Capitals Take Advantage of Penguins’ Mistakes in 4-1 Win – The Hockey Writers NHL News Latest News, Analysis & More

For the second time this season, two of the NHL’s greats went head-to-head as Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins met with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in DC. The Penguins took the first meeting of the season by a 4-2 final score. This time around, the Capitals were on the winning side, beating the Penguins 4-1.

Having a two-game shutout streak, Logan Thompson got the start. He made 18 saves in his 28th win of the season. Getting the call-up back to the NHL, Penguins’ Joel Blomqvist started the second of a back-to-back situation. Even though he was handed the loss, he gave his team a chance. He made 29 saves on 32 shots.

Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Game Recap

Through the first six minutes of the opening period, both teams had sustained offensive zone pressure. The Capitals held a 7-0 shot advantage in spite of solid zone time for Pittsburgh. Blomqvist was up for the early task on multiple good chances by Washington. With the chances they created, one was bound to go in. Jakob Chychrun made it happen with his 13th of the season at 7:42 for a 1-0 lead.

Though the Penguins had a great effort in the final 12 minutes of the first period, Thompson extended his shutout streak to 166:53 over his last eight periods. Washington held a slight 9-7 shot advantage.

In a second period that saw the Penguins play a flat and sloppy game, the Capitals took advantage for a 2-0 lead. A nonchalant rim around the net from Marcus Pettersson was quickly picked off by Connor McMichael. A tic-tac-toe play between him, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Aliaksei Protas saw Protas collect his 19th of the season. Like they had been doing all game, the Capitals smothered the Penguins, not allowing them to get many chances. Pittsburgh finished the second period with just six shots on net, which Thompson turned away.

As time was winding down below 10 minutes left in the game and down by a pair of goals, the Penguins needed someone to step up. Just like he had been since Dec. 4, Bryan Rust was the one to step up to make it a 2-1 game at 11:29 of the third period. With the goal, Thompson’s incredible shutout streak came to an end.

A costly penalty by Kris Letang gave the Capitals a power play with under five minutes to go, which they capitalized on. Dubois tallied his second point of the night with a goal to make it 3-1. With Blomqvist pulled, the Capitals put an exclamation point on the game as Brandon Duhaime put home his sixth goal of the season.

The Penguins begin the western part of their road trip. On Monday night (Jan. 20), they meet with the Los Angeles Kings for their season series finale. The Capitals have a few days off as they head out to Edmonton for a meeting with the Oilers on Tuesday (Jan. 21).