The flightless birds from Pittsburgh were in town for this one and brought their strangely steps-obsessed fans with them. A typical, chippy, Metropolitan Division match up was expected and both teams have enough history against one another to provide a nice stage for even a regular season fixture.
John Carlson got us started with a power play goal that was deflected home by one of Pittsburgh’s penalty killers. 1-0 good guys after 20 minutes.
Phil Kessel banked one home off of Dmitry Orlov to tie the game at one. Timothy Jimothy Oshie would have none of that, extending the lead back to one with a deflection on the power play.
Chandler Stephenson rewarded Barry Trotz for the decision to play the young forward on the top line with a clutch goal to extend the lead to two. Jakub Vrana got the empty netter.
Caps beat Penguins 4-1!
- Entering this game, Canadian darling Sidney Crosby was a minus-12 (he exited it at -14). Not surprisingly, Friday night was actually the first I have heard of this. If Alex Ovechkin was a minus-12, I’m pretty sure SportsNet and the hockey fellas at NBC would have dragged him through the mud multiple times by now. Fun stuff, lets start the Crosby trade rumors.
So since Sidney Crosby is a -12 this year he should be stripped of his captaincy and then traded, right?
— RMNB (@russianmachine) November 11, 2017
- Ryan Reaves is by all accounts a great, funny dude off the ice, but on the ice he’s really just a brain debilitating, useless goon. The NHL needs fewer Reaveses in lineups around the league. Reaves left his mark on this game by dominating Liam O’Brien in a fight and taunting Tom Wilson.
- The Capitals scored two power play goals at Capital One Arena. Why is this notable you ask? That’s only the third and fourth time they have done so this season at home. Maybe Verizon took all of the goals with their arena sponsorship.
- All I can picture when Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel is mentioned on commentary:
Chad Ruhwedel pic.twitter.com/ly04RShUai
— Chris Cerullo (@CJC_95) November 11, 2017
- Redskins running back Chris Thompson and Wizards head coach Scott Brooks were in the house to take in the action. Someone in DC please win a championship. Thanks.
- John Carlson played about eleven thousand minutes again and in those minutes tallied two points. Normally I complain about his carrying around of the anvil that is Brooks Orpik five-on-five, but the pairing was actually awesome in this one. Lets get some claps for John and Brooks in the comments.
- The Capitals scored two power play goals and Nicklas Backstrom had a point on neither of them. That’s rare and it could have extended his career long pointless streak to eight games, until his fantastic feed to Chandler Stephenson late in the third.
- Stephenson has been a great addition to the Caps lineup so far this year. His good play is turning into points in bunches and that’s a very good sign. I think this line of him, Backstrom and TJ Oshie should be kept together for the extended future. Great defensive game against the Crosby line.
- Braden Holtby was fantastic in his 200th career victory. The Caps netminder made 27 saves on 28 shots. A bunch of high danger scoring chances were turned aside by the beast. In before, “where was this in May” jokes.
- I think that you could argue that this was the Caps true, best effort of the young season. A strong, structured defensive game against a very fast team that featured great goaltending and special teams play.
Joe B suit of the night
The Caps next date is with the Edmonton Oilers as the two teams will complete their season series in DC on Sunday.
Full Coverage of Caps vs Penguins
Headline photo: Patrick Smith
