The Washington Capitals headed to Pittsburgh on Saturday night to take on the ever-popular Penguins. And by everyone’s favorite, of course, we mean the opposite. These guys will suck forever.
Ryan Poehling opened the scoring for the Pens with a semi breakaway. Chad Ruhwedel doubled this lead. Jake Guentzel made it three. Tom Wilson got the caps on the board in the third. A one-timer by Alex Ovechkin and a dirty goal by Dylan Strome ended the game. Anthony Mantha basically gifted Evgeni Malkin the winner.
Penguins beat Caps 4-3.
- Before the game started, a rather large Russian report came out setting this out Yevgeny Kuznetsov appears to have applied for a trade and first did so two years ago. You should read our post about it.
- I felt the Pens had clear, far better scoring chances in the first period. The Caps had a really hard time moving the puck out of their zone, and when they did it was a lot of one-and-done stuff in the offensive zone. Casey DeSmith was far too comfortable in his net.
- Pittsburgh defended Alex Ovechkin with the Caps set for a power play that I feel is unlike any other team in the NHL. They don’t fully commit to the man coverage that we’ve seen other teams, as they line up more in a diamond shape that messes up the usual passing lanes without completely taking a penalty killer out of the game. I’m not 100% sure about its effectiveness, but it’s an interesting thing to watch Ovi try and solve.
- I don’t like to see Sonny Milano from the lineup, but it’s nice to see Aliaksei Protas given a shot in the top 6. Hopefully we’ll see a little more of that while Milano hits the shelves. I think he has untapped offensive potential that can never be realized if he spends his entire career developing it on the fourth line.
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- Gosh, did DeSmith go nuts at certain stages of this game or what? The pens were nowhere near the caps for the vast majority of the second period, but they seemingly summoned the second coming of 2010 Jaroslav Halak.
- Rasmus Sandin was on the ice for two more goals. I’m not sure if he was directly responsible for either, but still. He also got into a fight and it didn’t go well. I do not love Josh Archibald to take advantage of the situation there. You know he doesn’t answer the bell when asked Tom Wilson do the same.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 42nd goal of the season and the 822nd of his career. As you all know by now, that’s a win right there. The Pens honored him in the arena for overtaking Gordie Howe on the all-time goals list.
- The comeback was deservedly fun, but unfortunately this one didn’t end great because Anton Manta Forgot hockey. After all, the Hershey Bears won and secured a spot in the AHL playoffs.
The Caps will be out on Sunday and then not playing the New York Islanders again until Wednesday. The final sprint is here.
Cover photo courtesy of @mood_jude/Twitter