NHL Scores: Penguins shutout Capitals; Heatley beats Ottawa

The Penguins maintained the top spot in the Metropolitan Division with a convincing 4-0 win in Washington over the Capitals. Elsewhere, Dany Heatley helped beat his former team in Ottawa.

by Adam Gretz

Nov 21, 2013, 1:00 PM UTC

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The battle for first place in the Metropolitan Division turned into a pretty one-sided beat down as the Penguins shut out the Capitals, 4-0, to maintain their lead in the division. Evgeni Malkin was on the ice for all four Pittsburgh goals, assisting on two of them, as the Penguins completely shutdown the Capitals in every way.

Pittsburgh limited Washington to its lowest shot total of the season (18) with Alex Ovechkin recording just two of them.

Braden Holtby may not have impressed Jeremy Roenick, but it's hard to put much of the blame on him when Pittsburgh was peppering him with shots all night and the Capitals couldn't get out of their own zone.

Elsewhere, Dany Heatley heard the boo birds in Ottawa all night but he probably didn't care as he contributed two points (a goal and an assist) in Minnesota's 4-3 win over the Senators.

All the NHL Scores

Wild 4, Senators 3

Penguins 4, Capitals 0

Devils 4, Ducks 3

Blue Jackets 2, Flames 1

Five Questions

On Wednesday we asked you five burning questions about the days games. These are your cool, soothing answers.

1. Will Penguins-Capitals live up to the hype?

It did not, simply because it was so one-sided. Pittsburgh ended up outshooting Washington, 34-9, during 5-on-5 play and doing things like this on the power play

2. Will Evgeni Malkin score a goal?

He did not, but he was arguably the best player on the ice. He was on for all four Penguins goals and assisted on two of them. The goals aren’t quite there yet for him this season, but he’s one of the NHL’s leaders in assists.

3. Will the Devils score more than three goals?

They did! For just the third time this season, the Devils scored more than three goals away from home in a 4-3 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks. Jaromir Jagr tied the game with a minute to play in regulation and Travis Zajac was credited with the winner in overtime when an Anaheim clearing attempt accidentally ended up in the back of its own net. After losing seven in a row to start the season the Devils have now won eight of their past 14 and enter Thursday in third place in the Metropolitan Division.

4. Will a return home help Anaheim snap its four-game losing streak?

It looked as if the Ducks were on their way to a win until Jagr’s game-tying goal. The Ducks have now lost five games in a row, with two of them coming in overtime.

5. Can Columbus shake off its terrible performance in Edmonton on Tuesday?

At times it looked like the Blue Jackets weren’t even trying to create offense, but perhaps they were more focused on not giving up seven goals for second straight game. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means (if you like offense, anyway) but they were certainly better than they were in Edmonton on Tuesday in picking up a 2-1 overtime win against the Flames.

Impact Moment

The one play or moment from Wednesday that will be making headlines over the next couple of days.

So ... let's talk about the Ottawa Senators. Before the season they were a popular pick to be a top contender in the Eastern Conference. Following their 4-3 loss to the Wild on Wednesday they fell to 8-10-4 on the season, are in sixth place in their division, and four points out of a wild card spot. They give up a ton of shots, Craig Anderson hasn't been quite as dominant as he was a year ago, and they basically only have one line that can generate offense for them.

It’s the line that does this ...

They probably deserved a better fate on Wednesday given the way they played, but those performances haven’t been all that common this season. There is still time to get this thing turned around, but it’s been a pretty disappointing start to the season.

Stat of the Night

Evgeni Malkin has been on the ice for 14 of Pittsburgh’s past 22 goals and assisted on 12 of them. And this is a guy that is taking heat for being in a “slump.” Imagine what he’s capable of when he’s on top of his game.