Caps dig deep to overcome rivals

The unbeaten Washington Capitals travelled to the Consol Energy Center to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins who were yet again without their star man, Sidney Crosby.

The Capitals had started the season well, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 11 goal thriller, and the Carolina Hurricanes which are both very tough fixtures. On the other hand, the Pens had beaten the Canucks, Panthers and Flames but surprisingly fell to the Oilers 2-1. It was set to be a thriller between two serious title contenders and it didn’t disappoint.

A large and noisy crowd only had to wait just over two minutes for the first goal to arrive, as ex-Star James Neal fired home a lovely one timer from a slick move put together by Canadian Steve Sullivan and Evgeni Malkin. The pumped up Pens continued to apply lots of pressure on Washington after the goal was scored as the Caps severely struggled on offence for the first five minutes. However, with 8 minutes gone Russian Alexander Ovechkin fired the first meaningful shot on Brad Johnson in the Pittburgh goal who let a rebuild fall to Mike Knuble but his rebound effort was only to be denied by a great glove save.

The second half of the first period was to turn out to be a quiet one as both teams headed to the locker rooms with the Pens one goal to the good. The Pens could have been at least two or three up as they gave veteran Czech Tomas Vokoun a good workout between the pipes as they lead on shots by a margin of ten and also had two powerplay opportunities, converting on neither.

Face-off was won by the Pens to start off a period of some awesome NHL hockey. It was a physical start to the second frame as several big hits were put in early but it was the Caps who were going to get the first goal of the period courtesy of Mike Knuble. The 39 year old drove hard to the net and somehow managed to squeeze the puck through the legs of Brad Johnson for a very, very scrappy equaliser.

Washington once again struggled to gain momentum going forward early but they eventually got into their stride and had several cracking opportunities but fired wide on many occasions. You couldn’t take your eyes off of this game midway through the second as it was end to end stuff, plenty of shots, saves and hits for the fans to digest. 17 shots combined were recorded in the first ten minutes alone of this period! The quick intensity was brought to a halt though as the Pens yet again were to go on the powerplay but struggled to function. A quiet final four minutes brought the end of a thrilling period.

Both teams went into the third period with their sights firmly set on two points and with just 40 seconds gone of the 20 minutes, Canadian Mike Green rifled a huge slapshot only to be denied by the iron. There was to be a twist in the tale though as Greens attempt was reviewed and replays clearly showed that the puck had hit the roof of the net and fired back out. The replay also showed that Caps captain Ovechkin got a tip on Greens shot and was awarded the goal, which didn’t go down too well with the Pittsburgh faithful!

Pittsburgh responded in a positive manner to Ovechkins goal as they applied a lot of pressue with Malkin testing out the on-form Tomas Vokoun from a pass by Neal. Pittsburghs fifth powerplay came in the third with around four minutes remaining. This was the Pens best chance of squaring the game up and they did just that. The very imrepssive Neal grabbed his second of the night and third of the year as he beat  a very tired looking Vokoun down low on his glove side. With even more pressure coming from the impressive Pens and a loud crowd, the Capitals managed to hold out and take the game to overtime. Former Boston Bruin Dennis Wideman gave Washington the two points as he fired home a wrist shot from a lovely pass by Backstrom in the extra five minutes.

Pittsburgh will definitely feel that they were the better side and deserved the two points but they ultimately didn’t take the great chances that they created. The Capitals remain unbeaten and take on the struggling Senators at the Verizon Center in DC on Saturday night.