Penguins Vs. Capitals: Washington Wins Second Straight Against Rival Pittsburgh

The Washington Capitals break the Penguins five game winning streak with a 3-0 win on Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Center. This is the eighth straight win for the Capitals on Super Bowl Sunday.

Brooks Laich got the scoring started off a John Erskine rebound with 1:38 left in the first period. The goal was assisted by John Erskine and Mathieu Perreault. The Capitals second goal came at the start of the second period on a Marcus Johansson shorthanded goal. Jeff Schultz got the puck on a Kris Letang turnover and got it to Johansson who went the length of the ice and backhanded it over Marc-Andre Fleury. The final Capitals goal came on a Mike Knuble empty net effort.

Whether Matt Cooke intentionally did this or not, we won’t know but it did happen. At the 16:18 mark of the third period, Cooke goes to throw a check on Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and leads with the knee. Here is the video:

Ovechkin needed help to come off the ice but did return later in the game on the Capitals powerplay in the period. While the discussion will happen if Cooke will get suspended or not on the play, Matt Cooke does have a reputation for laying bad hits.

The Washington Capitals continue to find the back of the net in the second period as Marcus Johansson scores a shorthanded goal on a Matt Hendricks penalty to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period. Johansson grabbed the puck off of a Kris Letang turnover in the Penguins offensive zone and proceeded to go the length of the ice and backhand the shot over the right shoulder of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

After a very disciplined first period by both teams, the Penguins have started to lapse with three penalties in the second period. While the team has the league’s best penalty kill, the Capitals still have some dangerous weapons to make the Penguins pay on the powerplay. The Capitals have scored back to back powerplay goals for the first time in a month and Ovechkin scored his first powerplay goal in three months on Friday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have only given up four shorthanded goals thus far into the season. Marcus Johansson made that total five with his shorthanded goal in the second period to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead. Johansson grabbed the puck off a Kris Letang turnover and took the puck the length of the ice to backhand the puck over the right shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury. The goal ended up unassisted.

The Capitals have taken it to the Penguins thus far into the second period as they are outshooting the Penguins 10-7 in the period and 18-12 overall in the game. Michael Neuvirth is having a solid game in net for the Capitals as he is pitching the shutout thus far into the game. Fleury has allowed both of the goals for the Penguins.

Mike Green leads the Washington Capitals with 104 blocked shots heading into Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. During the game, he blocked a shot in way that probably wasn’t as comfortable as the other 104, he did it with the side of his head. Take a look at the video of the play that happened at the end of the first period:

Mike Green was down on the ice for a couple of minutes and it seemed that he lost a decent amount of blood. He has not returned to the game at the start of the second period as he is probably getting stitched up and his status at this point in the game is not known. The Capitals have not missed his production in the lineup as of yet though, they currently have a 2-0 lead over the Penguins and are outshooting the Penguins 11-8 with 15 minutes left in the second period.

Brooks Laich scores the first goal for the Washington Capitals at the 18:22 mark of the first period to give the Washington Capitals a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. Laich grabbed a rebound from a John Erskine shot and puts in the goal. Mathieu Perreault records the other assist on the goal.

A scary moment happened near the end of the first period as Capitals defenseman Mike Green took a puck off the side of the head from a Brooks Orpik slapshot. Green was down on the ice for a couple of minutes and had a sizeable gash on the side of his head. Green did leave the ice on his own and we will keep you updated on his status throughout the game.

Game time is 12:30 pm Eastern and can be found on NBC. For more information on this game, please visit our Penguins site, Pensburgh, and our Capitals site, Japers’ Rink.