Evgeni Malkin had a goal and three assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins spoil the Caps’ season opener and Spencer Carbery’s NHL head coaching debut on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Malkin figured in all four Pittsburgh goals in a 4-0 Pens victory, the first opening night whitewash the Caps have ever suffered in a season opener.
Following a relatively even and scoreless first frame, the Penguins came out with their collective foot firmly on the gas pedal in the second period. Pittsburgh seized control of the contest with a trio of goals in a span of less than eight minutes, Malkin scoring the first one himself and then setting up longtime teammate Sidney Crosby for a pair of power-play strikes.
That proved to be more than enough offense for Pens goalie Tristan Jarry, who faced only 19 shots on the night. Jarry had to make only four stops in the third period; two of those third-period shots came from a distance of 50 feet or greater.
“They grabbed momentum there at the start of the period, and we just couldn’t stop the bleed,” says Carbery. “We sort of got hemmed on the one shift, and they turned that into three [goals], and we lost momentum.”
Pittsburgh led 2-0 in its own home opener on Tuesday, only to fall 4-2 to Chicago. Once the Pens pushed their lead to 3-0 in Friday's game, they effectively shut down the Caps’ attack.
“I just thought we played smarter tonight,” says Pens’ coach Mike Sullivan. “We had a little bit more structure in the defensive zone tonight; our play without the puck tonight was certainly a little more conscientious than it was in game one, and I think that gives our guys the opportunity to act on the talent that we have.”
While the game was still scoreless in the first, the Caps had one rather listless power play that produced a single shot. Also while the game was still scoreless in the first, the Caps missed the mark on a trio of opportunities in which they had some net at which to shoot. Connor McMichael missed from the left side, Nick Jensen missed from the right, and Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin shot wide on his best power play look of the night.
Washington finished the night with one shot on net in 5:23 with the extra man. Meanwhile, the Pens cashed in on each of their first two power play opportunities.
“I didn’t think special teams was very good tonight,” laments Carbery. “I thought theirs was snapping it around, and they make a couple of tic-tac-toe plays on both of those [goals]. I’ll have to go back and look at it, but entries were an issue for us, power play wise, especially over on the left side.”
Over the game’s final 40 minutes, Pittsburgh outshot Washington 25-11 and it out-attempted the Caps by a 43-24 margin in all even-strength play over that span.
“It was more our fault, I think,” says Caps’ center Nicklas Backstrom. “We shot ourselves in the foot with our execution and puck management. They’re a good team, so you can’t really give them those opportunities.”
The day started out with lineup uncertainty for Washington. Darcy Kuemper was expected to be the Caps’ starter in net, but when his wife gave birth to their first child – a son – late Thursday night, the Caps anointed Charlie Lindgren as the starter, but they had to send forward Aliaksei Protas down to AHL Hershey in order to be able to recall a backup goaltender – Clay Stevenson – from the same club.
Lindgren was sharp throughout the night, stopping all 10 shots sent his way in the first. At the outset of the second, Pittsburgh quite clearly found its legs and it woodshedded the Caps in the front half of the frame.
The Caps had possession but lost the handle on the puck in their own end on the Malkin goal that lifted the Pens to a 1-0 lead at 4:07 of the second. Crosby’s power-play goals came at 5:51 and 11:46 of the middle frame.
Between Crosby’s two extra-man strikes, the Caps had some dominant stretches in the offensive zone, but they weren’t able to get enough pucks to the net during those sequences. McMichael made an excellent move and rang a hard shot off the right post during a stretch of four-on-four hockey in the middle of the period, and Dylan Strome sent Ovechkin in on a breakaway late in the second, but Jarry quickly and easily closed down the five-hole on the Caps' captain, the last legitimately good look Washington had.
Malkin set up Riley Smith for his first goal as a Penguin with 3:03 left in the third to account for the 4-0 final. Lindgren finished with 31 saves, several of them of the stellar variety.
“I handled it well,” says Lindgren of the surprise start on relatively short notice. “The best thing was I’ve got a really good goalie partner that was keeping me in the loop, and he let me know [Thursday] evening that most likely, I was going to be between the pipes.
“Credit to him, too. It says how good of a teammate he is, where he’s got a baby coming – his first baby – and he’s thinking about me. I’m super happy for the Kuempers; he’s got a great wife and I’m really happy that they're starting to build their family.
“When I found I was playing, obviously, I was excited. I grew up watching this rivalry between Pittsburgh and Washington, going on NHL.com and seeing Alexander the Great versus the Sid the Kid, and being able to be a part of that game and the home opener, I thought the fans were excellent tonight, right from the get-go. They definitely had our backs tonight, so I definitely appreciate that, too.”
