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Capitals vs Penguins live analysis and updates (January 26, 2023)

By Ian Oland

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January 26, 2023 7:09 pm

This is your place to check for updates and comment along with the Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game on January 26, 2023.

The Washington Capitals went 1-2 on their three-game road trip and return home to face a Pittsburgh Penguins team where the stakes could not be bigger. Both teams occupy the seventh and eighth spots in the Eastern Conference playoff race with the Sabres making noise behind them. Both the Penguins and Sabres have three games in hand on the Caps.

The Capitals will get Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie back for tonight’s game but will be without Tom Wilson, who is out due to a lower-body injury.

Tonight’s matchup is on NBC Sports Washington and puck drop is slightly after 7 pm.

Links

Lines

Tunnel Shenanigans

1st Period

Ovechkin-Strome-Oshie and Orlov-Jensen get the start. Darcy Kuemper will face Casey DeSmith in net tonight.

Congratulations to Conor Sheary on his 500th career game.

And congrats to Anthony Mantha on his 400th career game.

🚨 1-0 Capitals. Alex Ovechkin scores from the office on the PP. It’s his 812th career goal. The tally came at the 6:00 mark of the first period.

Garnet Hathaway boards Jake Guentzel and heads to the box for two minutes.

Lars Eller almost scores shorthanded after anticipating several Penguins passes in their defensive zone.

Capitals get a late period power play after Teddy Blueger plays the puck with his hand off the faceoff.

Holy moly, Alex Semin is at the game!!

Alex Semin is at the Capitals-Peguins game

The Capitals end the period with a 22-8 shots advantage but couldn’t convert more than once. That could come back to haunt them. The Capitals also had an 18-12 5v5 shot-attempts advantage and a 1.9 to 0.48 expected goals edge.

2nd Period

🚨 1-1 tie. Danton Heinen scores on a slam dunk rebound goal to tie it up. Darcy Kuemper was unable to corral a shot down the right wing. The goal came 2:37 into the period.

The Penguins dominated the second period.

The Caps still have a 33-25 shots on goal advantage, but now the Penguins lead in 5v5 shot attempts, 40-33. The Capitals have continue to dominate in expected goals though, 3.15 to 1.56.

3rd Period

🚨 2-1 Capitals. Marcus Johansson with a snipe that beats DeSmith to the top right corner of the net. Props to Sonny Milano for cross-checking Kris Letang as it happened to throw DeSmith off. The goal came at the 5:17 mark.

🚨 2-2 tie. Bryan Rust rips it right under the bar from the right wing. That was one of the worst goals Darcy Kuemper has given up this season. He left the bar and got caught leaning. The goal came at the 12:52 mark of the third.

To OT we go. Each team gets one standings point. The Capitals outshot the Penguins in regulation 41-33. The Penguins out-attempted the Caps at 5v5, 58-51. Expected goals were 3.86 to 2.00 Capitals.

Overtime

Lars Eller, TJ Oshie, and Erik Gustafsson start for the Capitals in OT. They immediately get hemmed into the zone… BUT! Oshie somehow draws a tripping penalty after jumping into Evgeni Malkin. lol.

Capitals get a two-minute four on three power play. Let’s goooo.

Shootout

❌ TJ Oshie shoots first. Skating slowly to the net, he dekes himself out of room and crashes into DeSmith.
✅ Rikard Rakell skates down the left wing and dekes Darcy Kuemper out of position for the goal, fading away from the net.
✅ Evgeny Kuznetsov scores on the super slow, a million dekes shootout move. Okay, actually. Twenty-one dekes.
❌ Sidney Crosby stopped on his forehand by Darcy Kuemper. Went for a sneaky shot.
✅ Nicklas Backstrom scores on his forehand. Beautiful shot far side.
❌ Evgeni Malkin’s shot catches Kuemper’s right pad and goes wide.

Capitals get the extra standings point and moves into the first wild card spot. Wow. What a game!

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