It was like taking a another picture for the family album
from hell. The hell that is the
Capitals-Penguins rivalry. The
Washington Capitals fell behind by two goals in the first period for a second
straight game and came back from that deficit for a second straight game. But this was not the Philadelphia Flyers the
Caps were playing, a team they would beat despite the early deficit. This was a deeper, more skilled, more
confident (especially when playing the Caps) team on its own ice, and the Caps
fell away as the Pittsburgh Penguins skated to a 7-4 win at PPG Arena in what
was a “Pretty Preposterous Game.”
Barely two minutes into the game, the Penguins had a
lead. Riley Sheahan skated the puck
around the back of the net, and with Capitals galore looking at Sheahan, he
found Phil Kessel at the back door for a tap in goal on the far side to the
right of goalie Braden Holtby. Late in
the period the Pens had their 2-0 lead on a rookie error. Christian Djoos took a pass from Evgeny
Kuznetsov at the top of his own left wing circle as the Caps were setting for a
move up ice. Djoos looked over his
options and dialed up “pass the puck up the middle.” Bad move.
He put it right on the stick of Carl Hagelin, and Hagelin had an easy
time of skating in and beating Holtby at the 15:50 mark to give Pittsburgh a
two-goal lead.
It might have remained that way going into the first
intermission, but with less than two minutes left in the period, Alex Ovechkin
halved the lead. Ovechkin took a long
pass from Djoos at the red line along the left wing wall. He skated the puck into the offensive zone,
treated Kris Letang like a swinging screen door, curled in and beat goalie Matt
Murray from the top of the blue paint to make it 2-1 with just 1:50 left in the
period.
Pittsburgh regained the two-goal lead in the first minute of
the second period. On a power play that
carried over from the first period, the Penguins worked the triangle play that
the Caps work so well. From the top of
the right wing faceoff circle, Evgeni Malkin fed the puck low to Sidney Crosby,
who fed it out between the hash marks to Patric Hornqvist for a one-timer that
beat Holtby 26 seconds into the period to make it 3-1.
The Caps came back to tie the game, though. Dmitry Orlov got the Caps back within a goal
in the fourth minute of the period. Lars
Eller backed the puck down the right side in the offensive zone and found Orlov
stepping across the blue line. Orlov
took advantage of open ice to step up and lean into a shot that beat goalie
Matt Murray cleanly to make it 3-2 at the 3:08 mark.
Kuznetsov tied the game mid-way through the period. It was a bit of Harlem Globetrotter work on
the part of the Caps, starting with Kuznetsov taking a floater pass from John
Carlson and going behind the back to lay the puck out in front of him. He skated it in, lost it at the top of the
right wing circle, and then collected it again along the wall. He fed Alex Ovechkin for a shot that was
blocked into the air. Tom Wilson dove
and got his hand on the puck, which might have been the basis for a hand pass,
except Malkin got his stick on the puck just before Kuznetsov swooped in and
swept it past Murray at the 11:57 mark.
The teams traded goals in the second minute of the third
period, Malkin putting back his own rebound of a shot 61 seconds into the
period. Ovechkin tied the game 49
seconds later, taking advantage of Kuznetsov’s keen eye. Kuznetsov skated the puck down the right wing
wall, and after stopping at the far hash marks, he spied Ovechkin all alone
across the ice in his office. Ovechkin’s
one-timer from the left wing circle beat Murray to the near side inside the
post, and it was 4-4, 1:50 into the period.
After that came the deluge.
The Penguins scored three goals less than four minutes apart, two on
power plays – Bryan Rust, Kessel (his second of the game), and Malkin (his
second of the game) – to end the competitive portion of the contest.
Other stuff…
-- If there is one disturbing fact coming out of this game,
it is that the Caps suddenly can’t keep the puck out of their own net on this
ice sheet. This is the third time in the
last four games at PPG Arena that the Caps allowed six or more goals after not
having allowed as many as six on it since January 2006.
-- Braden Holtby was once a Penguin killer. In his first 11 career appearances against
Pittsburgh he was 5-6-0, 2.42, .925 with two shutouts, but that run ended with
seven appearances over which he had a goals against average of 1.44 and a save
percentage of .954 with those two shutouts.
In nine appearances since then, he is 3-3-2 (one no-decision), 3.53,
.893, and he was pulled three times.
-- Perhaps the oddest thing about the league’s top goal
scorer getting a multi-goal game is that even with securing his fifth
multi-goal game of the season, Ovechkin still trails Sean Couturier, Anders Lee, and
John Tavares, each with six.
-- With a three-point game, Ovechkin is also one behind the
leader in games with three or more points this season. Ovechkin had four, Blake Wheeler has five.
-- Dmitry Orlov had a goal and an assist for his first
multi-point game of the season.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov (goal, assist) had his 12th
multi-point game of the season and second in three games.
-- The Penguins had three power play goals, the second time they
pulled that off this season. They had
three power play goals on six chances in a 3-2 win over the Caps on October 11th. It was the third time this season that the
Caps allowed an opponent three goals, allowing three on six chances to the
Vancouver Canucks on October 26th.
-- Unlucky? The Caps
allowed 13 shots on goal in each of the first, second, and third periods.
-- T.J. Oshie did not have a shot attempt in this game, one
of three Caps to draw a blank (Brooks Orpik and Devante Smith-Pelly being the
others).
-- John Carlson had something of an odd night. Not bad, just odd. A minutes-eater for much of the season, he
finished with just 14:09 in even strength ice time. Orpik (14:50), Orlov (20:19), and Matt
Niskanen (20:45) had more, and Madison Bowey was close (14:06).
In the end…
Click… there’s the Penguins scoring early. Click… there’s the Pens scoring on a
giveaway. Click… there’s the Pens
scoring on a power play. Click… and
another power play. Click… and another.
The Capitals had better find a way to control this team and,
at the same time, stop shooting themselves in the foot. Because this team looms in front of them once
more, the annual obstacle to a deep playoff run, and it would seem for the moment that they have the Caps' penalty killing figured out. It is as if the Penguins have figuratively chambered
another round and pointed it at the Caps’ playoff hopes.
…click.
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