugnutt said. "When you get one that late, it's a questionable call. But that kind of thing happens."

Halpern, a rookie who played collegiate hockey at Princeton, also sparked the Capitals' first score with a breakaway assist when the Capitals were playing short-handed.

"No one really thinks you can come back (from a 3-games-to-zero deficit)," Halpern said. "But the guys in this locker room are really the only guys who count."

Tugnutt can understand how the penalty might appear to be a case of poor judgment on his part. But he stressed Zednik had triggered a retaliation.

"My perspective," Tugnutt said, "is that the puck went behind the net, I went to play it, and he slashed me on the elbow. I give him a little one-time hit on the sleeve. He went down like he'd been shot."

Tugnutt smiled. You could tell he admired the intricacies of the moment.

"That's part of the game. I get nailed for retaliating," said Tugnutt, who had 34 saves overall and had held the Capitals scoreless on five power plays to that point.

Said Kolzig, "They got away with one right before that. I think Kasparaitis knocked Zednik down. I think the refs had their eyes out for the next call."

This was the night Tugnutt's quick appeals to the officials helped result in two apparent Washington goals being disallowed.

This was the night the Capitals again staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in the first period, only to see the Pens tie it seconds later off the ensuing faceoff.

This was the night Kolzig seemed to be caught when hockey's best player, Jaromir Jagr, helped Pittsburgh take over the lead when he snaked behind the Washington net with seconds left in the first period and slid the puck between Kolzig's stick and the right post.

Penguins goalie Ron Tugnutt watches Jeff Halpern's shot go in for the game-winning goal.(AP)

Considering Pittsburgh coach Herb Brooks clearly was annoyed with the Penguins' sluggish play in the first 10 minutes, the Pens were in a terrific position as they skated off the ice with a one-goal lead entering period two.

At this juncture, Jagr would have liked to see the Penguins' "killer instinct" -- to use his words -- take over. But Jagr's concern about this team is its inability to close out games.

"As a player, you can smell it. I could smell it, in the second period," Jagr said. "If we could score one more goal, it's over."

It's not over.

Not that anyone truly expected a four-game sweep -- particularly one by the No. 7 seed over the No. 2 seed.

"When you are down 3-0 (in games), it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that we had not put 60 minutes together," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "That is all this came down to. It was not a joint decision on anyone's part. We did not change our game at all. We just had to keep grinding."

A rather bizarre series so far has seen just about everything.

• Three one-goal games.
• Plenty of griping from Wilson about perceived officiating preferences for Jagr.
• Wilson's decision to air those beefs only a day or two after he dismissed the series' unusual scheduling (the Penguins had Games 2 and 3 at home) by boldly predicting the Capitals would win every game in Pittsburgh.

At the moment, the Capitals would love to see the Steel City again. It would mean they won Game 5 and put some real pressure on the Penguins.

They have a Game 5 to play, thanks to a little help from the same officials Wilson had criticized.

Perhaps Tugnutt deserved to be whistled. Perhaps he didn't. The apparent slash looked flagrant enough to at least warrant suspicion.

A stupid play by the goalie? "It just happened," Jagr said. "It's a playoff game. Hey, because of him, we are up 3-1. What are you going to do?"

Continue the series is the obvious answer.