Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Capitals 3

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 win against the Capitals:

WASHINGTON — The Penguins and Capitals met for the first time this season. And the Capitals largely did what they’ve done to the Penguins for the better part of half a decade.

They got rough with them. And won most of those confrontations. At least if you just base victory or defeat on who fell down to the ice. In that case, the Penguins fell to the ice quite a bit.

But this was different. The Penguins accepted the Capitals’ brutish tactics and were judicious in how they responded. In other words, they had a shrewd ratio of responding : not responding.

In one instance of responding, at 8:18 of the first period, Capitals forward Lars Eller gave Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist a dirty nudge to the boards near the benches. As soon as Hornqvist fell, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson skated as if he had a rocket on his back and jumped Eller in retaliation.

Then in an instance of just taking the hit, Capitals forward/long-time nemesis Tom Wilson clobbered Penguins defenseman Kris Letang in the Penguins’ left corner as Letang played the puck up ice. Letang and the Penguins simply took the hit and kept playing on in order to maintain a late lead.

It would be a stretch to say the Penguins were disciplined as a whole in this game. They did take five penalties resulting in three power-play opportunities for the Capitals. But they were disciplined when the situation called for it.

They didn’t lose their minds when the Capitals tried to get rough with them and that was a reason they came away with an impressive win.

“That’s their identity,” Sullivan said of the Capitals’ rough ways. “They’re going to play to it. We’ve just got to make sure we play our game. We don’t get caught up playing somebody else’s. But I thought we had plenty of pushback. I think we’ve got a team that plays the game with a lot of courage. We’re going to take hits to make plays. That’s part of the game. We’re going to dish out hits when we get an opportunity to separate people from the puck. We’ve got to get our noses over it, we’ve got to compete hard and I thought our guys did that.”

What happened

The Capitals did open the scoring 10:38 into the first period. Under pressure by a forecheck from former Penguins forward Carl Hagelin, Pettersson tried to play a puck off of his own left boards but had it stolen by Capitals forward Richard Panik who snapped off a pass to forward Lars Eller just inside the right circle. Taking a moment to adjust, Eller gripped and ripped a wrister past Murray’s glove on the near side for his 12th goal of the season. Panik had the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Only 68 seconds later, the Penguins responded. Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom tried to skate the puck through the neutral zone up the right wing but lost in on a poke check by Penguins forward Alex Galchenyuk. Forward Sam Lafferty, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton one day earlier, claimed the loose puck at center ice, raced into the offensive zone with speed on the left wing and lifted a wrister from the left circle to the near side past goaltender Ilya Samsonov’s right shoulder. It was Lafferty’s fifth goal of the season and his first in the NHL level since Nov. 30. Galchenyuk netted the only assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins took their first lead at 12:40 of the first. Off a drop pass by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin at the right point, defenseman John Marino sauntered up the right wing. From the right circle, he fired a pass towards the crease where forward Patric Hornqvist redirected the puck. The shot glanced off of the inside of Samsonov’s stick blade and slide into the cage for Hornqvist’s 12th goal. Marino and Malkin recorded assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 3-1 contest at 11:59 of the second period. Penguins forward Jared McCann outbattled Capitals defensemen Michal Kempny and John Carlson for a puck on Washington’s end boards and allowed forward Dominik Simon to claim it. Simon fed a small pass to Crosby just below the left circle. Crosby lifted a quick wrister on net which Samsonov fought off. Simon collected the rebound, deked around a sluggish poke check by Kempny in the slot and put a backhander through Samonov’s five hole for his seventh goal. Crosby and McCann collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Washington made it a 3-2 game at 6:00 of the third period. After Capitals forward T.J. Oshie forced Penguins forward Bryan Rust into a defensive zone turnover, Capitals forward Jakub Vrana forced a pass from above the right circle which Malkin deflected partially. The puck had enough momentum on it to make its way to Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov in the left circle. Settling the puck, Kuznetzov veered past Malkin, cut across the front of the crease and lifted a backhand which hopped over Murray’s glove hand. It was Kuznetsov’s 18th goal. Vrana and defenseman Nick Jensen netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

After a strong push throughout the period by the Capitals, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev appeared to stymie Washington’s momentum when he scored his 11th goal at 17:27 of the third. Following a strong cycle with Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese in the Capitals’ right corner, forward Teddy Blueger centered a pass to Tanev in the left circle. Tanev fired a wrister which was partially deflected by Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s stick and hopped over Samsonov’s glove. Blueger and Aston-Reese registered assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Capitals would not go away. At 17:42 of the third, Eller scored again to make it 4-3. Form his own left corner, Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas snapped a stretch pass across the ice to Hagelin on the left wing just outside the offensive blue line. Hagelin offered up a touch pass for Eller who was racing into the Penguins’ zone like a comet. Lining Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson as a screen, Eller lifted a wrister which toasted Murray’s glove hand, clunked off the crossbar and went into the cage. Assists went to Hagelin and Gudas.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins had a 33-32 edge in shots.

• Hornqvist led the game with seven shots.

• Carlson and forward Alex Ovechkin each led the Capitals with four shots.

• Letang led the game with 29:28 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• Carlson led the Capitals with 23:32 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 34-30 (53 percent).

• Crosby was 18 for 31 (58 percent).

• Capitals forward Nic Dowd and Backstrom were each 7 for 13 (54 percent).

• Johnson led the game with seven blocked shots.

• Ovechkin, Wilson and Kempny each led the Capitals with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Orlov appeared in his 500th career game.

Randomly speaking

• There was a strange sequence midway through the second period.

Oshie was engaged in a battle with Penguins rookie forward Anthony Angello in front of the Penguins’ bench. During the skirmish, Oshie’s stick came up and struck Crosby, seated on the bench, on or near his head.

Crosby reacted by grabbing Oshie’ stick, refusing to let him return to the Capitals’ bench. A few moments later, play was halted and Crosby was assessed a minor penalty for interference at the 13:27 mark of the period.

(Video courtesy NHL)

• Following the game, Crosby wasn’t overly expansive on the sequence but he didn’t leave much doubt over his opinion on Oshie’s motives.

“I think it was Oshie,” Crosby said. “I think he knew what he was doing with his stick coming by the bench there. I think you can probably watch it and see what happened.”

• Tanev has four game-winning goals. He’s tied with Malkin, McCann, Rust and forward Jake Guentzel for the team lead in that category.

• The Penguins were 0 for 6 on the power play, including a 4-on-3 sequence which lasted 23 seconds.

• Murray made 29 saves to improve to 6-0-0 in his past six games.

• In his return to the lineup, Lafferty logged 5:41 of ice time on nine shifts, three shots on three attempts and was 3 for 3 on faceoffs.

• Whatever the Penguins are hoping to accomplish by having defenseman Chad Ruhwedel play his off (left) side, they don’t seem satisfied with what he’s offering. On Sunday, he logged only 10:30 of ice time on 18 shifts, the fewest among the defensemen.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on the game:

“As a hockey player, you want to be in those kind of games, especially meaningful and against a division rival. I think guys get up for that. There’s enough guys around that have played in these games for a long time, and for new guys it seems like they get a feel right away for the intensity and emotion of the game. I think as a hockey player those are the ones you want to be in.”

• Johnson on the third period:

“We were on our heels quite a bit. They had the majority of the momentum. We finally got a couple of shifts down in their end then (Tanev) scored. We need to definitely do a better job of when they put on a push. There’s going to be momentum swings which is fine. That’s part of sports. We need to start making some plays and tilt the ice in our favor. I thought they had the majority possession in the third period for sure.”

• Crosby on Murray:

“He was unbelievable. From the start of the game, they had some really good looks there early. They came hard. He was great in every area, looking through traffic to pick up pucks, some quick plays in and around the net. They’ve got some shooters, so he made some big saves for us.”

• Sullivan on Murray:

“I thought Matt was terrific. He made some big stops, especially in the third period. His rebound control was strong. I thought he was tracking the puck really well. He played a really strong game for us.”

-Lafferty on his two weeks back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton:

“Being able to play more minutes, you just get back to the basics and figure some stuff out. It’s definitely helpful. It’s good. I feel more confident now.”

• Sullivan on Lafferty returning to the lineup:

“He’s had a couple of strong games in Wilkes-Barre. (A few) of the things that we like about Sam is his size and his speed. He’s a guy that when he’s skating, he’s very effective. We thought against an opponent like Washington, he might be a guy that we could utilize on that fourth line. He had a great game. He was skating out there, he was physical when he had an opportunity. He scores a huge goal for us.”

• Johnson on the importance of Lafferty’s goal:

“Great goal. When young guys, particularly rookies, score, the whole bench lifts up because you’re excited for him. We need those young guys to be a big part of this. When we’re on the ice with them, we don’t treat them like rookies. We don’t want them to feel that way. They’re part of the team. They’re no different than guys that have been in the league for 10 years. They’re part of the team too.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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