When the Penguins faced the Washington Capitals two weeks ago, they were shutout en route to a sixth straight loss. This time around, the Penguins outgunned the Capitals to win their sixth straight game.
The top two draft choices of 2004, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, combined for six total points, but it was Malkin who got the last laugh, scoring 1:31 into overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 win.
Kris Letang opened the scoring with a power play goal 4:51 into the first period. Letang took the puck along the boards, skated to the point, and fired a slapshot past Michal Neuvirth. One minute later, James Neal scored off the face-off.
Neal, positioned behind Malkin, wristed a shot from the top of the face-off circle past the glove hand of Neuvirth. The sold-out crowd of 18,535 at Consol Energy Center exploded out of their chairs and the Penguins were off and running.
The Capitals came back.
Washington dominated the second period with two goals of their own. Shortly after killing a Troy Brouwer penalty, Dennis Wideman took the puck into the corner and found Brooks Laich in front of Marc-Andre Fleury for a goal to cut the Pittsburgh lead in half.
Three minutes later, Mathieu Perreault received a pass from Ovechkin and fired a wrist shot off the pad of Fleury. The puck was kicked out to Alexander Semin who backhanded the rebound into the net to tie the game at two.
From there, the intensity of the rivalry escalated.
After Matt Hendricks was called for tripping, Malkin appeared to trip Karl Alzner after the whistle. This sparked a shoving match behind the Capitals’ goal which ultimately led to a fight between Troy Brouwer and Tyler Kennedy.
Alex Ovechkin gave Washington the lead just over a minute into the third period. Semin and Ovechkin both took wide angles on the attack which gave Ovechkin room to fire a shot just past the out-stretched blocker of Fleury.
The Penguins would storm back with Evgeni Malkin leading the charge, once again. The NHL scoring leader took the puck at center ice, took on four Capitals players who eventually bumped him off the puck. Malkin won the puck battle against Roman Hamrlik in the corner and fed James Neal who wristed a shot over the shoulder of Neuvirth to tie the game at three.
Both teams exchanged chances throughout the final period, with the Caps’ Troy Brouwer having the best chance to win the game. Brouwer took a crisp pass during a 3 on 2 and fired a slapshot that blasted off the left post.
With the game in overtime, Neal’s slapshot from the blue line deflected wide of the goal, caromed off the backboards, and found Evgeni Malkin whose bad angle shot won the game.
- Malkin has a six game goal streak, the longest in his career since his rookie season.
- The Penguins won a home game against the Capitals in the regular season for the first time since December 27th, 2007.
- The Penguins play Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues before the All-Star Break.
Photo courtesy of theglobeandmail.com
Discussion about this post