The Washington Capitals took on the Pittsburgh Penguins in a key Metropolitan Division battle on Thursday night. The Caps couldn’t prevent the Pens from grabbing a loser point but did take them down in a shootout 3-2.
Any win over those dudes is a good win.
- Pretty great game from the Caps overall. They took it to the Pens for pretty long stretches at five-on-five and didn’t let the game get out of their grasp when the Pens pushed back. It would have been another absolute shame if the Caps hadn’t won as they recorded 23 total high-danger chances to Pittsburgh’s 9. They do have to find a way to start converting more of these though.
- Alex Ovechkin struck for his 812th career goal on Wayne Gretzky’s 62nd birthday. The tally was Ovi’s 401st career home goal, tying Mike Gartner for fourth on the all-time list.
- It sure looked like Lars Eller had his best game of the season and the stats do show he was super active. He finished the game with seven shot attempts, four shots, five individual scoring chances, four individual high-danger chances, two rush attempts, two rebound attempts, two rebounds created, three hits, and an 11-6 record in the faceoff circle.
The Capitals recorded 45 shots on goal against Pittsburgh, marking their ninth game this season with 40 or more shots.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 27, 2023
- Marcus Johansson scored his 13th goal of the season which puts him into sole possession of second on the team in goal scoring. He’s on pace for his third-career, 20-goal campaign. His previous career high came in 2016-17 when he potted 24 goals.
- Nicklas Backstrom recorded the primary assist on Johansson’s goal. It was the 751st assist of his career, passing Larry Robinson (750) for the 45th-most assists in NHL history. Backstrom also put away the game-winner in the shootout.
- The Caps (58 points) did pick up a point on the Pens (57 points) in the standings but Pittsburgh retains their three games in hand. The Buffalo Sabres (55 points) also kept pace with a win of their own and remain three points back of the Caps also with three games in hand.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
