The Pittsburgh Penguins looked like a totally different team from their season opener to last night in our nation’s capital.

Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead, and unlike Tuesday night, they held on, defeating the Washington Capitals 4-0 in their season opener.

The Penguins power play, which had looked concerning to say the least on Tuesday, came alive in a spectacular way vs the Capitals.

Sidney Crosby scored twice on the power play, assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel on both goals.

The power play as a whole looked much smoother last night. Erik Karlsson looked more comfortable, and confident, skating coast to coast and trying a snap shot at Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren shortly before a goal.

Malkin also netted an even strength goal to open the scoring, and Reilly Smith capped things off with a beautiful top shelf, glove side snipe. Malkin’s assist on Smith’s goal gave Geno 4 points on the night, tying him for the NHL’s current point lead.

Forward Noel Acciari was dinged by a puck on the side of the helmet late in the game, but appeared to be fine after the training staff attended to him.

At this same time, Washington’s Tom Wilson put a cross-check on Pittsburgh’s Marcus Pettersson after the whistle had blown, which Pettersson took exception to, and the two dropped the gloves. Linesman got involved rather quickly as Wilson started to lay a few punches against the horrifically mismatched Petersson.

The matchup included several firsts, including Tristan Jarry’s first shutout of the season (and first in six months). Reilly Smith also scored his first goal in a Penguins uniform, and longtime Capital Lars Eller played his first game in Capital One Arena since his midseason trade from the team last year.

Washington experienced several firsts as well. New head coach Spencer Carbery coached his first NHL game in the loss, and per Steve Levy on the ESPN+ broadcast, the Capitals has never been shut out in a season opener (home or away) in their history.

The Pens are back in action tonight, at home when they host the Calgary Flames.

(Featured photo by Andrew Harnik/AP)