Caps, Penguins both struggling this season One year ago they met on their sport’s grandest regular-season stage at the annual Winter Classic. But is one of the NHL’s best rivalries now stagnating?
The Capitals and Penguins will meet for the second time this season on Wednesday at Verizon Center, but neither can be found among the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Instead, with the regular season halfway over, both are struggling just to maintain a playoff position.
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For Washington, that is in large part a circumstance of its own making. The team didn’t respond to coach Bruce Boudreau early in the season and he was fired. The Caps have played better under new coach Dale Hunter but seem unable to put together an extended stretch of solid hockey. Washington lost a pair of 5-2 games at San Jose and Los Angeles on a brief two-game trip to California. It returned home at 21-17-2 with 44 standings points and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. So much for a four-game winning streak.
The Penguins, meanwhile, have been ravaged by injuries. Star center Sidney Crosby, first hurt during that Winter Classic, finally returned in November after missing the final three months of last season and the playoffs. He dominated for eight games — two goals, 10 assists — before colliding with a teammate and being knocked from the lineup again with concussion symptoms. There is no timetable for his return.
“It’s something, I think, that the league [is] missing and the fans missing,” Caps winger Alex Ovechkin said. “[Crosby is] one of the best players in the league right now. It’s hard to see he’s not playing for fans. But for different teams it’s good because he’s the key to victory for them.”
Washington didn’t see Pittsburgh during Crosby’s brief healthy spell. Add in a knee injury to center Jordan Staal and the Penguins’ frightening depth at center is suddenly down to just Evgeni Malkin at a time when they sat eighth in the Eastern Conference entering Tuesday’s game. Staal does not need surgery but will miss four-to-six weeks after a collision with former teammate Mike Rupp in a game against the New York Rangers last Friday.
The Penguins actually received some unexpected good news before Tuesday’s contest against the Ottawa Senators. Forward James Neal, expected to miss weeks with a broken foot, has been deemed healthy. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, what was seen as a broken bone on an X-ray over the weekend, was instead revealed as a pre-existing bone bruise following an MRI. Neal, who leads the team with 21 goals, actually returned to the lineup on Tuesday.
Washington has injury concerns of its own with top center Nicklas Backstrom missing both games in California after taking an elbow to the jaw last week from Calgary’s Rene Bourque, who earned a five-game suspension from the NHL. And defenseman Mike Green again suffered a setback with his lingering right groin injury. He was hurt again in the second period against San Jose and didn’t play Monday against Los Angeles.
