Washington Capitals Squander 2-0 Lead, Fall to Penguins 5-3

The Washington Capitals had an early 2-0 lead in Pittsburgh but it wasn’t enough.

The Penguins scored four unanswered goals for a 5-3 win to end the Washington Capitals’ season-best seven-game winning streak. This defeat will tighten things up in the Metropolitan Division race. Sitting at 41-22-7 with 89 points. The New York Islanders are now two points behind the Capitals and with Pittsburgh’s win they’ve now slid into third place, four points behind first.

Things got physical early. Jake Guentzel held Alex Ovechkin and got called for a penalty, giving the Capitals an early power play. The early attack wouldn’t last the entire two minutes though. Lars Eller was called for kneeing Sidney Crosby at 2:33, putting both teams at a 4-on-4 for 17 seconds. That was only the beginning of the physicality.

On the Penguins power play there was tussle between T.J. Oshie and Brian Dumoulin. The former got the worst of it. Oshie not only crashed into the boards but was accidentally kicked in the face by Dumoulin.

The Capitals struck first with 33 seconds left with Jakub Vrana‘s 20th goal of the season. Near the top, Vrana placed a high but perfect shot right above the glove and shoulder of Penguins goalie Matt Murray and just below the top crossbar.

That’s how the first period ended. Shots were even at nine. The Penguins outhit the Capitals 16-13 but there was so much hitting going on one would think it would be even.

At 1:37 in the second, Alex Ovechkin high-sticked Nick Bjugstad, granting the Penguins an early power play. The Capitals were able to kill it off and continued to play a good defensive game. Vrana got his second goal of the game at 10:24 with a snipe that trickled off of Murray and in. 21st goal of the season, second goal of the game, and second straight shot Murray wished he had back.

The Penguins got on the board just over two minutes later with Guentzel’s 35th goal of the season. The Penguins tied it 47 seconds later and took the lead 59 seconds after that with goals from Crosby. He now has 33 goals on the season. All three Penguins goals were scored in the span of 1:48.

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Crosby’s second goal of the game also came on the power play when Nicklas Backstrom tripped Malkin. The Capitals killed the previous penalty that period successfully after Ovechkin high-sticked Patric Hornqvist but their penalty kill streak would end at 18 straight kills.

The Penguins would lead the Capitals 3-2 after 40 minutes. The Capitals outshot the Penguins 15-12 in the second period. In the third, things got more chippy. Tom Wilson and Erik Gudbranson started grabbing each other and both were sent to the penalty box for roughing. Even while in the box, they were still jawing back and fourth.

The Penguins got some insurance with another power play goal after the Capitals were called for too many men on the ice. This one came from Phil Kessel for his 23rd of the season. Evgeni Malkin had an assist on Kessel’s goal for his 1,000th career point.

Shortly after that, it would be the Penguins who would get called for too many men on the ice at 12:56, giving Washington an important power play opportunity to get back in the game. They got a goal back thanks to John Carlson for his 11th of the season. Ovechkin assisted on the goal for his 1,200th career NHL point.

Unfortunately that would be as close as the Capitals would get. Pittsburgh added an empty net goal from Jared McCann to seal the game.

The Capitals hope to regroup on Thursday night when they take on the Flyers for the second time in eight days.