Pens' Fall To Canadiens, Capitals In Weekend Sweep

For the third straight week, the Pittsburgh Penguins were scheduled for back-to-back games.

2 weeks ago, the Pens' prevailed in two nationally televised contests against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on Sunday, 1-23 and Monday, 1-24.

Last week, they went 2-0 again, beating the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres in back-to-back games on Sunday, 1-31 and Monday, 2-1.

This past weekend wasn't as nearly as kind to the them.

And not just because of the snow that they and everyone else in the mid-Atlantic region had to deal with.

Instead, problems with their defense have cropped up again, and those troubles played a big part in back-to-back road losses to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3, and Washington Capitals, 5-4 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Both defeats were disturbing in their own way and, to be honest, I'm not sure which was worse.

After probably their longest break between games all season -- 4 days -- the Penguins came out flat and were both outhustled and outplayed at The Bell Center in Montreal by the Canadiens Saturday afternoon.

Pittsburgh got a tough break early in that one when a Canadiens' player basically bodychecked Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury behind the net when he went to play the puck around the boards, leaving him out of position and unable to get back in the crease when his clearing attempt was intercepted and put into an empty cage by Montreal forward Tomas Plekanec 30 seconds into the game.

So much for a penalty call there. Inexcusable.

Jordan Staal helped the Pens' bounce back quickly though, getting a break of his own when a Canadiens' defender blew a tire while defending a 2-on-2 rush with Pascal Dupuis, allowing Staal to barge to the net, force Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak to make a great save, but leave the rebound for Dupuis to have go off him and into the net for a 1-1 tie.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh was weak around its net on 2 plays in the 2nd period when Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez scored to give Montreal a 3-1 lead.

While Bill Guerin managed to get one in off Halak's glove later in that frame to keep the Pens' in the game, the Pens' wheels came off in the third period.

First, Montreal forward Mathieu Darche scored only his 2nd goal of the season about 7 minutes in on a slapshot that deflected in off a Pens' defender -- Sergei Gonchar, if memory serves.

That goal prompted Head Coach Dan Bylsma to replace Fleury with backup Brent Johnson -- probably not so much because Fleury was playing poorly, as much to try and shake his team up and give Fleury a chance to rest up in advance of the team's showdown with the Washington Capitals the next day.

Johnson didn't fare much better than Fleury, though, as the Gionta scored his second of the night just minutes later, again capitalizing on some weak defense in front of the Pens' goal.

Evgeni Malkin made things interesting with approximately 3 and 1/2 minutes to go when he came out of the penalty box and took a clearing attempt in on a breakaway before beating Halak high glove side to make it 5-3.

Less than a minute later, however, Geno killed whatever small chance the Penguins had of mounting a comeback when he took an undisciplined roughing penalty, and permitted Montreal to basically kill off the rest of the game on the man-advantage.

Telling in the loss was the Canadiens outshooting the Pens' 32-21.

And it was indicative of the play, too.

Perhaps the Penguins were more focused on their game against the Caps' --- and how they were going to get there given the snow -- but regardless, their lack of energy against Montreal was hard to explain. Especially having plenty of time to rest leading up to that game.

That was the first time Montreal took a game from the Pens in this year's season series (3-1).

In any case, while Pittsburgh was prepared to depart Montreal for Washington immediately after their game there, the snowstorm that President Barack Obama called "Snowmaggedon" prevented them from flying into DC. Instead, they had to completely re-arrange their travel plans and fly into Newark, New Jersey, before taking a 4-hour bus ride to the Nation's Capital.

While that wasn't entirely unexpected -- there had been, in fact, some talk that the game between the Pens and Caps might be pushed back, or even postponed -- it did result in the Penguins arriving in Washington very late, at 2:30 AM Sunday morning.

Make no mistake -- that's a tough hand of cards for anyone to deal with facing a nationally televised 12 noon start that very day against a team that had won 13 straight games.

Capitals' coach Bruce Boudreau actually had the gall to suggest that the bad weather affected his team more.

But when the puck dropped and all the hype had again risen to unspeakable levels at the prospect of Crosby/Ovechkin II this sesason, the Penguins as a team set out looking to prove that their late arrival, lack of sleep, and travel adventures would be no impediment to getting back on the winning track.

Sidney Crosby scored twice in the opening period, first finishing off an unassisted play by taking the puck to the net on a 3-on-2 before beating Caps' netminder Jose Theodore, then completing a nice passing sequence on a man-advantage by finding himself alone in front and bearing down to abuse Theodore with an in-tight forehand.

Those goals were Crosby's 38th and 39th of the season, tying a career high for him and -- at the time, anyway -- putting him into a tie with Caps' forward Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead.

That didn't last long, though, because Ovehckin managed to score in the 2nd period to cut the Pens' lead to 2-1 after sneaking behind Pens' defenseman Mark Eaton and scoring on a breakaway.

But the Penguins quickly reasserted their dominance down the middle, getting two goals from Jordan Staal in that same period, first on a tap-in from in front of Theodore, then after finishing a 2-on-1 with Malkin by depositing Geno's pass top-shelf above Theodore's blocker.

Things looked pretty good for Pittsburgh at that point. After coming out of the gate strong on little rest in the first period, they kept it going in the 2nd frame. Even a late 2nd period tally by Washington forward Eric Fehr didn't do a lot to dent the Penguins' strong game up to that point.

But you can't sleep on the Capitals, and Ovehckin made that clear by scoring twice in the third period. His first goal was the by-product of him being a split second quicker in reaction to a loose puck that fell at his feet right in front of Pens' defenseman Brooks Orpik after a blocked shot.

His third goal game off a face-off play when he pinched into the circle, got a loose biscuit and buried it past Fleury far side.

His hat trick forced overtime at 4-4.

In the extra frame, the Penguins were probably just looking to push the game to a shootout, where they are 7-0 this season.

But then Orpik took a needless penalty when he got the stick up on Caps' forward Alexander Semin.

Orpik called Semin "a baby" after the game because of the play, and further piled on by saying he has "zero respect for that kid" because he acts like that all game, but the fact of the matter is that while Semin commonly flopps all over the ice more than my 3-year old on skates, it was a penalty. And, Orpik simply can't do that. He can't put Washington in a 4-on-3 power play situation at that point of the game.

Why?

Because their power play is lethal, and it made the Penguins pay 45 seconds or so into it when an Ovehckin shot went off the post and came back through and underneath Fleury's legs before Washington RW Mike Knuble poked it in for the game winner.

So, with that, the Penguins blew a 4-1 lead to the Caps' -- something we've seen way too much of against that team in the regular season the last 18 months or so -- AND lost a chance to end the Capitals' league best wininng streak.

After their defeat of the Penguins, that streak stands at 14 games.

And there's no doubt, the Pens' league record single year 17-game regular season winning streak -- set by the lethal Pens' 1992/93 squad -- is in real jeopardy.

There's also no doubt that my personal hatred for the Washington Capitals has now officially risen above the degree to which I despise the Philadelphia Flyers.

And that's saying something.

I can't stand the Capitals.

BUT, I have to say that, from a hockey purist standpoint, yesterday's game between Pittsburgh and Washington was fantastic. It was as intense as a playoff game, and was a worthy chapter in the rivalry book between these two clubs -- a rivalry that is quickly rising to the top one league-wide.

And while there's no doubt that a lot goes into that rivalry, it remains unquestionably driven by the team's 2 superstar captains -- Crosby and Ovechkin.

Their individual will in the games these two teams play against one another is an amazing spectacle.

Ovechkin always raises his game against us, it seems, and for all the goals Crosby has scored around the net in his career, I'm not sure I have ever seen him literally bear down to score in the way he did to tally his first two goals yesterday.

Especially Crosby's second goal. Sid's deke near the net was so fast and so clean that Theodore is still trying to react almost 24 hours later.

I can't wait to see their two clubs face off in the Olympics. I mean, the game yesterday was better than any Super Bowl -- I'll tell you that. Incredible.

Unfortunately, though (with my fan hat on again), the loss cost the Penguins another chance to move up in the Atlantic Division and get closer to a continually struggling Devils club.

It also, as mentioned above, continued to provide worries about the state of the team's defense.

The Penguins have given up 19 goals against in the last 5 games, and that's not a good sign.

While Washington scores a ton -- they've averaged nearly 5 goals a game during their 14 game winning streak -- the amount of goals the Penguins have allowed recently has to be a concerning trend for the Penguins as they get ready to head down the stretch drive.

With 3 more games until the Olympic break -- and 2 more until the NHL's pre-Olympic trade freeze on Friday -- the Penguins will now get ready for a team that always plays them tough.

The New York Islanders.

They visit Mellon Arena Wednesday.

Snow permitting, of course.

More soon.