Pittsburgh Penguins: Lessons Learned vs. Washington
By Rob Joncas
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals are tied atop the standings of the Metropolitan Division. With playoff races tightening up, and two points on the line, this is the biggest game of the season for both teams.
It’s safe to say the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals ‘hate’ each other. With three of the greatest players to ever play the game on the squads (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin) both teams kick it into another gear when they play each other.
If both teams make a deep push into the postseason, it’s inevitable we will see a series between them at some point.
Especially when you consider that for all six combined Stanley Cup titles between the clubs, their roads to the championship intersected with each other.
Season Series
The Penguins and Capitals have squared off for 226 regular-season games since 1975, with Pittsburgh earning the majority of wins with a record of 112-93-5-16.
It’s hard to believe that the two teams have only met one other time during the 2019-20 season. A slim 4-3 Pittsburgh victory in Washington on Feb. 2, 2020.
Including today’s match up, the Penguins and Capitals meet three more times – Feb. 23, 2020 (Washington), Mar. 7, 2020 and Mar. 22, 2020 (both games in Pittsburgh)
Leading Scorers
Crosby has scored 24 goals and 71 points in 50 games. Malkin is not far behind with 19 goals and 64 points in 45 games played. Kris Letang takes third place with 7 goals and 19 points, with Patric Hornqvist and Justin Schultz rounding out the top five scorers with 12 points each.
Best Goaltenders
Should Tristan Jarry get the start for the Penguins today, it will mark his first career game vs. the Capitals.
Casey DeSmith holds a record of 0-1-0 and a goals-against-average of 2.03 vs. Washington, while Matt Murray has a record of 8-4-0 with a goals-against-average of 3.51 in 12 games played against the Capitals.
Two for the Books
The Capitals probably want to erase the Mar. 15, 1975, from the record books. Pittsburgh laid siege to Washington’s goaltenders Michel Belhumeur, Ron Low and scored 12 goals on a team record 65 shots. The Penguins took the game 12-1, which still stands as one of the largest goal differentials in team history.
Washington has also dished out some serious punishment to Pittsburgh over the seasons. The Capitals have scored 7 goals on 11 occasions, 8 goals on four occasions and 9 goals on two occasions.
Both 9 goal games happened in 1984 (Mar. 1, 1984, and Dec. 2, 1984) and saw Washington capture the games by identical scores of 9-1.
Winter (not so) Classic
The Penguins and Capitals “Winter Classic” game that emanated from Heinz Field on new years day in 2011, not only left Pittsburgh with a 3-1 loss but also with an extremely scary situation for one the leagues greatest players,
Near the end of the second period, Crosby was blindsided by a shoulder to the head from Capitals forward David Steckel. While Steckel maintained the hit was unintentional, Crosby dealt with the ramifications from the concussion suffered from the hit for the parts of two seasons.
The impact from the injury not only added more gasoline to the fiery rivalry between the two clubs, but it also began a new era for concussion treatment and saw leagues around the world deploy new protocols for dealing with head shots in the game.
Enemy Lines
Here’s a look at a few players that have crossed enemy lines during their careers:
Jaromir Jagr, Brooks Orpik, Brent Johnson, Robert Lang, Kris Beech, Daniel Winnik, Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher
What are some of your memories from games between the Penguins and Capitals? Drop a message below.