The Capitals and Penguins met for the first time in 2018 since the Caps exorcised those pesky demons way back when in Game Six of the second round. This time though the Penguins came out on top as the Caps could not tally seven goals in consecutive nights, falling 7-6 in overtime.
The Pens out-shot the Caps 41 to 36 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 59 to 45.
- Brooks Orpik‘s first period goal broke a 182-game regular season scoring drought. That’s a lot of hockey. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives from big number 44 last night end. Orpik brought up the rear for defensemen at five-on-five in shot attempt percentage (26.1 percent) and scoring chance for percentage (21.4 percent). He and Madison Bowey got torched by Derick Brassard‘s line.
- Although he made quite the save on Jake Guentzel, Braden Holtby allowed 7 goals on 41 shots. That’s really bad and one might wonder why Pheonix Copley isn’t getting the nod in a back-to-back this early in the season.
- Another Caps player that had a pretty horrendous night was Chandler Stephenson. He had a giveaway on the penalty kill that led directly to a goal and was only on the ice for two Capitals shot attempts at five-on-five compared to the Penguins eighteen. The Caps third line overall got smushed all night.
- One positive remains the Capitals second line who once again got the task of taking a majority of defensive zone starts and still remained at least neutral in terms of their effect on the outcome. TJ Oshie scoring two quick goals to single-handedly win the Caps a point probably even pushes them to a net-positive.
- Penalty differential ended in a plus-four for the Pens. That’s basically what decided this game. Not good.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com, NaturalStatTrick.com, and Corsica.hockey.
Full Coverage of Caps at Penguins
Headline Photo: Joe Sargent
