The Pittsburgh Penguins were in DC visiting a friend, so they decided to play a hockey game against the Caps while they were here. This was the first meeting between the two teams since the Pens eliminated the Caps from the playoffs last spring. The game also happened to be played on CFTC’s birthday, so the Caps had plenty of motivation to pull out a win.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring early with a power-play goal from Kristopher “Kris” Letang. About halfway through the second, Patric Hornqvist made it 2-0 with a power-play goal off of his skate that stood because it wasn’t a distinct kicking motion. Late in the second, Christian Djoos DID THE THING to pull the Caps within one.
The Pens started the third with a power play and, guess what, they scored and went up 3-1. The Caps made it interesting late. Djoos made an aggressive pinch, received a lovely pass from Nick Backstrom, and then fed the puck to Alex Ovechkin in front to make the score 3-2. The Caps floundered during 6-on-5 to lose their first in regulation.
Penguins beat Caps 3-2.
- The Caps PK was humming along at 90 percent coming into the game. But the good results were because of great goaltending, not good penalty killing, as they’d been bleeding shots and scoring chances against when down a man. This caught up to them, and it will be an issue moving forward if they keep taking this many penalties.
The Caps had the 27th worst penalty differential last season (-27). Right now they are 31st by a mile at -9.
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) October 12, 2017
- Andre Burakovsky played in his 200th NHL game, which is about 200 more than your typical former shampoo model.
- The Caps defensive depth is an issue we’ve talked about a lot. Barry Trotz clearly agrees. Matt Niskanen played for the entire two minutes of the penalty kill towards the end of the first. This wasn’t due to a lack of a chance to change, there was a whistle and multiple clears. This was a choice. Yikes. At this rate, the Caps top-four D are going to be taxed by December.
- Sidney Crosby did a mean thing to Braden Holtby.
- Christian Djoos took a penalty in the second period and the Penguins scored on the power play. It was a pleasant surprise to see Trotz put Djoos right back out there on his next shift instead of benching the young defender.
- This decision paid off as Djoos scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game about half a period later.
- I’m all for the NHL cracking down on slashes to the hands. But too many are getting called when it’s just a little tap on the stick. I don’t like it.
- How gutsy was the pinch by Djoos on the Caps second goal? Yeah, they were down 3-1, and it was the right time to make that play, but it’s great to see a guy have that much confidence in his first NHL game.
- Nick Backstrom continues to match up against the opponent’s top line and win the match up at 5-on-5.
- Alex Ovechkin‘s eight goals in four games is the hottest season start since 2013.
- Too many penalties by the good guys. That’s the story.
No Joe B suit of the night. Instead, we got Mike Milbury in the booth. Here’s a super adorable picture for all that you’ve been through.
https://twitter.com/importantmeagan/status/712284064284336128
Full Coverage of Caps vs Penguins
Headline photo: Patrick McDermott
