WASHINGTON — The Penguins picked one heck of a time to finally protect a lead and salt away a victory, their efforts against a longtime nemesis enough to snap a seven-game losing skid that called into question nothing short of this group’s long-term viability.
Hey, maybe it was a degree-of-difficulty issue.
For whatever happened during Wednesday’s 4-1 victory against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena, it’s tough to explain how exactly the Penguins pulled this one out and flew to Toronto with a smile on their faces, that 0-6-1 skid now officially in the rearview mirror.
There was Jason Zucker’s lid-lifter at 7:43 of the second period, when the winger tossed a puck on net from an impossible angle and watched Capitals netminder Darcy Kuemper accidentally kick it into his own net.
As it turned out, that was merely the warmup act. An answer from Pittsburgh’s much-maligned penalty kill was up next.
At 12:25 of the second period, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin delivered a thunderous hit behind the net on Jan Rutta. There was some head contact, although objectively, Rutta did have his head down, and it wasn’t the area of the body Ovechkin targeted.
That said, the hit was violent, it will likely upset some folks, and one of them was certainly Rutta, who retaliated and drew a penalty for cross-checking. Enter the element of hockey that has tipped a bunch of games for both squads of late.
The Capitals potted four power-play goals Monday and had been clicking at 38.9% in their past five games. Ovechkin from the left circle. Terrific puck movement. It’s an elite group. And has been for years. Then you have the Penguins’ penalty kill.
Pittsburgh entered the game only 26th at 73.2% and on pace for 82 power-play goals allowed. A pretty big departure from the 33 the Penguins allowed last season. Injuries and new faces robbed the Penguins of any shred of continuity. Not only that, having Rutta — one of their primary penalty-killing defenders — hurt … well, hurt.
Yet 18 seconds after play resumed, Jeff Carter smartly picked off a pass from Capitals defenseman Erik Gustafsson and fed Brock McGinn, whose shot slowly trickled through Kuemper’s pads once more for a goal at 12:53.
It was the first short-handed goal for McGinn this season and the sixth of his career. It represented the second shortie for the Penguins this season.
If that wasn’t enough, Jeff Petry’s shot from the point at 15:05 of the second also beat Kuemper, who went down crazy early, to give the Penguins’ a 3-0 lead entering the third period.
The final 20 minutes, of course, has been unkind to the Penguins. Opponents had outscored them, 14-2, during the seven-game losing streak, but not this time. They ceded one goal, a score from Marcus Johansson at 12:22, but that was it.
Jake Guentzel added an empty-net goal at 18:24, his 14th in his last 17 games dating back to April 12 of last season.
The Penguins now have points in 12 of their past 18 against Washington, going 11-6-1. Here at Capital One Arena, the Penguins have won four of their last five, while Sidney Crosby improved to 37-23-3 in 62 all-time meetings against Ovechkin.
Amid a helter skelter start, it looked like it might’ve been another long night for the Penguins, who were outshot, 5-0, in the first five minutes. Worse, Evgeni Malkin committed a couple turnovers the Penguins were lucky didn’t wind up in the back of their net.
Casey DeSmith made a terrific left pad save on a Dylan Strome redirect attempt from the slot at 4:56 of the first. The Penguins also did a solid job early on of sorting out odd-man rushes and backchecking to help.
In a start many were surprised to see him making, DeSmith played extremely well and made 24 saves, the type of performance that seemed every bit as unlikely as much of what surrounded him on this night.
ICE CHIPS
— It’s the first win since Oct. 22 for the Penguins.
— Kris Letang wound up playing a game-high 28:28.
— With one goal and five points through 12 games, including an ugly missed open net on Saturday, Kasperi Kapanen was a healthy scratch. Other scratches included Sam Poulin and Chad Ruhwedel. Jeff Carter and Josh Archibald returned to the Penguins’ lineup.
— Filip Hallander, making his 2022-23 debut and playing his second NHL game, drew cheers from his teammates by blocking a shot from Capitals defenseman Matt Irwin with his shoulder in the opening period.
— With injuries to Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and John Carlson, the Capitals currently have more than $40 million salary cap dollars out of their lineup.
— No immediate info was available on Joseph or Rutta. Joseph took one shift in the second period, Rutta five.
STAT ’N ‘AT
— 3: Crosby and Ovechkin are two of just three NHL players to play for the same team since the beginning of the 2005-06. The other is Bruins center Patrice Bergeron.
UP NEXT
The Penguins are scheduled to practice on Thursday afternoon at Ford Performance Centre before taking on the Maple Leafs on Friday.
