The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 4-1. The Penguins had more pep in their step and seemed to want it more than the Capitals did. The Capitals seemed flat, seemingly only getting their energy from Alex Ovechkin and their third line.
Darcy Kuemper may have not been his normal self (3 goals on 27 shots) but the Capitals offense showed little to no effort and spice with the puck, giving Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith no real trouble.
The Penguins took over the game after the Capitals failed to convert on an early lackluster effort from the power play unit in the second period. The Penguins took the momentum from that point on and proceeded to score 3 goals in 7 minutes. Darcy Kuemper may not have had his normal pre-game meal, letting in two squeakers and a point shot that he saves 9 times out of 10 in this spurt.
The Capitals powerplay went 0 for 4 and even gave up a momentum shifting short handed goal. The Capitals power play failed to generate many good chances, only mustering 2 total shots on their 4 attempts. The energy looked low, and the usual zip we expect from them was just not there tonight.
The Caps attempted to make a 3rd period push on the Pens, starting with Ovechkin laying a huge hit on Marcus Pettersson to set the tone, Martin Fehervary getting in a scrum with Sidney Crosby, followed by Marcus Johansson being able to bury one with 13 minutes left. Unfortunately the rally fell short as the Capitals just couldn’t seem to get in any sort of consistent rhythm leading to an eventual empty-netter from Guentzel to finalize the score at 4-1.
The Capitals finish out their season long four game homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. You can catch the game at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington locally and NHL Network nationally.