Caps 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 4
Bruce Boudreau made the point in his postgame press conference. The Caps-Penguins game on Sunday was everything the NHL could have wanted. Star players performing as they should; rough play; a playoff atmosphere even though Verizon Center was a good three thousand fans short of capacity – for obvious reasons. You hope there were enough casual sports fans trapped inside on this Sunday afternoon – and waiting for the Super Bowl later in the day – to see exactly what this sport has to offer at its best.
Not much more you can say about the Caps. It’s not a cliche. They are never out of a game. They overcame their second 4-1 deficit of this amazing 14-game winning streak. I’m kind of bummed Ottawa lost on Saturday night. The Senators were up to 11 wins in a row and the two teams meet in Canada on Thursday. Oh well. Check out the Examiner’s Cheers and Jeers page tomorrow – in print and online – where I posted a “Four things we learned” item about these two teams after today’s game.
Physical play abounded in this one. Pittsburgh forward Craig Adams pushing Alex Ovechkin into the boards in the first period. That drew the ire of the crowd and Mike Knuble, who jumped Adams at center ice and earned 17-minutes of penalty time, including a 10-minute misconduct. It cost the Caps a top-line player for a chunk of the day. As the rule is written it was the right call. But there needs to be more common sense applied to it, too. That was hardly Knuble “instigating” a fight as much as standing up for a teammate. Adams, of course, wasn’t penalized on the play. Dave Steckel dropped a helmet-less Sidney Crosby on a Penguins power play and then gave him some shots to the head.Chris Kunitz needed about 11 minutes off injured reserve to pop another goalie – Semyon Varlamov in the playoffs last spring and Jose Theodore on Sunday. That was worth an interference call.
Nicklas Backstrom, of all people, earned a 10-minute misconduct penalty for popping Tyler Kennedy during a scrum. That was started when Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik overreacted to an absolutely clean hip check by Brian Pothier. That then led to “a situation” behind the goal. Ovechkin and Kris Letang threw each other around – though both earned roughing penalties only. Kennedy also left with a misconduct penalty. Orpik was furious again after the penalty he took on Alex Semin in overtime – a high stick to the face that led to Mike Knuble’s winning goal. Thing is – Semin appeared to block it Three Stooges style so maybe Orpik had a point. Whatever. He chirped at the officials for too long and was ejected at the next whistle. Good stuff all around – hard play, but nothing (too far) over the line.
So say goodbye to the Caps until March 4 thanks to the Olympic break. They have a three-game road trip starting Wednesday in Montreal with games to follow against Ottawa (Thursday) and St. Louis (Saturday) before five Washington players head to Vancouver and the rest scatter across North America – and beyond – for some rest and relaxation. When they come back there will be 20 games left. The first one is at Buffalo on March 3. No practice on Monday as Bruce Boudreau gives his team a needed day off. They’ll be back at Kettler on Tuesday for the last time this month.
Game Notes
» No one needs reminding about the Stanley Cup playoff series between these two teams. But the Caps are 5-0-1 against the Penguins over their last six regular-season meetings.
» Washington set a franchise record with its 11 home win in a row on Sunday. The Verizon Center crowd started off around 10 or 11,000, but continued to grow as the first period went on. Remember, the Red Line was only running a train every 30 minutes so the crowds got pretty backed up. I can personally attest to that.
» Alex Ovechkin (86 points) now leads the NHL points race by eight over Henrik Sedin (78 points) – yet has played six fewer games because of injury and suspension. Ovechkin has 42 goals – three more than Sidney Crosby, who briefly tied that race at 39 after his second goal on Sunday. For his effort, Ovechkin earned the hard hat. Though I’m not quite sure how that’s only happened twice this season. Maybe his teammates figure he has enough hardware.
» Ovechkin has a seven-game point streak now and goals in five straight. He has an absurd 35 points in 17 games and is the first player with 40 goals in every season since the lockout – though new New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk will join him soon.
» Washington has outscored the opposition 67-33 during its 14-game winning streak.
» The Caps again allowed the first goal of the game – the eighth time that has happened during this streak.
» Mike Knuble, by the way, is tied with Alex Semin with five game-winning goals. Knuble has 16 points in the last 14 games.
» Hat tip to defenseman Jeff Schultz for his stretch pass on Alex Ovechkin’s first goal. That was Schultz’s 14th assist, a new career high. He has 16 points overall and is two shy of his career high in that category.
» Eric Fehr registered his 15th goal of the year. That was a big one, too, cutting the Pittsburgh lead to 4-2. Once the Caps killed a 5-on-3 penalty at the end of the second and beginning of the third periods they had all the momentum. Ovechkin did the rest.
» Nicklas Backstrom added two more assists – along with his rare fight with Tyler Kennedy – and has an eight-game point streak.
