Photo: Gregory Shamus
The Capitals beat the Penguins 4-1 in Pittsburgh on Monday night despite getting outshot 45-34. Braden Holtby had a career high 44 saves, T.J. Oshie recorded two goals, one assist and four hits (one of which injured Beau Bennett). Nicklas Backstrom also had a three-point night.
By Hana Imiolczyk 7 years ago
This is so weird. (Photo: Charles LeClaire)
On October 29, the all-time leader in outdoor goals, Eric Fehr, returned to Verizon Center for the first time since signing with the Capitals’ hated rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fehr, injured and unable to play in the game, was saluted by the team with a tribute video.
Last night, Fehr got to suit up for the first time against his former team. The Penguins rubbed salt in the wound by reminding us about it at every turn.
Photo: Capstagram
I just thought I should point this out: Hell has actually frozen over.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, who are kind of terrible right now, fired their head coach Mike Johnston on Saturday in an attempt to turn around a miserable start to the season.
Would things be different for the Pens’ former AHL coach Mike Sullivan?
Above are the Penguins’ three stars of the night.
Oh, look. Holtby’s mask came off during play again. This is fine. I am fine.
I’ll get to the Penguins-Capitals game, and the debut of Mike Sullivan, and Oshie’s big performance and everything, but first: it happened again. Braden Holtby’s mask came off again. I’m not making too big a deal about this. This is literally a disaster in the making and no one is freaking out enough in my judgment.
But let’s talk about the scoring first.
Nick Backstrom scored early on, snatching a pass from Oshie to beat Marc-Andre Fleury up the gut. Three minutes later, John Carlson took his own rebound and turned it into a two-goal lead, which the Penguins began eroding with Evgeni Malkin’s tip-in through traffic. TJ Oshie put the Pens back in the two-goal hole where they belong with a dandy wraparound in the third period. The Penguins got busted late in the game for having cranky pants, so TJ Oshie got another goal. Woo!
Caps beat Pens 4-1. 21 wins and counting.
By Peter Hassett 7 years ago
Selfish Alex Ovechkin is at it again: celebrating his teammate’s goals harder than his own.
After Nicklas Backstrom tallied his tenth goal of the season in the first period of Monday’s Caps-Pens game, Ovechkin screamed so loud that it was picked up by CSN Washington’s ice-level mics. This is Ovi’s Howard Dean moment and I love it.
TJ Oshie might be tiny, but he sure can land a hit. Last Thursday, Oshie went hockey bowling and knocked over two Panthers in one hit. Against the Penguins on Monday, Oshie injured forward Beau Bennett with devastating (but legal) shoulder check into the boards.
No one cares about this anymore.
The Capitals are in Pittsburgh today to face the Penguins and their new coach, Mike Sullivan. Having recently fired the guy who literally wrote the book on hockey strategy but whose on-ice strategies grew increasingly inane, the Penguins could be primed for a bounce back.
It’s also possible that their problems run deeper than tactics. I hope Jim Rutherford isn’t looking into long-term real-estate investments in Shadyside.
Puck drops at 7 PM on CSN. Peter Hassett, who is me, will have your recap service.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 20-6-2 | 52.1% | 101.4 | 23.3% | 83.5% |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 15-10-3 | 48.3% | 100.3 | 15.6% | 84.2% |
By Peter Hassett 7 years ago
