Pens/Caps -- Round One: Not Quite A Classic, But Still A Win

The Washington Capitals have had the Pittsburgh Penguins' regular season number the last two years, winning 7 of their last 8 meetings.

Those victories included one last year in Washington in a shootout where the Penguins came back to tie the game in regulation late and then scored on their first two shootout attempts after a scoreless overtime.  At that point, with the Caps' missing on their first opportunity, Pittsburgh was only one save away from a big win.

Defying all wisdom, Washington scored on their next two attempts while the Penguins missed their third try, then veteran Mike Knuble scored the first shootout goal of his career to end it and send yours truly -- who was there in person -- home miserable.

So things looked again last night at the Verizon center in the first clash of these two titans this season.

Sidney Crosby scored early in the first period on a nice deflection to extend his scoring streak to 23 straight games and give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead, and then Evgeni Malkin had a chance to up that lead to 2-0 when he was awarded a penalty shot in the first period, but Geno has been miserable on those in his career and it was no different tonight, as he was easily stopped by Caps' goaltender Michael Neuvirth -- making his first career start against the Penguins.

Not surprisingly, Washington defenseman Mike Green made that miss hurt when he capitalized on Washington's second extended 5-on-3 advantage of the game, each due to a Penguin player shooting the puck out of action from their own zone.

Green got the puck alone in the high slot and zinged in a top corner, glove side wrist shot to tie the score in the second period.

While Pittsburgh probably was outplayed for most of the first two periods, that was primarily because they were so busy killing penalties.  Since they were shorthanded so often, they had a hard time getting to their game and instead had to rely on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to bail them out.

And that's exactly what the Flower did -- stopping 24 of 25 shots through 2 periods, and looking good doing it.

When Chris Kunitz scored on a rebound just seconds into the third period and his teammates finally got their share of power plays (4) in that final frame, they started to get into a zone and it looked like they had the game under control.

Until defenseman Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski carelessly managed the puck on one of their power plays and allowed Knuble to score SHORTHANDED to tie the game with about 4 minutes left.

After a scoreless overtime that included a ten-bell save by Fleury on Green to keep the game tied, the shootout required 7 rounds to decide the contest.

Letang and Caps' forward Alexander Ovechkin both scored on their shootout chances -- each team's first -- then watched as 11 other skaters (6 Washington players and 5 from those in the black and gold) miss their opportunities.

Fleury, in particular, was extremely solid in shutting down the Caps' big guns on their attempts.

Which, of course, allowed Pascal Dupuis to come down with Pittsburgh's seventh shot and make it look easy, burying a shot above the glove hand of Neuvirth so quickly that the netminder hardly flinched on the play, and sending the Capitals back to their locker room with the HBO cameras losers who failed to keep the momentum of their modest 2-game win streak.

Clearly, the Home Box Office had to be thrilled with the drama they got from tonight's game.

But not as much as the Penguins were happy to get on that plane a joyous bunch after their 3rd straight win -- and very difficult second of back-to-back victories.

Of course, the little matter of reclaiming the top spot in the Atlantic Division and overall in the NHL back from the Philadelphia Flyers helps, too. 

But that's what a 17-3-1 run in your last 21 games will do for you.

If tonight was an appetizer for the upcoming Winter Classic next weekend, it was a good one.  Not a great one, as there were a lot of penalties and a lot of sloppiness during the game, but still excellent for drama and physicality --- including Ovechkin headhunting Malkin early in the game again like he did several years ago.

And, of course, the result.

With the Penguins now basking in tonight's win and enjoying their Christmas, Sidney Crosby and the boys can only look forward to their next matchup with Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals @ Heinz Field on New Year's Day.

I'm sure glad 87 is on our side.  Not only is he better on the ice, his one liners are better too:

Truth Serum From Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin

Let's Go Pens!