After digging themselves into an early hole on Tuesday night against Washington at PPG Paints Arena, going down 4-0, the Penguins climbed within one. But they couldn’t find the equalizer, falling 4-3 to the Capitals.
"The start wasn't great, but we still had our chances for it to be an even game and lots of time to get back into it,” Sidney Crosby said. “I think (after the first) we were on our toes more... Unfortunately, we couldn't get the tying goal. That's what sucks - to battle back and come up short."
Especially considering the Penguins and Capitals entered tonight with the same number of points as they battle for playoff positioning. The Rangers (51 points), Hurricanes (46 points) and Flyers (43 points) occupy the top three spots in the Metro Division, while the Islanders (43 points), Capitals (42 points), Devils (40 points) and Penguins (40 points) are behind them in a crowded field.
“It’s never good when you lose. I don’t think everyone is coming in here feeling good about getting three, making it 4-3,” Crosby said. “I think you want to win games, and a divisional game, we want to make sure we get those points. We didn’t tonight.”
The captain scored on the power play, while his linemates Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rakell got goals at even strength. Alex Nedeljkovic made 14 saves in relief of Tristan Jarry after the Penguins gave up three goals in the first 13:02 of play, registering just one shot in that span.
When asked if he pulled Jarry due to performance or to wake up his team, Head Coach Mike Sullivan said it was “a little bit of both.”
“I didn't think Jars had his best, but I didn’t think the team had its best either early in the game,” Sullivan said. “For me, that's the moral of the story. I loved our compete level and climbing back in the hockey game. We certainly made it a game, but we can't spot a team those types of goals early on.”
It was tough for the Penguins to explain what was behind their slow start, with Nedeljkovic saying “you just have those nights sometimes.”
“They got on us early, they took advantage of their chances, and it's tough to come back in this league. It doesn't matter what team you're playing, especially a team like that. I thought we were the better team for the second and third period.”
After Alex Ovechkin made it 4-0 and the Capitals successfully challenged Chad Ruhwedel’s goal, Rakell got on the board with four seconds left in the first, and the Penguins went on to win the second – outscoring Washington 2-0 and outshooting them 16-8.
Crosby converted Pittsburgh’s first power play, and now has three man-advantage goals in two games against Washington this season, tallying twice in Pittsburgh’s 4-0 win back on Oct. 13.
After scoring twice in the 7-0 win over the Islanders on Dec. 27, Guentzel got 14 shots combined in the next two games (vs. St. Louis on Saturday and the Islanders again on Sunday), but couldn’t get one to fall. He broke through for a timely one with just over a minute left in the middle frame.
Unfortunately, the power play wasn’t able to convert on two additional chances in the third, and they couldn’t convert with the extra attacker. The Penguins will regroup at practice on Wednesday before flying to Boston ahead of their game against the Bruins on Thursday.
“I'm sure we'll watch some video on it tomorrow and learn from the bad, take some good, and move on to the next one,” Nedeljkovic said.
