Washington Capitals Beat Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1
The Washington Capitals Beat division rival Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in Pittsburgh to secure first place in Metropolitan Division.
The Capitals absolutely destroyed the Penguins from all aspects of the game. The Caps where physical, for-checked hard, were all over the net and most importantly the excellent performance from Philipp Grubauer.
Grubauer proved he can be an elite NHL goalie stoping 36 shots, including a potential save of the year against Sidney Crosby. Grubauer had great rebound control, challenged every shot and stepped up big on the penalty kill.
TJ Oshie started the scoring when he beat Matt Murray five hole in the first period. Oshie is two goals away from another 20 goal season.
During a chippy second period Dimitri Orlov broke free after the Caps killed a 5-3 penalty to beat Murray to make it a 2-0 game. The Capitals penalty kill was great in the second period all game, and came up huge in the second period killing four penalties.
Later in the third Tom Wilson aka Tommy Hockey scored within the first two minutes of the game for possibly his best goal of his career with a great tip in goal from a Matt Niskanen shot. This was Wilson’s fourteenth goal of the season adding to his breakout season.
The third period got very chippy due to a Patrick Hornqvist bad play. He was slashing Capital players all game, and crossed the line two handing Brooks Orpik.
Later Evgeny Malkin threw TJ Oshie’s stick into the Capitals bench showing great sportsmanship. Both players would go to the box for roughing.
Time will tell if this bad blood will lead up to a potential Caps vs Penguins series in the playoffs, but the Caps proved they can go into Pittsburgh and be a dominant team.
