Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Preview
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals aim to end their four game losing streak in tonight’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the teams’ second of four meetings this season. The first meeting, played on December 27 in Pittsburgh, resulted in a 3-0 W for the Caps; it was the Washington Capitals’ first victory over the Penguins since 2012, but their current funk may hamper their chances tonight. The Penguins were nine points ahead of the Washington Capitals before their first meeting of the season; the gap has now closed to five points with the Penguins in second place.
Playing in the first home game since the All-Star break, the Washington Capitals will hopefully fall back on hometown momentum to overcome the poor playing in their last four games. They are 7-0-2 in the last nine games in their arena but are now just one game shy of the longest losing streak this season.
Though Malkin is expected to sit out again tonight, there is a possibility center Sidney Crosby could play, though that likely will not be decided until closer to gametime. Despite their absences, however, the rest of the Penguins have proven that they are just fine and defeated the Jets last night 5-3. David Perron has had six goals in his last nine games with Pittsburgh, helping the team cope with the loss of Malkin and Crosby. Fleury did not start against the Jets and will likely be in goal tonight, though it’s unclear whether Holtby or Peters will be the starter for the Caps.
The Washington Capitals certainly need this W to get back on track, but the Penguins have earned at least one point in eight of its last ten games – it’s anybody’s game tonight.
Things we need to see from the Washington Capitals going forward, starting with tonight:
Fewer penalties. While the Washington Capitals haven’t dropped their gloves in quite some time (December 20, to be exact), the minor penalties have been coming at the most frustrating of times. It seems that whenever the team is building momentum and things might turn around, a minor (and stupid) penalty is called and all momentum is lost. As of now, they are in the bottom half of the league in PCT at 80.1 – not great. Even when they don’t let up a goal, the momentum is lost and the team seems aimless and dazed once again. Defenseman Matt Niskanen said it best: “We’re making too many mistakes that are biting us.” On that note, I’m hoping the Washington Capitals don’t get sucked into fighting tonight – I’m looking at you, Tom Wilson. We all saw how ugly it got between the Penguins and the Flyers last week and I don’t think the Caps will fare well at all in a physical game. Stop the penalties, keep up the momentum.
Help the goalie. A lot of people complained about Peters’ performance against Dallas on January 17 and there were calls all over Twitter for Trotz to pull him and replace him with Holtby. While Holtby was admittedly coming off a record-breaking hot streak and we all wanted more from him, Dallas was only the second game in the team’s losing streak. Peters didn’t start this, nor was his play abysmal – Holtby has also lost his last three starts. While the goalies could play better, Peters had absolutely no help in Dallas and it’s been a recurring trend throughout this streak. The Washington Capitals got way too comfortable with letting Holtby make incredible saves for too long and didn’t pull back and give the needed assistance when he got tired. Is Holtby burnt out? No. Is Peters a bad goalie? No. Defense looks uncoordinated right now and hinders the goaltender more than helps. The goals let up recently generally reflect the defense more than the goalies; there are simply too many turnovers in the neutral zone and poor plays in the Caps’ zone.
Let up fewer goals. I know, I know – thanks Captain Obvious. Although it’s vital to the Caps’ success, they seem to be overlooking this basic principle as of late. In the last four games (all losses), the Washington Capitals have let up four or more goals each for a total of seventeen goals let up in four games, while they only let up twenty-one in the previous eleven games. This season, the Caps’ record is 4-12-7 when allowing three or more goals and 20-2-2 when allowing two or fewer. As coach Barry Trotz said after last night’s loss to the Blue Jackets, “We’re just giving up too many goals right now. In this league, trying to win every game 5-4, you’re not going to do it.”
Relax. The Caps have a horrible habit of letting on or two mistakes completely unravel them. We’ve seen it time and time again – after a small mistake, we see a messy and fruitless effort to get things back on track but it inevitably results in a loss. When the Caps were playing in late December/early January, it was awesome to watch them. The skating was in sync, goals were being scored, and it just looked like they were having a good time. I think I’ve spent the last four games cringing the entire time – they just look bad. For whatever reason, the team has a hard time digging themselves out of bad plays and they’re not great at being underdogs. Honestly, they just need to get over it. Stop looking back at what’s not working and look forward to what does work. When the Caps have fun, goals get scored.