The Washington Capitals met their bitter rivals in the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night and just like most Caps vs Pens games, it was a good one. The Caps made a three-goal comeback in the game but were unable to leave Pittsburgh victorious.

Bummer.

• The overall effort from the Caps was pretty good. On a different night, Darcy Kuemper is the one standing on his head and not Casey DeSmith. The Caps finished the game up 31 to 21 in five-on-five scoring chances but down 4-3 on the scoreboard. That’s just how it goes in hockey sometimes.
• Alex Ovechkin scored his 42nd goal of the season and the 822nd of his career. It came on the power play so he is now just one more PPG from 300 total in his career.
• Dylan Strome stayed hot and now has 20 points (6g, 14a) in his last 14 games. His 18 goals rank third on the team behind Ovechkin (42) and TJ Oshie (19).

Strome has recorded five multi-point efforts in his last eight games. His 15 multi-point games this season are the second most on the Capitals (Alex Ovechkin: 20).

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 26, 2023

• The Caps spent 6:13 of the game on the penalty kill. I thought their discipline was terrible overall. Pittsburgh did score on one of their power plays.
• Natural Stat Trick has the Capitals using 11 different line combinations in the game. Talk about a blender.
• Of course, the best of the lot was one with Aliaksei Protas on it. His line with Nicklas Backstrom and Oshie held positive differentials at five-on-five in shot attempts (+3) and scoring chances (+4). They also broke even in high-danger chances.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.