The rivalry is back. After two games in which the Washington Capitals obliterated the Pittsburgh Penguins, we actually had a contest this time. The Caps and Pens were perfectly matched for forty minutes. Then they went bananas on each other.

Alex Ovechkin opened us up with a thrilling breakaway goal after a bad Pittsburgh line change. Things were looking great for the visitors until Steve Downie of all freaking people crashed the net to end Braden Holtby’s shutout streak over Pittsburgh after 143 minutes.

The third period went to hell as Ovechkin slashed Letang and the refs forgot how to do their jobs, but no one scored until the Penguins lost control. During five-on-three, Nick Backstrom sent a great pass to Joel Ward, eagerly waiting on the weak side. John Carlson sealed the deal with an empty-netter from like 170 feet away. Oh yes.

Caps beat Pens 3-1!

• I thought the goalie interference call on Troy Brouwer was bogus. More anti-Washington bias, I shouted at the TV. They’ll do whatever it takes to give the game to the Penguins, I hissed. I was wrong. Brandon pointed it on Twitter: Brouwer got a shove in on MAF. It was a good call. It was the last good call of the night.
• The former Penguins who make up one-third of the Capitals defense did a stellar job shutting down the Penguins power play. Brooks Orpik straight-up saved a goal, and Matt Niskanen clobbered Evgeni Malkin after a carry-in. Bravo.
• Early in the third, Alex Ovechkin whacked at the puck and hit Kris Letang‘s skates instead. Letang tripped end-over-end into the boards and had to be helped off the ice. Ovechkin was not penalized, but he should’ve been– partially because he deserved it and partially because the refs lost all control of the game after that. Right after, Perron and Kunitz double-teamed Ovi with a flurry of crosschecks. Letang was fine enough to commit an undisciplined penalty with five minutes left and blow the game for his team. Ha.
• (I don’t care what Mike Milbury said.)
• The officials, Kevin Pollock and Justin St. Pierre, blew that call and then a dozen more, utterly losing control of this game. Had they simply busted Ovechkin for the slash, this would’ve been an un-embarrassing hockey game for the league. Things escalated for a few minutes until the refs started issuing misconducts like traffic tickets. Flare-ups persisted until the final whistle. Missed calls, cheap calls– two assclowns making it up as they went along.
• Who are these people? Don’t be these people.

• Jack Hillen is a box of kleenex out there. He did nothing to stop Steve Downie‘s (ugh) jaunty waltz to the net for that second-period goal. That same Downie cold-cocked Hillen in the third period. Poor Jack. Downie finally got the misconduct he was looking for after that one.
• Al Koken was great filling in for Joe B, who is still sick with laryngitis. I kept thinking how Joe B would’ve called the chaos of the third of Ovechkin’s first-period goal, but I didn’t miss it with Koken doing his thing.
• The Nick Backstrom pass to Joel Ward on the 5v3 was a piece of art. He found a thread from his stick to Ward’s, and who cares if it goes right in front of the goalie. Pretty like a picture.
• Ovi is the best, but check out Green’s little pass to set him up? Ugh I love it. Four more years! Four more years! We deserve it after losing the last three seasons to bad coaches.
• Shout-out to the goalies, who were getting knocked and crowded and run over all night long but somehow kept their composure. I’m not a believer in Marc Andre Fleury, but without him doing handstands while under fire the Penguins would’ve been sunk.
• But Braden Holtby was Braden Holtbetter.

Wild game. I know I said I like the 6-4 games, but this one was some riveting hockey for having such a low score. Until the refs abnegated their responsibility in the third period, this was a tense, even game between two teams that really cared.

I’d love to see this matchup in mid-April. I was feeling that level of nervousness, and it’s freaking February. I need to decompress. I need a hug and a milkshake and would someone please grill me a cheese?

Very successful road trip. The Caps now return home to regroup against the Winnipeg Jets, who are awful. I’ll be traveling, so I won’t be recapping that one or Saturday’s game against the Islanders, which will be my first game at Verizon Center since Dale Hunter. Woo!

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Penguins