WASHINGTON -- There's one thing about these Penguins that has remained fairly consistent throughout this season: Inconsistency with their starts.
Whether it's a goal within the first minute or two or a real stinker of a whole period, they are due every several games for a performance in the first period that puts them behind the proverbial eight-ball, and those often prove costly.
There would be another Thursday night at Capital One Arena in the 3-2 shootout loss to the Capitals, though a strong showing by Casey DeSmith limited the first-period damage to one-goal deficit. The Penguins were the better team in the second and had a hard-fought third and overtime, then squandered the extra point in the shootout. But in the first, they were outshot, 22-7, they were out-attempted, 33-13, and they produced one of the period's 13 high-danger chances.
This first period was pretty bad everywhere but on the actual scoreboard.
The only shot that made it past DeSmith was Alex Ovechkin's one-timer from (where else?) the left circle on the power play, a goal that was the subject of tonight's Freeze Frame.
Now, most of the damage was inflicted on two Capitals power plays, one from a P.O Joseph hooking call and another on a Teddy Blueger faceoff violation. On those two first-period power plays alone, the Capitals outshot the Penguins 10-0, out-attempted them 12-0 and had a 5-0 edge in high-danger chances.
The Penguins had a much better showing in the next 20 minutes -- they outshot the Capitals 18-12, and controlled shot attempts 29-16. They evened the score that frame, too, with Danton Heinen's equalizer. I asked Bryan Rust what the message was after such a lopsided fist period that led to the turnaround in the second.
"Obviously, a lot of the shots were on the penalty-kill," Rust said. "The message was more, 'Don't take penalties.' "
Penalties or not, it wasn't a great start for the Penguins, and these slow starts have become more of a trend this season. Players have spoken after past games about it being more of a "mentality." Mike Sullivan was asked what needs to change.
"Yeah, I don't have an answer for you," he said after a long pause. "We've got to be ready to play."
The Penguins were able to recover in the second period and they played a pretty evenly-matched third-period and overtime period. They didn't dig themselves into an insurmountable hole in the first, but they sure didn't set themselves up for success.
"Any time you get a point, it's a good point," Sullivan said. "It was a hard-fought point, I'll tell you that. I thought we competed hard."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Heinen scored the equalizer in the second period, his second goal in as many games. Drew O'Connor's initial shot trickled past Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper lost track of the puck and Heinen followed through:
• Marcus Johansson gave the Capitals the lead again in the third period with this goal that went just over DeSmith's glove after being tipped upon release by Brock McGinn. If DeSmith doesn't drop to his knees there, he probably has it:
"It went off of Ginner's stick," DeSmith said of what he saw on that goal. "It was a heck of a shot. It's pretty hard, well-placed and deflected. It's just one of those bounces."
• Rust tied the game with this beautiful shot that beat Kuemper:
"All the guys made a really good play on the breakout," Rust told me of that goal. "Jake made a really good play in the neutral zone. I just came down and, maybe I've been looking to pass too much this year, so I decided to shoot that one."
• DeSmith had a strong game with 43 saves on 45 shots, a good response to allowing six goals to the Panthers on Tuesday, though there were definitely times where he looked a little shaky and struggled with his rebound control.
"I thought he was terrific tonight," Sullivan said of DeSmith. "I thought he gave us a chance to win tonight. He made some big saves."
"I felt great tonight," DeSmith said. "I felt like myself. I felt like I played my game, which I was really happy about. That was kind of my focus going in, just trusting my game, going out and playing it. Thankfully I was able to do that.
• Things got chippy between Kris Letang and Anthony Mantha in the third period when a series of cross-checks and slashes led to both players dropping the gloves before officials quickly stepped in. Both got called for roughing, with Letang getting an extra slashing minor and Mantha getting an extra cross-checking minor.
• The Penguins had a huge penalty-kill in overtime after Evgeni Malkin got called for tripping. DeSmith came up huge with a couple of saves. Brian Dumoulin had a key blocked shot late in the kill.
• A pretty rare Sidney Crosby comment on the officiating in this game, totally unprompted. He was asked about if he could feel the significance of this game, given how close the Capitals were to them in the standings: "Yeah. You'd think the officials would too, eh? But yeah. The urgency, the intensity, the desperation was there."
• Here's a look at the shootout in its entirety. Rickard Rakell scored on his attempt while Crosby and Malkin were denied:
DeSmith was asked if he's a fan of shootouts, and he laughed and said, "It depends on if I win or not."
Sullivan was actually asked for his thoughts on shootouts Thursday morning, and his thoughts were less ambiguous: “It's like deciding the outcome of a baseball game with a Home Run Derby."
That Evgeny Kuznetsov goal was a wild one just because of how slowly he arrived.
"It's really hard," DeSmith said of that one. "It's a good move. He can shoot at anytime. He can hold it. He can deke. He can make multiple moves. Definitely tough. I'm going to have to look at some film on those."
• Crosby and Marcus Pettersson tied for the team lead in shots with five each.
• Another strong night for Jeff Carter in the faceoff circle, going 10-2. The Penguins have been using him just for draws in overtime, sending him out there to take the faceoff then immediately having him come to the bench. He is 5-1 in three-on-three draws this season, whereas Crosby is now 3-8.
• The Capitals overtook the Penguins for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division standings. The Capitals now have 58 points to the Penguins' 57. The Penguins have three games in hand, however.
• The Washington feed of the game showed a nice moment in warmups where Ovechkin went up to Letang and appeared to offer some kind words to him. Pretty classy. This rivalry between the teams has definitely evolved into one more of respect over the years as the core players on each side get older.
• This arena's press box snacks are in my top five, for sure. What's great about this place is the variety -- it's different every time we come here. There's always popcorn, but then the types of candy and chips rotate. The candy tonight was Swedish Fish, Starburst, Skittles, and these sour watermelon gummies. Canned Coke products (including Coke Zero) are a big plus. Solid A.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Capital One Arena:
1. Darcy Kuemper, Capitals G
2. Casey DeSmith, Penguins G
3. Marcus Johansson, Capitals RW
THE INJURIES
• Forward Josh Archibald has been sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury since the Penguins' game in Raleigh, N.C. on Dec. 18. He has resumed practicing with the team
• Defenseman Jan Rutta suffered an upper-body injury on Jan. 14 against the Hurricanes. He is day-to-day and has not resumed skating.
• Forward Kasperi Kapanen sustained a lower-body injury in Ottawa on Jan. 18. He's week-to-week and has resumed skating with the team.
• Goaltender Tristan Jarry last played on Jan. 22 and is currently out until after the All-Star break with an upper-body injury. It's not clear or how when he sustained the injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Jeff Carter
Drew O'Connor - Ryan Poehling - Danton Heinen
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Peter Laviolette's Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin - Dylan Strome - TJ Oshie
Sonny Milano - Nicklas Backstrom - Marcus Johansson
Conor Sheary - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Anthony Mantha
Nicolas Aube-Kubel -Lars Eller - Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov - Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin - Martin Fehervary
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins canceled Friday’s practice. Their final game before the All-Star Break is Saturday evening against the Sharks at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
