Penguins Clip Capitals 4-3

It’s rare when I watch a Penguins game from start to finish these days. Life and activities place demands on my time and attention. But I made sure I had a front-row seat at the Pennsbury Pub & Grille to watch yesterday’s matinee match-up between our Pens and the Metro-leading Capitals.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Indeed, following a pair of iffy outings against the Flyers, the black and gold skated onto the aptly named Capital One Arena ice surface with a purpose. We proceeded to carry the play to the home team, at least over the first 40 minutes when we racked up an impressive 28-19 edge in shots on goal.

Usually the Pens appear sluggish in these early afternoon affairs. But I thought the opposite was true yesterday. The Caps seemed a step behind and not the least bit somnambulant. Especially when forward Evgeny Kuznetsov tried to enter the Pens’ bench at 15:43 of the second period. Although he was actually trying to avoid a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, it provided a lighthearted moment to an otherwise tense affair.

The Pens’ machine shifted into high gear 68 seconds after Lars Eller beat Matt Murray at 10:38 of the first period to stake the Caps to an early lead. Playing in his first game since being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, Sam Lafferty picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and sped into the Washington zone unattended. The rookie ripped a drive from the top of the left circle that sailed over the right shoulder of Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov for his first goal since November 30.

Fifty-four seconds later Patric Hornqvist padded the Pens’ lead with a typically grimy goal. The gritty winger, a target of numerous cheap shots including a blindside hit by fellow Scandinavian Eller, redirected a shot by John Marino in off Samsonov’s stick from the lip of the crease.

The Pens went up 3-1 at 11:59 of the second period on a hustling play by Dominik Simon. Jared McCann won a puck battle in the corner and poked the puck to a cycling Simon behind the net. The much-maligned forward fed Sidney Crosby for a quick short side attempt. Samsonov made a save, but Simon scooped up the rebound, deked around Caps defenseman Michal Kempny and slipped a backhander through the five-hole.

A pretty goal.

However, the Caps weren’t going down without a fight. Kuznetsov cut across the slot and chipped a backhander past Murray six minutes into the third period. Given new life, the Caps dominated play after that, piling up a 13-5 edge in third-period shots on goal. But the Pens received a huge goal from the ubiquitous Brandon Tanev, who gathered in a pretty feed from Teddy Blueger and bunted home a Texas League wrister off the stick of defenseman Dmitry Orlov.

Thinking we had this one in the bag, I allowed myself to exhale. Unfortunately, our Pens exhaled too. On the ensuing rush, Eller blew past flatfooted Kris Letang in the neutral zone. Using Jack Johnson as a screen, he beat Murray with a blistering wrist shot from the slot.

Mercifully, the Pens hung on for the final 2:18 to pocket a huge win.

Puckpourri

Coach Mike Sullivan dressed Lafferty in place of Andrew Agozzino. The Hollidaysburg native made the most of his 5:41 of ice time. In addition to registering a goal and a plus-1, the rookie was credited with three shots on goal, two hits, and three faceoff wins in three tries.

Maybe his good work will convince Sullivan to give him an extra shift or two when we square off against Tampa Bay.

Likewise, fellow rookie Anthony Angello did a decent job with limited ice time (5:49), recording two hits and a plus-1. He also collided with Caps marauder Tom Wilson early in the third period, perhaps in response to a pair of huge hits on Tanev and Letang. Wilson appeared to skate away first.

Although outhit by a wide margin (47-24), I thought our guys stood their ground against a much heavier foe.

Sullivan once again elected to dress Chad Ruhwedel over Juuso Riikola. Playing the off side, the veteran defenseman logged two blocked shots, a takeaway, a hit and a shot on goal, to go with a plus-1. However, he was a minus-9 in 5-versus-5 shot attempts in just over 10 minutes of ice time.

Murray made 29 saves to earn the No. 1 star. He’s riding a six-game winning streak dating back to December 28.