The Washington Capitals crushed the Pittsburgh Penguins to the tune of an 8-3 win at PPG Paints Arena in the Steel City. The win improved the Capitals record to 37-11-8 with 82 points to remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division as well as the Eastern Conference and the entire NHL at the time of this writing.
Pittsburgh domination
Ethen Frank tipped in a shot from Andrew Mangiapane for his fourth goal of the season at 5:13 to put the Caps in business. It was Frank's fourth of the season while Mangiapane had his ninth assist. Rasmus Sandin had the secondary apple for his 16th.
Kris Letang tied it on a power play goal at 18:21 and the score would be knotted at one after one period of play. The Penguins led in shots 9-5 after one.
In the second period Martin Fehervary struck for his second goal of the season at 1:10 and the goal would be assisted by Brandon Duhaime for his eighth and Taylor Raddysh for his 17th.
Sidney Crosby responded with his 18th goal of the season at 6:36 on a backhand shot to tie the game at two. Then Jakob Chychrun happened as the defenseman scored twice. First at 10:38 set up by Pierre-Luc Dubois and Connor McMichael. For McMichael it was his 23rd assist of the season.
At 14:17 Chychrun struck again for his 16th goal of the season. PLD notched his 33rd assist of the season while Trevor van Riemsdyk had his 16th. Eight seconds later Aliaksei Protas notched his 23rd goal of the season. Sandin added his 17th assist of the season while John Carlson had his 32nd.
At 18:05 Tom Wilson would score his career high 25th goal of the season. Fehervary set him up for his 13th assist of the season while Matt Roy had his 14th. 6-2 would be the score after two periods as the Caps would lead in shots 13-11.
In the third period Dylan Strome struck for a power play goal at 13:11. It was his 17th of the season. Raddysh set him up for his 18th assist of the season while PLD had his 34th assist on the year.
Danton Heinen would try to stop the bleeding at 14:22 but by then it was too late. At 17:19, Roy set up Brandon Duhaime for his seventh of the season to put a bow on this game. It was Roy's 15th assist on the year.
Shots were even at 13 apiece in the third period. The Penguins outshot the Caps 33-31 but despite this Logan Thompson would get the win in net with 30 saves for a .909 save percentage to improve his record to 25-2-5.
The Caps will be back in action tomorrow aka Sunday Feb. 23 as they host the Edmonton Oilers. Puck drop is at 1 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and MAX.