Capitals Over Penguins

Ovechkin, Neuvirth Lead Capitals 1-0 over Penguins

By Ray Bennett
Monday, February 21, 2011
It seems that whenever the Washington Capitals travel to Pittsburgh, they always end up on the winning side.
The Capitals stunned the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 in front of a sell-out Consol Energy Center crowd of over 18,000 people. This marks Washington’s third straight victory over the rival Penguins, taking the season series 3-1. The win was also Washington’s seventh straight win in the city of Pittsburgh in the regular season. This helps the Capitals in the Eastern Conference standings, improving their record to 32-19-10 with 74 points in fifth place and one point behind Southeast Division leader Tampa Bay.
The only goal of the game came from Capitals star forward Alexander Ovechkin. The goal came off the powerplay with 3:22 remaining in the second period. This was Ovechkin’s eighteenth career goal against the rival Penguins in his sixth NHL season. It was also Ovechkin’s 24^{th team-leading goal of the season.}
The Capitals got off to a slow start in the first period, being outshot 9-1 in the first twelve minutes of the game. The lone shot in that span came from Ovechkin off a breakaway attempt that was stopped by Penguins starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Pittsburgh had chances to score early in the game. Those opportunities came with three powerplay attempts. However, the Penguins came up short on all three powerplays. At the end of the period, Pittsburgh outshot the Capitals 18-7.
The start of the second period was delayed by approximately 5 minutes due to lighting problems at the Consol Energy Center. The arena was dimly lit when the officials finally dropped the puck. Once the lights turned on, the Capitals started on the attack outshooting Pittsburgh 8-2 in the first ten minutes of the period.
The hatred of both teams showed up during this period. It all started with a big hit on Penguins forward and residential league bully Matt Cooke by Capitals forward Matt Bradley. After Bradley administered the hit, Cooke’s teammate Jordan Staal defended him by diving at Bradley after the puck was whistled dead. Staal ended up with a roughing penalty after Bradley’s charging call on Cooke. Minutes after Bradley’s penalty was over, he got into a fight on his next shift with Penguins Center Ryan Craig. The Capitals ended the game with 13 penalty minutes, 7 from Bradley while the Penguins finished with about 12 penalty minutes.
It was during a powerplay, set up by a Joe Vitale tripping penalty that Ovechkin scored the games only goal. The goal came at the 16:38 mark in the period. The goal was assisted by forwards Marcus Johansson and Mike Knuble.
The third period and the game were highlighted by the play of Washington goaltender Michal Neuvirth. Neuvirth, who took over the starting goaltender duties from Semyon Varlamov during the season, stopped all 39 shots he faced. Neuvirth (18-9-4, 2.53 GAA) recorded his second shutout of the season and of his career, both against the Penguins. His first shutout came on the January 1st NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. From the start of the game to the final horn, the Penguins couldn’t find a way to get past Neuvirth.
The loss keeps the Penguins in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 36 wins, 20 losses, 5 overtime/shootout losses and 77 points. They are still 6 points behind Atlantic Division Eastern Conference leader and in-state rival Philadelphia, who have 83 total points. The Penguins have a record of 2-5-1 in their last eight games. The team has struggled with injuries to star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The team was without leading scoring defenseman Alex Goligoski, who was traded hours before the game to the Dallas Stars for forward James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen. The addition of Neal signals that Crosby, who is still dealing with symptoms of a concussion suffered in the NHL Winter Classic against Washington, may not return to the team any time soon.