The Capitals exploded in the first period last night, scoring four goals – all by different players. They even got to be the beneficiaries of an overturned goal in their favor for a change. The Penguins did get one back after that, a late period goal that gave them some life at the end of the period.
The second period wasn’t great for the Caps’ special teams, with the power play failing to score and the penalty kill giving up a goal to a power play that is almost as bad as their own. Then the Pens turned up the heat, outshooting the Caps in the second period, 16-9 and adding another goal late in the period to make it a one-goal game.
By the third period, the Pens had taken the lead in shots on net, but Darcy Kuemper stood strong, fighting off multiple shot flurries from the Penguins. And after ceding that second-period goal, the penalty kill was stellar, killing off both of Pittsburgh’s power-play opportunities. The Caps were able to hang on and grab the first game of their back-to-back – and most importantly, they did it in regulation. The win puts them in 5th place at 42 points in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Flyers and two points behind the Islanders.
Three Takeaways:
- The Capitals are 10-1-2 when they score the first goal. It’s always important to grab that first goal and for the Caps it was quite a goal, with Tom Wilson scoring just 55 seconds into the game on a great breakout pass from Rasmus Sandin (and Ethan Bear picking up his first point as a Capital with the secondary assist).
- One of those goals was from Captain Alex Ovechkin, giving him 1,507 points with the Capitals – which puts him alone in 7th place for points scored with a single team.
- The Capitals came out strong and dominated the first period, but as the game wore on the Penguins pushed back hard and almost tied the game. Much of that is due to the score, but the Pens looked like the more dangerous team in the second half of the game, eventually outshooting the Caps 36-22. Strong play from Kuemper in net allowed the Caps to keep the lead and eventually win.
They Said it:
“New year, new start. We’ll take it.” – Alex Ovechkin