Capitals Jar Penguins, 4-3

If you read PenguinPoop on a regular basis, you know there’s been a great goalie debate raging. While I’ve extolled the virtues of both our netminders, Other (Evil) Rick…a staunch Alex Nedeljkovic booster…has panned our starter, Tristan Jarry.

Well, last night the bad guys won…in more ways than one. Jarry was strafed for three goals by the ultra-low scoring Capitals on seven shots (a crispy .571 save percentage) to add fuel to Other Rick’s argument. In the process greasing the skids for a disappointing 4-3 loss at PPG Paints Arena that fairly dripped with playoff implications.

The die was cast just 55 seconds in when Tom Wilson beat Jarry high stick-side off the rush. The kind of goal routine in the salad days of Guy Lafleur but in today’s NHL not so much. (Translation: a softie.)

Next to step into the Malenstyn…er maelstrom…was Beck Malenstyn at 11:16. Taking full advantage of an ill-advised step-up by Erik Karlsson, the Caps’ forward attempted a drive-by pass to the front of the net, only to have the puck hop off the stick of Ryan Graves and over Jarry’s shoulder. Hard to fault Jars on that one.

No so with the Caps’ next marker near the 13-minute mark. While the Pens mostly stood around and admired his handiwork, D.C. d-man Martin Fehérváry circled our zone until he found a nice, soft landing spot in the high slot. Then he let ‘er rip, catching Jarry deep in his net and apparently unawares.

Having seen enough, coach Mike Sullivan yanked his besieged starter in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic. The move seemed to provide an immediate spark, as light-scoring Chad Ruhwedel lit the lamp for an apparent black-and-gold goal at 16:16. However, our Penguies were offside on the play, paving the way for a last-minute power-play tally by Alex Ovechkin.

Down 4-zip, our guys finally had a legit reason to cheer when Rickard Rakell beat Darcy Kuemper with a twisting snapper from the high slot four seconds before the horn.

With the situation in goal stabilized thanks to Ned, the Pens began to reel in their foe in the second frame. Working on a power play with Joel Edmundson in the box, Sidney Crosby batted home a backdoor feed from Jake Guentzel at 9:11 to make it 4-2.

Suddenly…game on.

With 66 seconds left in the period the Pens struck again on a play that was vintage Crosby. Sid aggressively rubbed out Rasmus Sandin along the end boards, picked his pocket and fed Guentzel for a tally from point-blank range.

Most skilled grinder, indeed.

Down by only a goal with a whole period to play and the momentum surging in our favor, I had dreams of a point…maybe even two…dancing in my head. Alas, it was not to be. Although we dominated the frame to the tune of a 13-3 advantage in shots on goal and had two power-play opportunities, Kuemper and the defensive-minded Caps slammed the door.

A disappointing loss to be sure, especially since our adversaries came in on a four-game losing jag and were ripe for the pickin.’ But, hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

The important thing now is to nip a nascent losing streak in the bud.

Puckpourri

The Caps had the better of the play in the first period before the slumbering Pens woke up and proceeded to pour it on. According to Natural Stat Trick, we held sway in shot attempts (77-43), shots on goal (35-22), scoring chances (36-16) and high-danger chances (17-6).

Don’t know what side of the bed Jarry woke up on, but he might try the other. I know there’s an instinct to throw him back out there, but I hope Sullivan doesn’t overthink his goaltender deployment. Go with the hot hand. Right now, that’s Nedeljkovic.

Bryan Rust (minus-1, one shot on goal) drew back in after missing the past 10 games. He skated on the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Reilly Smith. Drew O’Connor shifted to the port side with ex-Cap Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen on the third unit.

Credit Sully for resisting the urge to pull Rakell from the top line. With two points last night (1+1), RikRak has three goals and seven points in seven games skating with Sid.

Speaking of, No. 87 moved into 12^th place on the all-time NHL scoring list with 1540 points.

Elsewhere, Pierre-Olivier Joseph replaced a banged-up (and mistake prone) John Ludvig on the third pairing. He picked up an assist and even flip-flopped with Graves, who had a rough night (minus-2). A case of tit for tat IMHO…both guys skate well, move the puck okay and struggle to defend.

In other personnel moves, Radim Zohorna dined on press box nachos. Vinnie Hinostroza and Ryan Shea were assigned to the Baby Pens. Matt Nieto moved to LTIR.

Fehérváry, Malenstyn, Alexander Alexeyev, Ivan Miroshnichenko…do the Caps have some of the tongue-twisting-est names in the league or what?

On Deck

The Pens (18-14-4, 40 points) travel to Beantown to take on the Bruins (23-7-6, 52 points) Thursday night, then return home to joust with the Sabres (15-19-4, 34 points) on Saturday night.

Pity the poor Sabres. They still haven’t recovered from my guarantee they’d make the playoffs.

We’re currently two points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.