Capitals Win Streak Ends At 5
- Updated: October 29, 2015
The Washington Capitals were red-hot coming into their match-up against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-game win and a high-scoring offense. However, the offense was unable to overcome a late Pittsburgh surge as the Penguins downed the Capitals 3-1.
The game went into the third period with the score tied at 0. Early in the period, Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov wristed a shot on goal that deflected in off the skate of Penguins defender Rob Scuderi for a 1-0 Washington lead. Pittsburgh tied the game 24 seconds later when forward Beau Bennett burned defenseman Brooks Orpik and tucked a rebound past goaltender Braden Holtby. Almost two minutes later, Penguins newcomer Phil Kessel tapped in a feed from superstar Evgeni Malkin for a 2-1 Penguins lead. Nick Bonino added an empty-netter near the end of the game.
It was an incredibly sloppy performance by the Capitals, who were fresh off of a five-day rest period. There were many things that were similar to how they played in their 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks. The amount of no-look, spin around passes that were attempted resembled an NBA All-Star game. The only difference is that most of Washington’s attempts went off other players’ skates or wound up on Pittsburgh sticks instead of Capitals players. One of the few categories that Washington bested Pittsburgh in was giveaways by a 15-13 margin.
The power play was another area of concern for Washington. They went 0-3 despite putting seven shots on Fleury. More shot opportunities were available but the Capitals continually elected to make unnecessary passes. This gave Pittsburgh defenders the chance to pressure the puck carrier and force turnovers.
It took a fluky bounce for the Capitals to finally solve Marc-Andre Fleury. Otherwise, Fleury stopped everything that came his way. He put up 34 saves on 35 shots for a .971 save percentage and his fifth win of the season. One of his best saves came in the second period when he lashed out with his right pad to rob Marcus Johansson on a chance down low on a power play. Even when Fleury was snow-angeled in the crease, he made big save after big save. For his superb play, Fleury was named the first star of the game.
One of the lone bright spots for the Capitals was their level of physical play. They outhit the Penguins by a considerable amount, putting up 37 hits to Pittsburgh’s 24. Orpik and forward TJ Oshie led the way with 7 hits each. Washington heavy-hitter Tom Wilson dished out one of the game’s biggest hits early in the first period when he laid out Penguins defender Olli Maatta. Check out the hit:
The Capitals will look to put this disappointing performance behind them when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets Friday night. Columbus sits dead last in the NHL with only two wins in 10 games.
Andrew Markowitz
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