The Washington Capitals four-game skid has been won. Caps launched a fantastic and balanced game against rival Pittsburgh Penguins and came out with a 3-1 win.
The Caps overcame the Pens from 42 to 27 and won them in five against five from 37 to 34.
- So, without the Justin Schultz opsie there at the end of the third period, I think it’s the perfect game that a team can play in Peter Laviolette system. Total high pitches for the Caps and they didn’t give up a single chance of high danger for the Pens in five against five. Not just in a period. In all three. Did things finally work out? Are the guys who have been gone for weeks to weeks finally back in top game mode? Let’s hope that both are true for the sake of our sanity.
- My God, did the third line of Caps fly immediately from the fall of the record or what? With Lars EllerWith the line on ice from five to five, the Caps had 92.9 percent of attempts to shoot, 83.3 percent of chances to score, two goals to and zero shots to the Penguins. This is total domination and they did it by playing most of their minutes against the lines of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Wow. Conor Sheary he looked fantastic for the second game in a row and in seven career games against his former team-mates, he has five goals. Richard PanikThe good game of the entire season is finally being rewarded with points.
- Vitek Vanecek needed this. Without the late error mentioned earlier, Vitek probably guarantees his first elimination in the NHL. The defense in front of you made your life very easy on the way to a 26-goal victory, but at the same time, any victory is a booster to the confidence of a novice goalkeeper, so this is too much.
TJ Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom scored assists in Vrana’s goal. Since 2015-16, Backstrom (8g-21a-29p) and Oshie (13g-15a-28p) have the highest score against Pittsburgh among all NHL skaters.
– CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 17, 2021
- I wanted to give a quick defensive cry to GOAT. Alex Ovechkin broke a two-to-one Pens rush with a dive poke check when a power play Caps expired and the disc went the other way leading straight to Jakub Vranagoal of. He does everything, guys.
- The Caps received more power playing (five) than an opponent (three). Savor it.
- Nick Jensen has been strong for a handful of consecutive games now. His strong onboard work and pinching led directly to Caps’ opening goal.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
RMNB cap coverage on penguins
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington