FINAL SCORE: Penguins 3- Capitals 2 (S0)
W: Fleury
L: Neuvirth
Goals: WAS- Green (Semin, Backstrom), Knuble (Laich)
PIT- Crosby (Letang, Malkin), Kunitz (Crosby)
DC Hockey Spot's Recap
If there was ever a night that neither team deserved to lose it was tonight. The Capitals and Penguins put on a playoff life performance at Verizon Center that required a 7 round shootout to declare a "winner". Pascal Dupuis netted the winner over a stunned Neuvirth to send the Pens into the Christmas break on another high note while the Capitals are left to wonder what could have been. The Capitals never led in the game and squandered many PP chances, but it was difficult to be disappointed with the effort. But for a Capitals team that had been down on their luck, this one has to hurt.
Highlights, Lowlight, and Tidbits
MVP: There are a ton of options here, but Mike Green played his best game of the season and possibly one of his best games in a Capitals jersey. Due to the injury to Tom Poti, Green was forced to play over 34 minutes of an incredibly physical and intense hockey game. He also scored a key PP goal to tie the score and appeared to win the game in OT on a beautiful display of skill. We think he was robbed by Fluery on the goal line, but without an xray we will never knows. Although, Green thinks he does, as he answered the question of whether he thought he scored by saying "100%. I am not going to sleep tonight". Props as well to both Neuvirth and Fleury for outstanding games.
Highlight of the Night: Too many to count. It was that outstanding a contest. But to name a few...
- Ovechkin's hit on Malkin less than a minute into the game. It was on after that.
- Crosby's goal. Hell of a pass by Letang
- Green's goal. He looked like the weight of the world was lifted from him with that strike.
- Knuble's goal. Huge SH goal by the guy that we now see is a big leader on this team (thanks HBO)
Lowlight of the Night: Fleury's glove over the Green shot in OT. I really think it was in. But we will never know. Been that type of month.
Revelation of the Night: Never freak out in December, no matter how bad it seems. The Capitals played a hell of a game and in the words of Karl Alzner, the Caps are back.
Disappointment of the Night: This game was a perfect example of why shootouts need to go. Neither team deserved to be devastated in the locker room after the game. But that is just what we will see in the locker room on Wednesday night when HBO's "24/7" returns. It is a skills competitions that belongs in an All Star game, not a to decide a 65 minute battle.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Capitals have a lot of positives they can take from that game. As HBO has made very obvious, the Capitals and Penguins were currently on the opposite ends of the spectrum. But tonight showed that is no longer true. Someone had to lose and it is a shame it was DC, but I suspect the Capitals will go on a nice Boudreau Era run now, including a victory at the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, PA.
Happy Holidays
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