Capitals shootout win against Penguins delivers playoff-like intensity
Both teams aware there's no guarantee to reach postseason in East
That was reflected in the intensity of both teams in a seesaw battle that ended when Darcy Kuemper stopped Evgeni Malkin on the Penguins' final shootout attempt to give the
Capitals a 3-2 victory
at Capital One Arena on Thursday.
With the win, Washington (26-19-6) moved one point ahead of Pittsburgh (24-15-9) into the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference and within two points of the New York Rangers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"It was a huge two points for us," Kuemper said. "That's not really a secret. We knew how big this game was coming into it. It took us the stretch, but these games feel really good when you get the job done. We played super hard, and we earned it tonight."
The Penguins, who have played three fewer games than the Capitals, got one point from the shootout loss, but dropped into the second wild card in the East, two points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres, who have won five in a row.
The Penguins and Capitals are well aware the young Sabres (26-19-3) are growing up quickly and putting pressure on them from behind along with Florida Panthers (23-21-6). Florida is 7-3-2 in its past 12 games to move within five points of Pittsburgh and six of Washington.
So, even the one point was valuable for the Penguins.
"Anytime you get something it's good," said Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust, whose goal with 7:08 left in regulation tied it 2-2. "But I think that's one we would have liked two."
Regular-season games between the Penguins and Capitals are always heated because of the rivalry between them, but for most of the past 15 seasons, they were about positioning near the top of the standings and playoff seeding. The bigger meetings come in the playoffs.
Pittsburgh has qualified for playoffs in 16 consecutive seasons, which is the NHL's longest-active streak, and hasn't missed the postseason since Sidney Crosby's rookie season of 2005-06.
Washington has qualified for the playoffs in eight straight seasons, which is the League's second-longest active streak, and has qualified in 14 of the past 15 seasons since missing in 2006-07, which was Alex Ovechkin's second NHL season.
But this season, qualifying for the playoffs isn't a given for either team.
"A lot of guys in here haven't [missed] the playoffs in quite a while," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said before the game. "That's not a trend we would like to start."
Backstrom propels Capitals to 3-2 shootout win
Washington started strong, outshooting Pittsburgh 21-8, and took a 1-0 lead on Ovechkin's power-play goal from the left face-off circle at 6:00 of the first period.
"I think we all knew we have to come out strong and try to get a lead," said Ovechkin, who set the tone with big hits on Jake Guentzel and Brian Dumoulin on the opening shift of the game.
"We knew [if] we get a lead, it's kind of different feelings and everybody feels much better."
But the Penguins pushed back in the second period, outshooting the Capitals 18-12 and tying it at 2:37 when Danton Heinen knocked in the rebound of Drew O'Connor's right circle shot that hit the right post. After Marcus Johansson gave Washington a 2-1 lead 5:17 into the third period with a wrist shot for the top of the left circle that went in over goalie Casey DeSmith's glove, Rust re-tied when his right circle shot sneaked past Kuemper's glove on the short side.
The Capitals had a power play in overtime but could not convert. Then the shootout went back and forth too, with Rickard Rakell scoring in the first round for the Penguins before Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom responded for Washington and Kuemper stopped Crosby and Malkin to close it out.
"There were momentum swings back and forth," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought they had a good first period. I thought we had a pretty good second period. The third period, there were momentum swings on both sides. The penalty kill did a terrific job in overtime to get us to the shootout."
The challenge for the Capitals and Penguins is to maintain the intensity they had Thursday.
Each team had an extended hot streak earlier this season that helped it climb into a playoff position but have otherwise been plagued inconsistency. Pittsburgh was 4-6-2 and had lost seven in a row (0-6-1) before 4-1 victory at Washington on Nov. 9 that sparked a 15-3-2 surge. But the Penguins are 5-6-5 since then.
Washington was 10-12-4 before going 12-1-2 from Dec. 5-Jan. 5. But the Capitals are 4-6-0 since then, including two straight losses before rebounding Thursday with one of their best performances in the past three weeks.
"I felt like we played with more intensity, and we were hungrier on the puck, and we simplified too," Backstrom said. "We kept it pretty simple in the first period and got everyone involved and worked from there."
The Capitals and Penguins have one regular-season game between them remaining at Pittsburgh on March 25. If the Sabres and Panthers don't let up or another team behind them makes a push, that game could potentially determine which of their postseason streaks continues and which team watches the playoffs this spring.
"We've done a pretty good job of just fighting and battling," Crosby said. "It's a nightly thing. We've got to make sure that we're consistent, but we've been competing hard and finding ways and we've got to find another level here going into the stretch run."
