In the latest chapter of the Penguins-Capitals rivalry, a non-playoff game had a complete playoff feel as Pittsburgh charged forward to a 4-1 win.
Heading into the game three points back of Washington for the second wild card spot, you could not understate how crucial this game was for the Penguins (or the Capitals for that matter) as the season enters its final days.
For the Penguins, it’s been a season of missed opportunities and disappointing results. But tonight, in the biggest game of the season, they finally stepped up.
Pittsburgh got contributions from all facets tonight, starting with the team’s first goal, scored by defenseman Ryan Shea.
How about Ryan Shea man? After being waived earlier this year by the Penguins, he’s back now thanks to some illnesses and injuries, and has performed admirably.
As has Jack St. Ivany, his defense partner last night. Both Shea and St. Ivany aren’t that noticeable on the ice, but for third pairing defensemen, that’s exactly what you want.
The scoring from the blueline continued not long after, when P.O. Joseph tallied his second of the year to make it a 2-0 game.
The Pens were rattling Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren early. Both of Pittsburgh’s first two shots on goal wound up in the back of the net, and that really helped the Penguins establish themselves in this game, and they never relinquished the lead.
They played a real complete second period, one of the best of the season. They limited chances, played smart hockey, and put pressure on the Caps in their own zone. All of which are simple concepts, but ones we have seen the Pens fail to do properly time and time again.
In addition to that, Michael Bunting fired a knuckler past Lindgren for a third Penguin goal.
It’s official: I’m in love with Michael Bunting.
I’ve been a big fan of his game since he came into the league, and his play for the Penguins has been exactly what they needed.
We’ve all been saying how much the Penguins needed a player of his style after Patric Hornqvist departed. I know the acquisition cost hurt, but Bunting has been the perfect addition for this team.
He had an excellent game tonight. He crashed the crease, harassed the opponent, all of the usual things of Bunting’s game. But then he scores a goal like that, and he reminds you that he has a lot of genuine talent to his name as well.
The Penguins took a 3-0 lead into the third period, where they naturally resorted mostly to defending the lead and getting out of Washington with a W. They played a pretty good game in the third as well.
The Pens did get into some penalty trouble in the third, staring down the barrel of a 5-on-3 penalty kill for almost an entire two minutes. They played admirably, and former Capital Lars Eller, as well as Drew O’Connor did a ton of heavy lifting to kill time.
However, as Erik Karlsson’s penalty expired and the Penguins were left to face a 5-on-4 instead, the Caps did get one past Alex Nedeljkovic.
The scoresheet will read a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin, and you can take a pretty good guess as to what that looked like, but this was a very different type of Ovi power play goal.
No big slap shot. No one knee celebration. Just some net front presence leading to a goal.
But I was actually ok with this. Mike Rupp did a good job on the broadcast describing this: 1:53 with a 5-on-3 and Ovechkin on the ice could have gone a lot worse. The Pens got some great chances shorthanded, and the power play goal by the Caps didn’t seem to provide them a huge boost.
Pittsburgh locked things down the rest of the way, and Eller put home the empty net goal.
This was the continuation of a different Penguins team that we have seen over the last few days. The team that stormed through New York, North Jersey, and now Washington is not the same team we have watched during the other 73 games of this season.
Alex Nedeljkovic is red hot in net. The team isn’t wavering in the face of adversity and pressure. There is a different feel around them right now.
They took down the top team in the league, and then two teams in direct competition with them for that last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Most impressive? This was the first time ever that both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held without a shot on goal against the Capitals. And the Pens still won 4-1.
Speaking of that playoff race, let’s check in on those numbers.
With the New York Islanders (unfortunately) winning tonight, they actually leapfrog the Capitals and now sit in that second wild card spot in the east. Here’s a look at the standings as of the morning of April 5th.
I left the Metropolitan Division standings in here as well, for an important reason. The Penguins currently sit two points back of the Islanders for the last wild card spot, but they also sit two points back from third place in the Metropolitan Division altogether.
The Philadelphia Flyers, who have held a playoff spot basically all year, are a very vulnerable team right now. They’ve lost five straight games, only one of which was in overtime. If Philly continues to spiral like this, that opens up a huge opportunity for Washington, New York, and Pittsburgh.
It’s possible then that two of those three teams make the playoffs after all. It also opens up the potential for a Pittsburgh-Carolina first round matchup, and man would that make for some good storylines.
The only team shafted in this hypothetical are the Red Wings, who call the Atlantic Division home. The wild card spot is their only hope.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. The Penguins have blown chance after chance this season, but they’ve put themselves in a good position right now.
The Pens still have a game left against both the Red Wings and Islanders (the final game of the season), which now become gigantic games for Pittsburgh to win.
I called the game vs the Caps the biggest game of the season, but now each and every one of the final six games remaining become the biggest game of the season. They’ve committed to trying to make a run out of this, now go out there and finish the job.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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