The Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Washington Capitals on Monday night in Mike Sullivan’s debut behind the bench for the Pens.
With Sullivan behind the bench for the first time, the Pittsburgh Penguins started off hot. The Chris Kunitz/Sidney Crosby/Beau Bennett line came out on fire and put in a brilliant shift against the Caps, doing everything right except getting the puck in the net.
Unfortunately, mere minutes later a lapse in judgement by both Ben Lovejoy and Kunitz (both marking Alex Ovechkin) left Nicklas Backstrom with a wide open shot on Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury should’ve stopped the shot, but regardless it was 1-0 Caps.
7:04 into the period, Phil Kessel fell asleep at the wheel and allowed John Carlson to camp out in front of Fleury. Carlson was stopped on the first shot, but banged the second one home. 2-0 Caps.
Despite the goals against, it felt like the Pittsburgh Penguins did a decent job controlling play and they were rewarded with a goal of their own later in the period.
More from Penguins News
- Welcome To The Burgh: Lars Eller
- Penguins Waddle Toward The Season
- Farewell Carl Hagelin
- Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
- Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins
A drop pass from Kessel to Lovejoy set the defenseman up for a clear shot on Braden Holtby. Evgeni Malkin redirected the puck up and over Holtby to trim the Caps lead to one.
Beau Bennett was caught with a monstrous hit by T.J. Oshie and went off the ice. Brian Dumoulin tried to stick up for his teammate but was penalized, while Oshie walked free.
The second period didn’t begin nearly as crisp for the Pens, particularly with the need to kill the second half of Dumoulin’s penalty along with a holding call on Ian Cole shortly afterward.
Later in the second frame, the Pittsburgh Penguins found their fire and began to pressure Holtby and the Caps. After some friskiness by former Penguin Taylor Chorney, Nick Bonino dropped the gloves with the defenseman. It was the first NHL fight for both players.
Despite the Pens turning it on in the back half of the 2nd, the score remained 2-1.
Oshie would score in the third on a wraparound thanks to Nicklas Backstrom shoving Ben Lovejoy into Marc-Andre Fleury and hindering him from sliding post to post. 3-1.
T.J Oshie scored a second time on a late power play for the Capitals to close the game out.
4-1, Caps win.
Player Performance
Olli Maatta put six shots on net and had a decent night on the defensive front to continue his stellar run since returning from injury. It’s a shame we still have what is rumored to be a two week wait for Kris Letang to get back in the lineup. I want to see more of the pair together and whether or not it hides some of glaring holes on the Pittsburgh Penguins back end.
Daniel Sprong and Sergei Plotinkov are mayor and councilman for Snakebitten, PA. He managed 8:01 on the ice under Mike Sullivan, which is an improvement, if only barely.
Ben Lovejoy was part of the problem on two of the Capitals four goals. On the first goal by Backstrom, you can see Lovejoy point at Alexander Ovechkin intending for Chris Kunitz to cover the Russian winger, however they both slide that way just enough to allow Backstrom a clear shot on net.
He was also a responsible party on the Oshie wraparound goal as he allowed himself to be backed into Fleury by Nick Backstrom. His contact with his own goalie prevented Fleury from making an easy save on Oshie’s wraparound attempt. Not a good night indeed.
Nick Bonino had five shots on goal and threw down in his first NHL fight with Taylor Chorney after the Capital got a little too aggressive with his stick.
Defenseman Adam Clendening was only on the ice for 10:01 after the surprise scratch of Rob Scuderi. He was largely invisible which is a good thing, I suppose.
Can someone get Phil Kessel his soft hands back? If he keeps handling those sweet Evgeni Malkin setups like he has been, he’s going to anger the bear. There is no Crosby-Malkin rift. If Kessel keeps missing open looks while on Malkin’s wing, though? We may see a Malkin-Kessel one as he tears him a new one in frustration.
Puck Prose
The Big Picture
Despite the lopsided score, the Pittsburgh Penguins who took the ice at CONSOL Energy Center tonight are the team that Penguins fans have waited for all year.
They were dynamic. They moved the puck much better (particularly when exiting their own zone), and generated a ton of shots and a decent amount of scoring chances against one of the best teams in the league.
The only problem was they ran into Braden Holtby and he’s pretty good at hockey.
It would be hard to watch the Pens as an objective fan of the team and not be more excited by what you saw tonight than you were at any point in the previous twenty eight games.
Beau Bennett getting injured again was brutal, but the team finally looked like the Penguins of old (if only for one game).
One does have to wonder how much longer the Pens can continue this dry shooting streak, though. Sooner or later the pucks have to start going in for the team, right? Right guys?
Then there’s the whole Rob Scuderi for Trevor Daley trade.
More penguins: Rob Scuderi Traded To Blackhawks for Trevor Daley
I’m not here to say Daley was a huge get, but the simple fact that Rutherford was able to shed the Scuderi albatross that was hanging over the team can only be positive. Daley may be a complete dud in Pittsburgh, but if he is he can sit in the press box while the kids play on the blueline.
There’s no built in loyalty to Trevor Daley like there was Rob Scuderi. No obligation. Just an expectation of results.
An expectation that I am hopeful Mike Sullivan is going to apply to everyone on the team.