An icy chill filled the air at the Verizon Center on Thursday night, for the prelude game to the winter classic between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. That chill, however, was dulled by a sellout crowd of over 18,000, the tireless buzz of the 24/7 HBO film crew, and a playoff-like fervor.
Both teams entered the night confident, on a two-game winning streak.
Sidney Crosby, of the visiting Pitttsburgh Penguins, was looking to extend his consecutive point streak. He didn’t wait long to do just that. 3:21 seconds into the 1st period Sidney Crosby scored off an assist from Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Crosby is the NHL’s leading scorer with 60 points on 29 goals and 31 assists. His streak of 23-consecutive games with a point is the league’s longest point streak since 1992-93 when Quebec’s Mats Sundin had a 30 game run.
“We tried to keep him (Crosby) off the stat sheet as best we could. But a guy like that is always going to find a way to score,” said John Carlson after the game.
In the first period the Capitals took double the shots on goal that the Penguins did, 12-6. In the second period though, the barrage of bullets towards the net paid off for the Capitals. 13:43 into the 2nd period on a two-man advantage power play, Mike Green scored a goal to knot the score up at one.
After the goal, Green had a reaction not of celebration, but of relief, as if the whole world had been lifted off of his shoulders. Green’s goal in the second period shook a scoring drought that spanned over five-weeks. “I didn’t notice my reaction, it was a power-play we needed to take advantage of, and I’m just glad we did,” said Green.
Mike Green’s goal boasted the only successful power play of the night, despite having six power play opportunities. In the 3rd period the Penguins didn’t wait long to visit the red light district. Just 17 seconds into the period Chirs Kunitz scored off of the assist from Sidney Crosby.
Although down but not out the Capitals answered back in the final minutes of the 3rd on a fast break. With a little over 5 minutes remaining, Mike Knuble raced down the right wing and scored a shorthanded goal off a laser-like assist from teammate Brooks Laich.
The preview to the winter classic would prove to end in a classic fashion, a shootout. Alex Ovechkin kicked off the shootout with a shorthand goal from about 10 feet out on Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury played a steller stone-wall game with 32 saves.
Kris Letang answered for the Penguins on a wrist-shot on Washington goalie Michal Neuvirth, who finished with 25 saves. Following the first two goals of the shootout there was a drought that was ended by Pascal Dupuis of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fleury had stopped Mike Green’s wristshot, and if Dupuis scored the Penguins win. Sure enough, in the seventh round of the shootout, Dupuis flicked a wrist shot past Neuvirth to give the Penguins a 3-2 win.
After the game the range of emotions ranged the gamut. “They had passion, we played arguably, the best team in the league and I thought we played them to a standstill,” said Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau.
“Our guys went out there and gave it everything they had. Call it a moral victory, call it what you will, but we played hard. Our guys have the next two days off and then it’s back to work,” said Bourdreau
John Carlson said in the locker room after the game guys weren’t happy but knew they gave it their all. “It was the second best outcome we could’ve asked for. We went out there and took it to a shootout,” he said.
Capitals Center Brooks Laich was probably the most blunt of any player. “It sucks. It’s miserable. To go out there and lose like that sucks,” said Laich.
“There’s no moral victory. The objective is to go out there and win. And we didn’t,” he said.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin was held without a goal for the eighth straight game. Ovechkin has just two goals in the last 19 games.
The Capitals have a road-test against the Carolina Hurricanes before they’re back in the Verizon Center to take on the Montreal Canadiens. The team who eliminated them from the playoffs last season.
After those two games, it’s the much anticipated winter classic. Last night’s game was the first of four times the two teams will face-off this season. It’s not a secret that there’s not love lost between the Capitals and Penguins, and on January 1st at Heinz Field the Capitals will have a second crack at the best team in the NHL right now.
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