Jan 28, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal as Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (41) looks on in the second period at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0 in Wednesday’s game at the Verizon Center, finally ending their four game losing streak and beginning to look a lot more like the team we saw in late December/early January.
Coach Barry Trotz surprised many by announcing Michael Latta would start against Pittsburgh, but would not announce who he would be replacing. It wasn’t until the first period that we saw the somewhat surprising lineup – Latta replaced Andrew Burakovsky, pushing Jay Beagle to the top-line, which was left untouched for the previous ten games. The last time Trotz changed the line was for the Winter Classic, in which Beagle was again called up.
First Period
The Washington Capitals looked great throughout the first period – energized, together, communicative – and matched the physicality of the Penguins’ game with clean hits. Just under five minutes into the period, Alexander Ovechkin scored the first goal for the Washington Capitals with a great – and I mean great – assist by Niklas Backstrom and Karl Alzner. The team came away with only two penalties, one by John Carlson for hooking and one by Tom Wilson for fighting (he clearly did not read my game preview), but managed to kill both fairly easily. Other memorable moments of the period included a shot by Latta that was barely saved by Fleury’s toe and Alzner and Joel Ward stopping a potential Penguins scoring opportunity when Matt Niskanen’s slapshot broke his stick and dribbled the puck right into the Penguins hands.
At the end of the first period, the Penguins had 11 shots on goal, 6 hits, and won 7 faceoffs. The Caps had 8 shots on goal, 9 hits, and won 14 faceoffs. Overall, it was a smooth period and gave the Washington Capitals a much needed confidence boost. I will say, however, that Braden Holtby looked way too uptight in his goal. Like the rest of the Washington Capitals, he plays well when he is relaxed and relying more on his reflexes and instincts than on textbook behavior about what a goalie “should be” doing. He was going down way earlier than he usually does when the puck was in his zone, leaving him with less flexibility to move to where the puck was and go with the flow of the game; luckily, that just happened to work in his favor as a majority of Penguins shots seemed aimed straight at him. For what it’s worth, I don’t blame him – he needs his teammates to give him more confidence and help shoulder some of the burden.
Second Period
The second period was a bit more nerve-racking than the first; the Washington Capitals seemed to delve back into their chaotic and confused play for the first eight or so minutes and had me on the edge of my seat waiting (I hate to say it) for a Penguins goal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when the pressure is on and the plays happen quickly, the Washington Capitals can only hold their momentum for so long until a minor mistake slips them up. The Penguins play fast, hard, and aggressive hockey – not a strength for the Washington Capitals – but the Caps held up against the pressure. The second power play of the period saw the Washington Capitals setting up and taking more shots on goal, allowing Ovi to score his second goal of the game with just under three minutes left to the period. With 29 goals, he is now the league leader in goals and has had 93 multi-goal games.
In the second period, the Penguins had 8 shots on goal, 7 hits, and won 6 faceoffs. In contrast, the Washington Capitals had 14 shots on goal, 9 hits, and won 12 faceoffs. The score was 2-0 as they entered the third period, with Pittsburgh continuing to come on strongly but the Caps taking more shots on goal and pushing more into their opponent’s zone than in recent games. Holtby seemed to relax a little and handled the puck much more deftly than opposing Fleury.
Third Period
One word to describe (most of) the third period: glorious. The plays were smooth, the team worked together, and it finally looked like the Caps from earlier this month were back. Right wing Eric Fehr, assisted by Brooks Laich and Brooks Orpik, scored just over eleven minutes into the period. The goal lit the Caps on fire even more – it was exactly the kind of goal the Caps haven’t been getting lately. Fehr had a sweet wristshot from eleven feet away and just tucked into the goal behind Fleury. 82 seconds later, Mike Green scored the fourth goal of the night assisted by Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson.
…and that’s when things started to get ugly. Eight penalties were awarded throughout the period after the Caps’ fourth goal, four to each team, mostly for roughing. The Penguins, frustrated with the shutout, refused to go down without a fight and took to using brute force to vent their frustrations. One penalty that left Caps fans incredulous was given to Ovi for roughing Christian Ehrhoff, who seemed to fly into Ovi on his own accord. Nonetheless, the Caps avoided any further unnecessary penalties and left the rink victors at 4-0, defeating the Penguins for the second time this season.
The two teams will meet again February 17 in Pittsburgh and for a final time this season on February 25 in Washington.