The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins did battle for the first time this season on Friday night. The meeting between the two Metropolitan Division rivals was the 70th in the careers of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
Erik Karlsson opened the scoring wide-open in the slot, ripping a wrister by Charlie Lindgren. Karlsson played provider to Michael Bunting soon after to put Pittsburgh up two. Rasmus Sandin put away his first of the season to bring the Caps back into the fray. Andrew Mangiapane converted on a 2-on-1 chance to tie the game in the second.
Evgeni Malkin slammed home the game-winner mid-way through the third period. Noel Acciari gets the empty netter.
Penguins beat Capitals 4-2.
- Really a frankly terrible first period from the Capitals. They got outworked in all three zones and their horrible power play remained horrible. We’ve come to expect the latter at this point, but the former has not been a theme of this season, so that wasn’t fun to watch. Pittsburgh looked like the desperate team that they are and Washington just let them win almost every puck battle. They can’t do that.
- Good to see Rasmus Sandin get rewarded with his first goal of the season. I’ve thought he’s been excellent to start the year. The Capitals need more offense from their defensemen overall as Sandin’s goal was the first from a defender this season not named John Carlson or Jakob Chychrun.
- The Capitals honored the franchise’s pioneers before the game. Yvon Labre, Dennis Maruk, Paul Mulvey, and Erroll Rausse all dropped a ceremonial puck for Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby to collect. Seeing all of the alumni stuff so far this season has been fun.
- The Capitals were much, much better offensively in the second period. They created 12 high-danger chances at five-on-five after creating just one in the first frame. I still did not love the defensive zone coverage, though. Something just was not clicking communication-wise, and the Pens were getting constant open looks from the point. Charlie Lindgren had to be superhuman more than a few times.
- Jakub Vrana is back in the lineup and immediately back on the scoresheet. That third line really, really struggled overall, though. I’m not sure what the answer is going to be there long-term. I feel for Spencer Carbery there because he can’t break up his other three lines and doesn’t have many options with this other one other than to stick with it and see if they can figure it out.
- Within about thirty seconds, we got the following descriptors of Alex Ovechkin on ESPN: thick, thighs for days, never breaks. I present you that without additional comment.
- Joel Blomqvist looks like a revelation in Pittsburgh’s net. I don’t know what they’re doing messing around with Alex Nedeljkovic and Tristan Jarry anymore.
A pretty special moment at Mites on Ice: Deacon Rausse, grandson of Capitals alumni Errol Rausse and Paul Mulvey, skated with the Reston Raiders before his grandfathers interviewed him as Mite of the Night.
Anson Alzner, son of Karl Alzner, also participated in the scrimmage. pic.twitter.com/6UNQGXrKgu
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) November 9, 2024
- The Capitals didn’t build off what they created in the second. In fact, they were probably somehow even more muted in the third than they were in the first. And, that was against a team playing the back half of a back-to-back. Something tells me they’re going to get quite the talking to.
- Vrana was called for an absolutely bogus high-sticking penalty late in the third. The official saw a head snap back and automatically called it. Not great.
- The power play is still completely inept. They have to find something new there.
No Joe B or Locker tonight so here is Aliaksei Protas and Martin Fehervary cheesing.
just a couple smiley boys pic.twitter.com/MVHXZKpGZ0
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 9, 2024
Washington will now immediately jump on a plane and head to St. Louis to take on the Blues. Their first back-to-back with travel didn’t go so well in North Carolina so they’ll be hoping to turn that around in Missouri.
