The Washington Capitals snapped their four game losing streak in dominating fashion, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves, the defense played well, the third line shined, and the Caps finally got their first win of the season over their arch nemisis.
The first period was scoreless but it was spirited. The Caps led in shots 15-13. They also killed off two penalties including a 5-on-3.
The Caps struck first at 4:52 in the second when Richard Panik set up Conor Sheary for a shot in the right face off circle. For Panik, it was his 100th career assist. Believe it or not Sheary has played against the Penguins before he was a member of the Caps and he has five goals in seven career games against his former club. It was Sheary’s third goal of the season and Nick Jensen had the secondary assist.
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The Caps doubled their lead at 11:31 when T.J. Oshie fed a cross ice pass to Jakub Vrana for the snipe. It was Vrana’s fifth goal of the season and Nicklas Backstrom had the secondary assist.
2-0 good guys would be the score after two. The Caps led in shots in that period 18-5.
At 1:09 in the third period, the Caps made it 3-0 when Panik found Lars Eller for a nice pass as Eller broke in front of Kris Letang and put it in for his second goal of the season. Zdeno Chara had the secondary assist.
The Penguins would break through at 15:05 with a goal from Zach Aston-Reese but it wasn’t enough as the Caps hung on for a 3-1 win. What was more impressive than the goals was the play Alex Ovechkin made when breaking up an odd man rush that led to Vrana’s goal.
Oshie spoke highly of the play to Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):
"“Every guy on the bench and definitely every guy on the ice . . . gave ‘O’ a little shout out there and told him that was all him. That moment in the game, a goal the other way would be pretty devastating, especially with four losses in a row and your captain goes out and makes every stride. He found a way to will himself up there, dive and make a play.”"
The Caps schedule for the remainder of the week might confuse you. That’s because the NHL made so many changes to the schedule. One thing remains unchanged for now, the Buffalo Sabres will be at Capital One Arena on Thursday night.