Penguins Vs. Capitals: Capitals Defeat Penguins 3-0 In Winter Classic Rematch

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.

A scary moment for the Washington Capitals came near the end of the first period when Mike Green took a puck to the head off a Brooks Orpik slapshot. Green was down on the ice for a few minutes and a significant pool of blood formed below him, but Green did get off the ice under his own power. Green did not return to the game and all the Capitals would say is that he is being evaluated.

Matt Cooke created some controversy late in the third period as well with his knee on knee hit on Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin was able to play in the game as he went after Cooke shortly after the hit happened. Cooke has a reputation for throwing the dirty hit every now and then, with the most prominent being the hit on Boston’s Marc Savard.

Michael Neuvirth got the shutout for the Capitals, stopping all 22 shots he faced from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort for the Penguins. These two teams will face off again on February 21st in Pittsburgh.

For more on this game, please visit our Penguins site, Pensburgh, and our Capitals site, Japers’ Rink.