The Washington Capitals came into this game with a record of 19-6-2. The Pittsburgh Penguins record looks a bit different at 15-10-3, one of the reasons for their recent coaching change. Capitals Braden Holtby came into the game leading the NHL with a 1.90 goals-against average.
Caps Take Early Advantage
After a ton of pressure from the Penguins, T.J. Oshie broke into the Pittsburgh zone in the opening period. He stopped and found Nicklas Backstrom trailing the play. Backstrom blew a wrist shot short side on Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Washington Capitals a one goal lead. Shortly over three minutes after, John Carlson crashed the net, grabbing his own rebound and slipped it behind the Pens' goalie for a 2-0 Caps' lead.
Braden Holtby came up as advertised. As one of the best goalies in the league, he made several big saves when the Washington defense broke down. The Penguins put on a lot of pressure, but couldn't solve Holtby until late in the first. That is when Evgeni Malkin tipped a Ben Lovejoy shot off the rush. The puck bounced off the post and in behind Holtby to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Both Teams With Chances, But Second Period Goes Scoreless
To start the second, Washington had multiple partial break-breakaways. Fleury snared two back to back rushes with the glove hand, shutting the door and keeping the Penguins in it. Capitals forward Justin Williams had a chance to put his team up by two when he shot the puck past a sprawling Fleury. It was waved off though as he made contact trying to get the loose puck.
With the clock showing less than three minutes to go in the second, Pittsburgh's Nick Bonino and Washington's Taylor Chorney engaged in a battle in front of the net that elevated to a fight. These two middle weights traded punches for a couple seconds, before dropping to the ice. The referees would eventually break the fight up. Each team was scoreless on the power play, although they both looked good and built momentum off of their chances.
Oshie Bags Two in the Third Period
T.J. Oshie opened the scoring on a power play in the third period with his 9th goal of the season. He swung around the net and scored a wrap-around goal that fooled Fleury. The goal restored the Capitals two goal lead. Shortly after the goal, a trade was announced. The Chicago Blackhawks have traded Trevor Daley to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Rob Scuderi. The Pens' retained 1/3 of Scuderi's salary.
Oshie potted his second goal of the game on the power play with 49 seconds left for his 10th of the season. That would be the end as the Capitals collect their 20th win of the season. Sidney Crosby was held pointless and the Pens' power play was powerless going 0/2. Once again showing why they have the 27th ranked power play in the league. There were some notable differences in the Penguins game plan on Monday under their new coach. The defensemen were moving the puck better and up to the forwards faster. Still, the end result was too familiar for Penguins' fans with Pittsburgh saddled with another loss.