Electric Win in Pittsburgh

Regardless of the result, last night's game in Pittsburgh showed why this is the most exciting sport in the world. The Capitals and Penguins put on an absolute show at the Mellon Arena trading leads all night long. Fittingly enough, the shootout also lead up to the hype as Ovechkin and Semin, who have notoriously struggled in the discipline, both tallied goals to give the Caps their first victory in Pittsburgh in the "new" NHL.

With Sidney Crosby on the shelf, the game was hyped as "Russian vs Russian". And did they ever live up to the expections. Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin both had two goals and one assist. For Malkin the output raised his season totals to 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points in 48 games. For Ovechkin, the two goals gave him 38 on the season, passing the Thrashers Ilya Kovolchuk for the NHL lead.

Despite those amazing performances from the Russian superstars, the night was stolen by a Swede. Nicklas Backstrom became the first rookie in NHL history to record back-to-back 4 assist games. He is now second in the league in scoring among first-year players just five points behind Patrick Kane.

If you missed it, shame on you, but even if you witnessed it live, you must relive the experience by checking out the highlights again.

A Weekend to Forget

It was not the best of days for the Washington franchise yesterday as both of their affiliates joined the Capitals in loosing despite the fact that they all outshot their opponents. The Caps outshot the Penguins 31-25 before falling 3-2 in the end, the Bears outshot the Hamilton Bulldogs 32-22 even though they lost 5-2, and the Stingrays outshot the Florida Everblades 30-29 in spite of the fact that they were never really in the game, losing 4-1. Out of the three teams, the only one to record a point in the standings this weekend was South Carolina with their shootout loss to Florida on Saturday night.
(Photo Courtesy of Jason Cohn/Reuters)

The Capitals played pretty well overall in the nationally televised game on NBC. They once again shut down their opponents top guns, as they did in Tampa on Thursday night when only a five minute let down in the beginning of the second period lead to two Vincent Lecavalier goals. Evgeni Malkin scored on his only good opportunity of the day, a hard angle shot from the corner that I'm sure Brent Johnson would like to have back. Sidney Crosby was held in check, posting only a secondary assist on the Penguins first goal of the game, a Mark Recchi power play goal.

On the other hand the Caps once again had trouble putting the puck in the net. They hit the crossbar twice with shots in the third period including one from Alexander Semin on his penalty shot opportunity when he had a wide open net after completely faking out Penguins goaltender Jocelyn Thibault. Semin summed up the feelings of Capitals fans everywhere afterwards by looking towards the ceiling in disbelief. Alex Ovechkin was quiet again recording 5 shots in 19:44 of ice time, but never really threating Thibault. It is now safe to say that Alex is in a big slump as he has just 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 7 games. Kris Beech, Ben Clymer, and Steve Eminger were the healthy scratches again. In the meantime, Washington is now 1-11-1 in their last 13 road games. It may be safe to finally say it's time to look forward to next season.

The Hershey Bears lost their second consecutive game on Sunday. They followed up a sub par effort in a 3-1 loss against the Albany River Rats on Saturday night, with another dreadful outing against the Hamilton Bulldogs yesterday losing 5-2. Maxime Daigneault struggled for the Bears in his first start in goal since returning from a high ankle sprain as he allowed 5 goals on just 22 shots. Two quick goals by Michael Lambert and Mikhail Grabovski in the beginning of the second period had Hershey trying to play catchup for the rest of the game. Joey Tenute provided the only highlights in the game for the Bears netting both of their goals as he now has 17 on the season. Mike Green tailed his first assist of the season with Hershey, but he also had a -3 defensive rating on the day. The Bulldogs triumphed despite playing without their All-Star goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who was in the process of winning his first career NHL start for the Montreal Canadians 3-2 over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Bears have now lost both of their games since Frederic Cassivi's recent recall due to an injury to Olaf Kolzig, leaving them seven points behind the division leading Norfolk Admirals. Their record on the season without Cassivi on the roster dropped to 10-8-0-2, while they are 22-4-5-3 while their number 1 goaltender is on the active roster. They will have to do their best without him, as he will be with the Capitals for at least the next 3 weeks as Kolzig recovers from his knee injury.

The South Carolina Stingrays finished up a weekend they would soon like to forget, loosing to the Florida Everblades for the second time in two days at the North Charleston Coliseum. Goaltender Daren Machesney started in goal for the second consecutive game after being reassigned to the team earlier in the week. He ended up being pulled from the contest in the second period after allowing 4 goals on just 11 shots. Davis Parley shutdown the Everblades the rest of the way, stopping all 18 shots he faced, but the lead was too much to overcome for the Stingrays. The weekend results dropped South Carolina into a tie with the Charlotte Checkers for fifth place in the South Division with 57 points. They now trail the division leading Texas Wildcatters by 12 points. With their six game home stand now over, the Stingrays will travel to Augusta to take on the Lynx Tuesday night, gametime 7:35 PM ET.

Offense is Offensive

Improved Defensive Performance Spoiled as Caps are Shutout for the Third Time This Season
Pittsburgh Penguins 2, Washington Capitals 0
Boxscore
(Photo courtesy of Keith Srakocic/AP)


Whether it was the presence of a newly acquired defenseman in Milan Jurcina, or a determination to refocus on playing traditional Capitals' hockey, the Caps played their most complete game of the season defensively. They shut down the NHL's leading point scorer in Sidney Crosby and the leading Calder Trophy favorite in Evgeni Malkin, keeping them both off the scoreboard and denying them any significant opportunities.

Jurcina made his debut with the Washington Capitals today and made himself right at home, pairing up with former Providence Bruins teammate Shaone Morrisson. He wasted no time making an impact stopping Sidney Crosby as he attempted to go coast to coast just four minutes in. Crosby maneuvered his way around three Capitals players, but a Jurcina pokecheck stopped him from moving in on Kolzig.

Unlike previous games where the team has struggled out of the gate, the Capitals controlled the action early on recording 8 of the games first 9 shots. Six minutes in, Chris Clark had the best scoring chance with two point blank shots in front of Fleury on the power play. During the same man advantage, Alex Ovechkin served the Penguins notice that the Caps were here to play when he drilled Maxime Talbot in the open ice as he had his head down while trying to clear the puck out of his defensive zone. After taking a moment to regain his senses, Talbot headed off to the locker room for repairs. He did return later in the game.

The middle of the second period set the tone for the remainder of the game. Moments after a Steve Eminger shot rang off the post, Ronald Petrovicky beat Kolzig on a weak shot as he entered the offensive zone on a 2 on 2 situation. He faked a slap shot then squeezed a wrist shot between Kolzig's glove and right pad. The goal was an unassisted marker for Petrovicky's 2nd of the season.

That goal would be all Pittsburgh would need as despite the Caps outshooting the Penguins 30-20, they were unable to penetrate goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He stopped all 30 of those shots for his 4th shutout of the season, improving his record to 24-12-6. The key to Fleury's success was his ability to control the first shot from the Capitals and prevent any rebounds.

Rookie Jordan Staal put the game away with 37 seconds to go as he scored an empty net goal to make it 2-0.

The shutout meant an end to Alex Ovechkin's career high point scoring streak at 13 games. It was an uncharacteristic game for Ovechkin who did not record his first shot of the game until the 7 and a half minute mark of the third period.

The loss was the Caps fifth out of their last six games overall and tenth of their last eleven on the road, dropping their record to 21-25-7. The Penguins extended their winning streak to six games and improved to 25-17-8.

Game Notes:

Milan Jurcina's debut meant Lawrence Nycholat was a healthy scratch for the first time since his recall from Hershey on December 23rd. He had been slumping as of late, recording a -7 defensive rating in his last five games.... Daren Machesney backed up Kolzig for the second consecutive game as Brent Johnson remained out with a "body" injury(?).... The loss means the Caps are now 3-17-1 in the last 21 regular season games at Pittsburgh.... The Caps were shut out for the first time since a 5-0 loss at Carolina November 9th.... The 20 shots allowed by Washington was their fewest of the season.... A Boston win at Carolina tonight would drop the Caps to 14th in the conference.

Caps/Penguins Preview

Washington Capitals (21-24-7, 49 points)
at
Pittsburgh Penguins (25-17-8, 58 points)

Television: Comcast Sportsnet
Radio: Sportstalk 980-AM
Gametime: 1:00 PM ET


Following their embarrassing performance in Florida on Thursday night, the Capitals travel to Pittsburgh for a Saturday afternoon matinée with the Penguins at the Mellon Arena. The Caps head into the game having lost three straight and nine of their last ten games on the road. On the other hand, the Penguins have been on a roll as of late riding a five game winning streak entering today's contest.

One of the problems that has plagued the Caps all year, and especially as of late with injuries, has been the play of their defensemen. They hope to get a big boost today from Milan Jurcina, who is expected to make his debut with the team after being acquired from Boston Thursday afternoon for a 4th round pick in 2008. He took Brian Pothier's spot on the active roster after Pothier was placed on the injured reserve list yesterday with a concussion. He could see action on a defensive pairing with his former AHL Providence Bruins teammate Shaone Morrisonn. His hard slap shot could also give him some time on the second team power-play.

While the Capitals were struggling in Florida, the Penguins were busy blowing a 4-2 lead at home against the Montreal Canadians. They were able to regroup and come away with two points after Evgeni Malkin won the game for them in the shootout. The win moved the Penguins into a three-way tie for six place in the Eastern Conference.

It's a tale of two teams going in opposite directions as the Penguins have posted a 9-2-2 record during the new year, while the Caps have gone 5-8-0 for 2007.

Alex Ovechkin enters the game looking to extend his career high 13 game point scoring streak. After his goal against the Panthers he now has 33 on the year to go along with 37 assists for 70 points on the season, putting him in a tie for second in the NHL with the Lightning's Martin St. Louis, 12 points behind the Penguins' Sidney Crosby.

The game will mark the end of a three game road trip for the Caps, which up to now has been winless. They will return home with another matinée on Super Bowl Sunday against the New York Islanders at 1:00 PM ET at the Verizon Center. To purchase tickets visit Ticketmaster.com.