All good things must end: Pens beat Caps 8-7 OT

January 16, 2017 10:58 pm

If we’re all going to be completely honest, nobody is quite sure what the heck happened this entire game. All we know is that this was a game for the ages and we were all secretly hoping for a final score in the double digits.

The win streak finally came to an end for the Washington Capitals after the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from a 3-0 deficit and won. It was an extremely exhausting game.

Let’s set the scene. The puck is dropped and there seems to be a strong presence from the Capitals. First, an early goal from Burakovsky to get things cookin’. Shortly after, Backstrom scores with the help of an Ovechkin double screen. The period ends and we’re hoping this goes as well as the previous two games did.

Ahhhh hope, such a fleeting and fickle feeling. The second period begins and this one was nothing short of an absolute DOOZY. Nine goals were scored in total, starting with a Justin Williams beauty. After that, the Penguins score five in a row. Yes, they scored FIVE in a row. The Capitals answer with two, but Pittsburgh gets the last goal of the period with a controversial power play goal from our good buddy (not really) Evgeni Malkin.

There was one more period left in the game and at this point we all feel like we’ve aged approximately an extra fifteen years. Were there more goals? OF COURSE THERE WERE MORE GOALS. Lars Eller saved the day with a game-tying goal late in the third. Unfortunately, overtime happened and the Penguins immediately buried it. I’m exhausted just typing this.

Observations

Somewhere, Joe Beninati is wearing sweatpants, drinking chamomile tea, and listening to ASMR tracks.
Superstar Alex Ovechkin played more offense than defense in this game, but earned a minus-3 rating. Jay Beagle’s got dominated in a way that doesn’t often happen in the NHL, but he enjoyed a plus-1. Hockey is weird.
Alex Ovechkin always has Nick Backstrom’s back when it’s time to score.
Where did the craziness begin? Right here when Hornqvist hit TJ Oshie in the face.
Andre Burakovsky has scored 5 of his 7 goals against Pennsylvania.
Was this a trip at the end of the game? Hint: yeah.
Goaltender interference is a bit fuzzy for these two refs.
This was the kind of game that old parent goalies tell their young child goalies about when they wanna scare the shit out of ‘em. “Oh, you wanna sass me and not eat your brussels sprouts? Well, lemme tell you about what happened on January 16, 2017.”
Need help understanding why that Malkin goal was good?

NHL explanation for Evgeni Malkin’s PPG standing to give #Pens 6-5 lead after #Caps challenge for goalie interference pic.twitter.com/WdOZx4EeWO

— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) January 17, 2017