One of the more notable storylines for the Penguins going into yesterday's game against the Southeast Division-leading Washington Capitals was the fact that about 500 Capitals' fans bought pacifiers to bring to the game to taunt Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby and otherwise just generally paint him as a whiner following the last game between these two clubs when #87 and Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin exchanged verbal barbs on the ice and after the game, with Ovechkin claiming Crosby talks too much.
Reminds me a lot of the way the juvenile (and jealous) Philadelphia Flyer fans treat Crosby when the Penguins visit there. Who can forget the way they treated Crosby in the game when then Flyer defenseman Derian Hatcher took a stick to Crosby's face and did some fine dental work on 2 of his teeth? More importantly, who can forget what a motivated Crosby did in that game -- scoring 2 goals, including a breakaway winner to finish off Philadelphia.
And so it was for the Crosby in Washington yesterday.
Crosby left the Washington fans crying when he scored the game's opening goal, finishing off a 2-on-1 with RW and linemate Bill Guerin, and then scored the game's final tally when he abused Capitals' netminder Jose Theodore in the shootout before Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury slammed the door on Ovechkin to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory and a franchise record 5-0 dossier on their road trip.
Despite all the pre-game talk, there didn't appear to be a whole lot of yapping on the ice between Crosby and Ovechkin. The game was physical, however, and the Penguins led the way in that department, outhitting Washington by a significant margin.
After Crosby's opening goal, the Capitals' tied the score after a brutal giveaway by Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang, who tried a home-run pass to Malkin from behind his own net, only to hit Capitals' center Nicklas Backstrom, who had been stalking him in front of Fleury, in the chest with the puck. Backstrom quickly corraled it and tossed in front to a streaking Alexander Semin who made one deke and buried the puck behind Fleury to tie the score before Letang's defense partner, Mark Eaton, could get to Semin.
The Penguins didn't rest on their laurels, however, and were rewarded when Sergei Gonchar ripped one in from the point on the power play about 8 minutes into the 2nd period, and then Bill Guerin upped the lead to 3-1 when he drilled a wrister behind Theodore in the 2nd period after skating in on a Capitals' defenseman and doing a little toe drag just to change his shooting angle slightly before going top corner.
The Penguins looked to have the game in control going into the 3rd period. But they failed miserably at the first thing they needed to do to open that frame.
Washington opened the period continuing on a power play that started before the 2nd period ended. Unable to kill the penalty, the Penguins let their lead get cut in half when Ovechkin scored on a slapper to the far side from about 45/50 feet.
Then, 45 seconds later, the Penguins' got caught on a terrible line change and left Capitals' forward Brooks Laich alone for a breakaway which he managed to score on by lifting a backhand behind Fleury despite momentarily losing control of the puck about 15 feet out.
To the Penguins' credit, they withstood the momentum surge those 2 quick goals generated for Washington and played strong the remainder of the game and in the overtime. All in all, the Penguins had more good scoring chances throughout the contest. Crosby missed on a mini-breakaway earlier in the game, and Theodore made a few really good saves otherwise, including one on Malkin when he got a pass from Tyler Kennedy and walked down the slot before burying one in Theodore's pads. Guerin also hit the post in the 3rd period.
I must admit ... I was a bit nervous going into the shootout. Washington has skilled stickhandlers and, sure enough, they trotted out all 3 -- Semin, Kozlov and Ovie -- for their shots. Fleury made all of them look like amateurs on this afternoon, however, perhaps in no small part due to the little chat he had at the bench with former Capital Matt Cooke before the shootout began. No doubt that Cooke was spilling some insider secrets there.
After stopping Letang -- who had 2 assists earlier in the game to help make up for his awful giveaway to Backstrom -- on the Penguins' first attempt, Theodore had his showdown with Crosby and, as I already mentioned, Crosby didn't disappoint.
Most Penguin fans will remember Crosby's shootout goal constantly replayed on the highlight clips from a game against Montreal in Pittsburgh 2 years ago when Crosby bore in on then Canadiens' netminder Theodore, gave a little leg kick, deked and roofed a backhander.
Crosby obviously hasn't forgotten, because he used that to set up Thedore yesterday, again giving the leg kick but faking the deke to the backhand before instead going to the forehand and roofing the winner.
The satisfying win for Crosby and the Penguins lifted the Penguins back into playoff position with 74 points, tied with the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers. The Rangers beat Boston, 4-3, yesterday to stay in the hunt.
Most people have the Penguins in 8th. I have them in 6th. The difference is that the people who have them in 8th put them there because they have played one more game than both Florida and New York. But, as far as I know, that has never been enough to be a negative tiebreaker for a team. In fact, the first tiebreaker is victories, and since the Penguins have one more win than both the Panthers and Rangers, I put them ahead. The game in hand both of those clubs have on Pittsburgh means nothing unless they play it and win it, so until they do, the standings should read in order of who owns the tiebreakers, which the Penguins have.
So there.
Either way, it's still a tight Eastern Conference race. The Penguins have gone 11-3-1 in their last 14 and gosh knows where they would be without that stretch or their 5-0 road trip. Probably about 4 points out of the playoff picture. Meanwhile, they are only 4 points behind the 4th place Flyers (although Philadelphia has 3 games in hand).
The Penguins get right back into the mix tomorrow night at home against the Panthers in another big contest. Pittsburgh will need to be careful of the letdown which often follows a long road trip. That's what happened to the Panthers last Thursday when the Penguins beat them. Florida was coming off a 5-game road swing going into that one and their sluggishness showed. Playing the Penguins in such a big game obviously wasn't enough to give them the boost they needed. Let's hope the Penguins don't come out the same way on Tuesday because they need those 2 points and the Panthers have often been a dangerous opponent for them, particularly at home.
Petr Sykora, who missed yesterday's game, should be back for that one.
Let's Go Pens
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