[AP Recap – Game Summary – Event Summary – WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]
Kudos to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning a big road game as they battle for a playoff spot, but from the perspective of those cheering on the red, white and blue, this game was about a Caps team that may very well have turned the corner on their recent doldrums as they head down the season’s home stretch.
Entering the third period yesterday, the Penguins had a 3-1 lead and looked to be en route to sending the Caps to a fourth consecutive regulation home loss, which would have been the fifth defeat in six games at the Verizon Center. After all, the Penguins were 18-3-4 on the season when leading after two periods and 54-4-7 in that situation over the past two seasons. The Caps, for their part, had won just four times since the beginning of last season when behind heading into the third period (4-40-2). And the Penguins needed yesterday’s two points. Bad.
And yet 1:18 into the third, the game was tied, and it would stay tied until Sidney Crosby beat Jose Theodore in the shootout and the Caps failed to get one past Marc-Andre Fleury. To be sure, the extra point – and perhaps more importantly depriving Pittsburgh of it – would have been nice, but in a game that had all the makings of either “rock bottom” or “the turning point,” I think it’s safe to say that Sunday’s effort (key word) much more closely resembled the latter.
Some thoughts on the game:
And so ends the (regular) season series between these two bitter rivals, with the Caps taking three of the four meetings. One can’t help but think that these teams might not be done yet this season, though, and besides being the NHL’s dream match up, the hockey itself would not doubt be epic.
But for now, the Caps turn their sites towards a desperate Nashville Predators team, who they’ll face on Tuesday in their last game against the Western Conference (and outside the Eastern time zone) this season, with about as much confidence as a team can take away from an 0-3-1 homestand, thanks to an unlikely third period and stolen point.