The Washington Capitals returned from a week-long break that felt infinitely longer and at times they sure looked like quite the rusty bunch. They dropped their return game with their full lineup back to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 6-3.
The Pens outshot the Caps 38 to 31 but were out-attempted five-on-five 43 to 42.
By Chris Cerullo 2 years ago
Nicklas Backstrom’s second-period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a milestone marker.
The goal was Backstrom’s 250th goal of his career, incredibly making him only the fourth Capitals player ever to reach that mark. The Swedish center is also one of only 39 active players to have that many times.
In a surprise announcement, Jakub Vrana landed on the NHL’s COVID-19 Unavailability List on February 6. Vrana had missed practice earlier in the day, which the Capitals termed a maintenance day. Then a little after 5 pm that night, Vrana was in protocol.
V’s quarantine was short-lived. On February 9, three days later, the NHL cleared Vrana. The Czech forward only missed one Capitals game, a 7-4 loss to the Flyers.
On Sunday, Vrana explained what happened.
After a week break, a full-strength, kinda out-of-shape, Washington Capitals team took on their biggest rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. There were some Valentine’s Day-themed tiddlywinks on social media pregame, but the two got serious on the ice.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, who ironically hates early games, opened the scoring in his first game back from protocol. But the lead was short-lived. The Pens struck back with Bryan Rust and Brandon Tanev tallies 32 seconds apart. In the second period, Jakub Vrana tied it early before the Penguins piled on two more. Nicklas Backstrom outmuscled Evgeni Malkin to make it 4-3 before intermission. In the third, the Pens would add two empty netters in the final minute to win 6-3.
CAPS LOSE.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
The Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins renew their rivalry at 3 PM. Hours before puck drop, the two teams got a little spicy with each other on Twitter.
Inspired by the dating app Hinge, the Capitals published a fake profile of the Penguins and it just degenerated from there.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
After a week of covidian delays, the Caps are back in action, hopping up to Pennsylvania to take on Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins
Now that football is gone forever, the game’s a mid-afternoon affair, starting at 3 PM. Someone’s got recap duty, but we’re not sure who yet. That usually mean Ian.
By Peter Hassett 2 years ago
The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins have one of the best rivalries in sports and Sunday, the two teams will renew their feud at 3 pm on national TV.
The NHL leaned into the more fighty aspects of the teams’ past to make a commercial to promote the game. Set to Nazareth’s 1976 hit Love Hurts, the 30-second clip shows the Caps and Pens trying to literally destroy each other and enjoying it while they do so.
“There’s no love lost between the @Capitals and @penguins,” the NHL wrote. “What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day?”
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
Our precious Vancouver Canucks needed a win over the Calgary Flames so badly, and they weren’t trying to hide it.
The Canucks ran the show in the first period but could not best their own ex-goalie, Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom, until Quinn Hughes pulled off some Rambo maneuvers in the second. Less than a minute later, Sam Bennett’s shot from the slot beat Thatcher Demko to restore the tie.
With just about five minutes left in regulation, Elias Pettersson finally put Vancouver ahead by stealing credit for Tyler Myer’s shot. An empty-netter from Brandon Sutter made it official: the Canucks have snapped their losing streak.
Canucks win!
By Peter Hassett 2 years ago
