Pittsburgh Penguins (10-6-1 21pts) v. Washington Capitals (9-5-4 22pts)
Game Recap:
Heading into the sixth matchup of the season, the Washington Capitals would play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in three nights. In the first period it would take 11 minutes before we’d see our first tally as Nicklas Backstrom would net his 9th goal of the season to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. Then the Caps would get themselves into penalty trouble as Lars Eller would be called for tripping twenty seconds after the Backstrom tally, and then later on Tom Wilson would take a bonehead interference penalty, but the Penguins would not be able to capitalize on both powerplay opportunities. Some solid goaltending by Vitek Vanecek would keep the Caps 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
In the second period the Caps and Pens would take some penalties, and not capitalize on their powerplay opportunities. However, both teams would generate some solid scoring chances, but both Vanecek and Tristan Jarry would be up to the task as the Caps kept the 1-0 lead going into the intermission.
Then in the third period we would get some real excitement as compared to the other night’s third period which… existed. It would start with an amazing goal by TJ Oshie to grow the Caps lead to two, but the Pens would respond with two goals in three minutes as Brandon Tanev and Jake Guentzel to tie the game. However, the Caps would not lie down this time as Tom Wilson would strike while on the powerplay to retake the lead for the Capitals, and back to back empty net goals by Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller would give the Capitals the 5-2 victory.
Lineups:
Pittsburgh Penguins:
Jake Guentzel — Sidney Crosby — Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese — Evgeni Malkin — Bryan Rust
Sam Lafferty — Teddy Blueger — Brandon Tanev
Drew O’Connor — Colton Sceviour — Mark Jankowski
Pierre-Olivier Joseph — Kris Letang
Mike Matheson — John Marino
Marcus Pettersson — Cody Ceci
Tristan Jarry
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Yannick Weber, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman
Injured: Jared McCann (lower body), Brian Dumoulin (lower body), Evan Rodrigues (lower body), Juuso Riikola (upper body), Jason Zucker (lower body)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Conor Sheary
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Richard Panik — Lars Eller — Tom Wilson
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Brenden Dillon — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara — Nick Jensen
Vitek Vanecek
Craig Anderson
Scratched: Daniel Sprong, Jonas Siegenthaler, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injured: Brian Pinho (undisclosed)
First Period:
WAS Goal – 11:20 – Nicklas Backstrom (9) from Nick Jensen (5) and Jakub Vrana (7)
WAS Penalty – 11:40 – Lars Eller 2 minutes for Tripping
WAS Penalty – 15:27 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Interference
| End of First | PIT – 0 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 9 | 12 |
| Faceoff Wins | 10 | 12 |
| Hits | 6 | 8 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 0/0 |
Second Period:
WAS Penalty – 4:03 – John Carlson 2 minutes for Goalie Interference
PIT Penalty – 9:09 – Evgeni Malkin 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Penalty – 15:36 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Tripping
| End of Second | PIT – 0 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 21 | 27 |
| Faceoff Wins | 17 | 25 |
| Hits | 15 | 16 |
| Powerplay | 0/4 | 0/1 |
Third Period:
WAS Goal – 3:18 – TJ Oshie (5) from Lars Eller (6) and John Carlson (11)
PIT Penalty – 3:32 – Kris Letang 2 minutes for Hooking
PIT SHG – 4:22 – Brandon Tanev (5) from unassisted
PIT Goal – 7:22 – Jake Guentzel (7) from Sidney Crosby (10) and Kris Letang (9)
PIT Penalty – 10:53 – Drew O’Connor 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS PPG – 12:40 – Tom Wilson (7) from John Carlson (12) and Alex Ovechkin (10)
WAS ENG – 18:38 – Carl Hagelin (2) from unassisted
WAS ENG – 19:08 – Lars Eller (3) from TJ Oshie (9) and Nicklas Backstrom (15)
| End of Third | PIT – 2 | WAS – 5 |
| Shots | 28 | 35 |
| Faceoff Wins | 22 | 35 |
| Hits | 21 | 24 |
| Powerplay | 0/4 | 1/3 |
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