PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - In the first of four meetings between Crosby and Ovechkin for the final time in the regular season, the Pens come up short in a 5-3 loss to the Capitals on Wednesday night.
Just 23 seconds into the game, Anthony Beauvillier opens the scoring for the Capitals. Bryan Rust returns from IR and responds 56 seconds later by scoring his first goal of the season, to tie the game 1-1. Both teams scored on their first shots of the game.
A tripping penalty followed by a delay of game gave the Caps a 5-on-3 power play with 13:13 to play in the opening period. Pittsburgh's PK blocked two shots in front of the net on the 5-on-3. Trevor van Riemsdyk blocked another on the 5-on-4 and the Penguins fought off the power play.
Kris Letang turned the puck over in the Pens zone and Pierre-Luc Dubois got it behind the net and found a wide open Tom Wilson in front of the net to make it 2-1 Washington. The Pens were outshot 14-4 in the period.
Arturs Silovs went to play a loose puck behind the net and ran into Declan Carlile and couldn't get back to the net as fast as he needed to. The puck was stolen by Wilson and he sent it in front of the net for a goal for Dubois. Alex Tuch added one more for the Caps to make 4-1 Washington, but the Pens got two back in the final six minutes of the period.
The Pens had a 2-on-1 rush stopped but Tommy Novak got the rebound and scored to make it 4-2. Then Nick Robertson cut it to a one-goal game. On the Pens rush, Robertson cut in front of the net and tipped in a slap shot from Kadedan Korczak from the blue line. Pens trailed 4-3 headed to the third.
van Riemsdyk got called for hooking and Ryan Leonard scored on the power play to take a 5-3 lead.
"They worked, they won battles. I think we could have been better in that area. For us we just gotta manage the game better, you gotta manage the momentum. I think the first period, it was a big goal by Rusty to get it back to even after getting scored on in the first shift, but at the same time I didn't like the way we played and the type of chances they're getting. We gotta control the momentum of the game, it's especially important on the road. It's important all the time. We just let it get way too loud today," said Dan Muse.
The Pens gave away the puck 21 times and were 0 for 3 on the power play. Washington had 4 power plays and the Caps scored on one of them. Arturs Silovs made 22 saves on 27 shots in the loss.
"It's on the puck carrier but it's also on the support working to be good options. There's times I think each one of those have been different. There's times we just forgot, we're vacating too early, not providing the support that's necessary. When you don't have options, that's what's going to happen. Turnovers happen all the time, we're too spread out and not in position to recover. It's gotta be better," said Muse.
