The Confluence
Penguins’ losing ways resume, downed by Capitals, 6-3; Crosby, Talbot, Scuderi injured
by Tony on 01/14/09 at 10:49 PM ET
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Well, that didn’t last long.
One night after what was thought at the time one of their biggest wins of the year and perhaps a turning point in their 4-2 win in Philadelphia over the Flyers, the Penguins went right back to their losing ways, collapsing in the third period and losing to the Capitals, 6-3.
The loss was compounded by injuries to Rob Scuderi, Max Talbot, and Sidney Crosby. Scuderi took a slapshot in the forehead when he blocked a shot in the first period. Talbot left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury. Crosby seemed to suffer a lower-body injury when he got tangled with a Capitals defender late in the game. While Crosby skated to the locker room gingerly, it didn’t appear that he was seriously hurt.
The Penguins’ powerplay only went 1 for 6, with that lone powerplay goal as the first of the game. The Pens were already on a double minor powerplay, then got a full two minute 5-on-3 powerplay after Jeff Schultz cross-checking penalty. The Penguins didn’t score on the 5-on-3, but scored during the remainder of the double minor on an Evgeni Malkin slapper from the right slot to make it 1-0 Pens about six minutes into the game.
Victor Kozlov scored the Caps’ first goal early in the second period on a wrister that can only be described as a soft goal past Fleury to tie the game at one.
The Pens retook the lead later in the period on some good cycling by the third line, when Tyler Kennedy fed the puck to Max Talbot, who fired a wrister that Jose Theodore stopped, but Miro Satan was there to bang the rebound home to the virtually open net for his 350th career goal to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.
The Caps re-tied it a few minutes later when Sergei Federov made a nice centering pass to Alex Semin, who was there to tap it past Fleury to make it 2-2. Early in the third period, the Caps took the lead for the first time on the powerplay when Alex Ovechkin grabbed a rebound of a Brooks Laich slapper and tapped it home, making it 3-2 Caps.
However, the Pens re-tied it a couple of minutes later when on a delayed penalty Crosby fired a cross-ice pass to Ryan Whitney, who blasted a slapper from the left point that rang off the right post and into the net to tie the game at three.
The see-saw affair went back to the Caps about eight minutes into the third period, on the powerplay again, when Ovechkin simply threw a puck on net, where Tomas Fleishmann was there to poke the rebound home past Fleury to make it 4-3. The Penguins’ run of bad luck drew it’s head again when Ovechkin’s wrister deflected off the skate of Ryan Whitney and into the net to make it 5-3. A Jeff Schultz short-handed empty net goal in the final minutes closed out the scoring.
Other notes:
- For all the hype, Malkin had a team-high 12 shots on goal, but was also a team-low -3.
- Ovechkin had 10 shots on goal for the Caps.
- Brooks Orpik was credited with 6 hits.
- Ryan Whitney had 28:45 of ice time.
- Hal Gill had 6 blocked shots.
The Penguins will now face the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Washington+Capitals,
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