Where to start? I guess with the obvious. That was an awesome game to watch for Penguins fans, Capitals fans, and for anybody who stumbled upon NBCSN last night. This had the look of a game from an era gone by. There were 15 goals and a lot of them were aesthetically pleasing.
Aside from the entertainment value of the game the Penguins got what they desperately wanted, two points. They were on a losing streak, lost their most irreplaceable player, and were up against the hottest team in hockey. Somehow, despite falling in a 3-0 hole they managed to win the game.
Overall the Penguins did a nice job and you could say they were the better team most of the night
The above chart was created by Micah Blake McCurdy (@ineffectivemath). These charts are free at his Hockey Viz website after 2PM Atlantic time.
The game was not without controversy. There were multiple goal reviews, including the game deciding goal. There were poorly missed calls in the game the most obvious was Crosby’s trip of Ovechkin in the neutral zone, which led to the game winning goal. Ultimately when you have each team give up seven goals there are going to be things they could have done differently to alter the course of the game.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were great. The Penguins leaned on their best players to help dig out of the deficit they faced early on. Geno went off for a hat trick, which showcased his power as well as his puck handling brilliance. Sid got back on the goal scoring train while racking up four points. Crosby finished the game tied with Connor McDavid for the league lead at 50 points. McDavid played later in the evening and registered an assist to take a one point overall lead. Evgeni Malkin is up to 49 points and has every right to be discussed for the Hart Trophy.
His goals were great. The first one was him handling what could have been a difficult pass and throttling it past Braden Holtby
Even the post goal celebration was great
His second and third goals involved deft touch
There is literally nothing the Capitals did wrong there. Malkin just made a play that couldn't be stopped.
The man who through the puck to the net front area was Jake Guentzel. He earned an assist on the play. It was a positive return for the promising winger. At 5v5 he was a 70% possession player on the Malkin line (CF 14 CA 6)
Geno's third goal involved some more puck trickery and then some luck.
Flipping it over the defender's stick to earn the shot attempt was ridiculous. Aiding the goal sequence was potential goaltender interference by Patric Hornqvist. Hornqvist was guided into the net by a Capital and the puck was in the general area of where Hornqvist's stick made contact with Holtby, but knowing the player involved it hardly seems like an accident. Unfortunately, for the Capitals it was ruled a goal on the ice and there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call. There was enough gray area to let it stand.
This was Evgeni Malkin's 11th career hat trick. All his goals were scored in the frantic second period which featured NINE goals. His hat trick only accounted for a third of the goals in that period. Malkin still remains a few behind the Penguins franchise leader in hat tricks. That was accomplished by Mario Lemieux at the tune of 40 times.
Sidney Crosby didn't want to be left out of the highlight party and he wasn't. He made some amazing plays himself. This assist was ludicrous and stood out even in a game with 15 goals.
Conor Sheary scored his 13th goal of the year on that play. He now has 28 points in 36 games which is definitely worthy of his top six roster spot.
Sheary returned the favor to Crosby with his own amazing assist.
Great execution and a nice example of the passing skill Sheary has.
Because there was an endless supply of goals Crosby was able to return the favor to Sheary yet again. This time it was a 2 on 1 in overtime which led to the game winning goal
What I want to point out is the fact that Sheary elected to shoot on this 2 on 1. It was absolutely the right decision and not just because it ultimately led to the game winning goal. Sheary showed off his passing prowess on Crosby's goal earlier in the game so you know he can pass at a high level. In this situation the defender played it really well and the pass was going to have a much lower success rate than the shot. Sheary was on his off wing with the puck near the middle of the ice. He got off a quality shot. A lot of players would have deferred to Crosby on that, but Sheary was selfish in a good way. He was rewarded for his choice.
It might be time to break up the top line, but that probably doesn't include splitting Crosby and Sheary. They work well together.
I thought for sure when the game was 7-7 that Crosby would end up scoring the game winner in an 8-7 game. It wasn't to be, but there are some other neat 87 related things from this game.
When 87 and 71 both score goals the Penguins win. Shocker
It definitely deserves mentioning that Sidney Crosby should have been in the penalty box. He tripped Ovechkin at center ice and there was no call. Not sure how that was missed.
It isn't a league conspiracy. It's just incompetence.
The game was really fun for mostly everybody involved. There were exceptions as Evgeni Malkin explained "It's fun for the forwards, but not the goalies." The goalies had a rough time. Braden Holtby was entering the game as the hottest goaltender in the league. He allowed five goals before he could blink. Matt Murray had such a terrible game it dramatically altered his season save percentage and tied a Penguins team record
Yikes.
Chris Kunitz played on the fourth line last night with Matt Cullen. They didn't receive a ton of ice time but you can see that those two will do just fine together. By putting Kunitz on the fourth line and limiting his even-strength ice time it opened up the possibility of using him on the penalty kill. You wouldn't believe it but the strangest thing happened. Despite not being a penalty killing specialist he was very competent at it. Weird. I didn't think that was allowed. Last night he played over four minutes on the PK which has to be one of the highest totals he's accumulated since becoming a Penguin. Here is his average shorthanded time on ice per game from the past few years:
2014-15: 0:09
2015-16 0:21
2016-17 0:12
Last and certainly not least was the play of Justin Schultz. He was great in his elevated role last night. He led the Penguins in 5v5 time on ice with 19:55 and led all Penguins in all-situations ice time with 24:15. Only Matt Niskanen played more than Schultz. During 5v5 he was dominant. He drove possession to the tune of 70.45% (CF 31 CA 13).
The Penguins defenseman finished the contest with four assists. Schultz is now the fifth leading scorer among NHL defensemen. Yes, you read that correctly
To some Justin Schultz was the worst player in the league. To the Penguins he was a project worth risking a third rounder on to see what he could do in a non-hellish environment. Schultz's next contract will be one of the more fascinating developments to follow leading into the offseason.
Weirdly enough that was the last time these two teams are scheduled to face each other this year. That is likely to change because of the playoff format. These two teams are on a likely collision course for either the first or second round because of the playoff formatting. Pretty cruel that it is impossible for these teams to meet in the Conference Finals.
The Penguins will get to take a step back and digest just what the hell happened last night before they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday evening.
Last night was one to remember.
Thanks for reading!
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