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"Beaten like a rented mule" Capitals stomp Penguins 8-3 in Saturday matinee

The Penguins put up somewhat of a fight against the Capitals before the Capitals scored 5 straight goals in a route at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday after the Penguins honored legendary broadcaster Mike Lange who recently passed away.
ByTyler Miller|
Feb 22, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Danton Heinen (43) is congratulated by right wing Kevin Hayes (13) after Heinen scored a goal against the Washington Capitals during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Feb 22, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Danton Heinen (43) is congratulated by right wing Kevin Hayes (13) after Heinen scored a goal against the Washington Capitals during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Penguins had a special pregame ceremony Saturday for legendary Pittsburgh broadcaster and radio host Mike Lange who passed away at age 76 on Thursday night. And Penguins fans hoped that they were going to play hard for him and come out with a win.

But that was not the case as the Capitals ran the Penguins out of their own building after Crosby had tied the game at 2 in the middle of the second period. It was really disappointing that after a two-week break, the Penguins were not ready to play and the Capitals just destroyed them once it was a close game.

But that's the way it was and the Capitals scored 8 on them and made a lot of unhappy Penguins fans hit the road early by the end of the second period.

First Period

In the beginning of the period, it was completely dominated by the Capitals as the shot attempts were 10-1 and they got on the scoreboard first.

As Ethan Frank directed a puck in to the net behind Alex Nedeljkovic in a funky scramble, it was challenged by the Penguins for a kicking motion, and was ruled a goal.

But the Penguins had an answer towards the end of the period as Evgeni Malkin set up Kris Letang for a one-timer on the powerplay and it was a 1-1 tie going into the second period.

Second Period

This period was where it really got ugly for the Penguins but was not that bad until the middle of the period. This period started out the same way that the first period did, with a Capitals goal and this one came from Martin Fehervary and it was 2-1 Capitals.

But minutes later Sidney Crosby had the answer as he came in on a semi-breakaway and threw a backhander that squeezed through Logan Thompson and tied the game at 2.

The Capitals from here proceeded to score 4 goals in 7:27 and took a 6-2 lead into the third period as the Penguins had to pull Alex Nedeljkovic and burn Joel Blomqvist with another game looming on Sunday.

Third Period

This period was not much better for the Penguins as Dylan Strome scored a late powerplay goal to make it 7-2, Danton Heinen scored less than a minute later to make it 7-3, and then Brandon Duhaime added one more for the Capitals to make it 8-3 as the final score.

That was all she wrote from PPG Paints Arena in this ugly loss as the Penguins did not start out on the right foot after the break.

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