Pittsburgh Penguins (32-15-3 67pts) v. Washington Capitals (32-13-4 68pts)
Game Recap:
In the seventh game of their eight game regular season series, the Washington Capitals would host the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the first period the Caps would strike first thanks to an Evan Rodrigues delay of game penalty. On the powerplay TJ Oshie would deflect a Justin Schultz point blast past Tristan Jarry to give teh Caps the 1-0 lead. However, later in the period, a bad pass in their own zone would give Kasperi Kapanen the puck and he would score his ninth of the season to tie the game at one for the Pens.
Then in the second period the Caps would go shorthanded early, but would kill off the Penguins second powerplay of the game. However, the Pens would strike first in the period as Frederick Gaudreau would strike to give the Pens the 2-1 lead, but 30 seconds later Dmitry Orlov would unleash a bomb of a shot that would give Jarry a lot of trouble and tie the game at two for the Caps. Then later in the period the Caps would take the lead as Daniel Sprong would redirect the puck past Jarry for the 3-2 lead, but before the period would end Zach Aston-Reese would strike to tie the game at three for the Penguins.
In the third period both teams would trade powerplay opportunities, but neither team would capitalize on their opportunities. Later in the period Kapenen would strike to give the Pens the 4-3 lead, but with 14.3 seconds left Tom Wilson would score to tie the game at four for the Capitals and send the game to overtime and clinch a berth to the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, in overtime the Caps would get some golden chances, but it would be Jake Guentzel with the tip in goal to give the Penguins the 5-4 victory and also clinch a berth into this year’s playoffs.
Lineups:
Pittsburgh Penguins:
Jake Guentzel — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Jared McCann — Jeff Carter — Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese — Teddy Blueger — Jason Zucker
Colton Sceviour — Mark Jankowski — Evan Rodrigues
Brian Dumoulin — Kris Letang
Mike Matheson — Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson — John Marino
Tristan Jarry
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, Radim Zohorna, Sam Lafferty
Injured: Evgeni Malkin (lower body), Brandon Tanev (upper body), Frederick Gaudreau (lower body)
Washington Capitals:
Daniel Sprong — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Lars Eller — Michael Raffl
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — Justin Schultz
Brenden Dillon — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Zdeno Chara — Nick Jensen
Vitek Vanecek
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: None
Injured: Alex Ovechkin (lower body), John Carlson (lower body)
First Period:
PIT Penalty – 7:15 – Evan Rodrigues 2 minutes for Delay of Game
WAS PPG – 7:27 – TJ Oshie (18) from Justin Schultz (21) and Nicklas Backstrom (35)
WAS Penalty – 7:56 – Justin Schultz 2 minutes for Interference
PIT Goal – 15:27 – Kasperi Kapanen (9) from unassisted
| End of First | PIT – 1 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 14 | 10 |
| Faceoff Wins | 12 | 9 |
| Hits | 1 | 11 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 1/1 |
Second Period:
WAS Penalty – 1:48 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Holding
PIT Goal – 8:32 – Frederick Gaudreau (2) from Jason Zucker (7) and Colton Sceviour (4)
WAS Goal – 9:02 – Dmitry Orlov (8) from Nicklas Backstrom (36)
PIT Penalty – 9:22 – Marcus Pettersson 2 minutes for Holding
WAS Goal – 15:07 – Daniel Sprong (11) from Justin Schultz (22) and Dmitry Orlov (10)
PIT Goal – 18:11 – Zach Aston-Reese (9) from Colton Sceviour (5)
| End of Second | PIT – 3 | WAS – 3 |
| Shots | 25 | 27 |
| Faceoff Wins | 27 | 23 |
| Hits | 2 | 20 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 1/2 |
Third Period:
PIT Penalty – 7:45 – Bryan Rust 2 minutes for Holding
PIT Goal – 10:55 – Kasperi Kapanen (10) from Jared McCann (14) and Jeff Carter (13)
WAS Penalty – 15:35 – Michael Raffl 2 minutes for Holding
WAS Goal – 19:45 – Tom Wilson (12) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (20)
| End of Third | PIT – 4 | WAS – 4 |
| Shots | 34 | 35 |
| Faceoff Wins | 39 | 37 |
| Hits | 14 | 32 |
| Powerplay | 0/3 | 1/3 |
Overtime:
PIT Goal – 2:11 – Jake Guentzel (22) from John Marino (9) and Jared McCann (15)
| End of OT | PIT – 5 | WAS – 4 |
| Shots | 35 | 37 |
| Faceoff Wins | 39 | 37 |
| Hits | 14 | 32 |
| Powerplay | 0/3 | 1/3 |
One thought on “Penguins v. Capitals – Playoff Berths Clinched”