Braden Holtby made 28 saves to reach 40 wins for a second consecutive season in the Washington Capitals' come-from-behind 3-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Verizon Center. Defenseman Matt Niskanen scored the game-winner on the power play with 6:22 remaining. He took Nicklas Backstrom's pass and beat Penguins goalie Matthew Murray with a slap shot from the point that went through traffic.
Holtby is the seventh goalie in NHL history to win 40 or more games in back-to-back seasons, the first since Evgeni Nabokov did it in three straight with the San Jose Sharks from 2007-09. It didn't look early on like Holtby was going to get to 40 against Pittsburgh, but Washington scored three straight goals after falling behind 2-0 early in the second period.
The Capitals, who lead the second-place New York Rangers by 16 points for first place in the Metropolitan Division, have allowed the first goal in 15 of their past 18 games. Mike Richards and Evgeny Kuznetsov each scored in the second period for Washington, which has won five of its past seven games against Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist scored for the Penguins, who had won two in a row, and Murray made 34 saves.
Malkin opened the scoring at 6:14 of the first period. Carl Hagelin chipped the puck ahead from the neutral zone to start a 2-on-1 for Malkin and Phil Kessel, and Malkin beat Holtby to the stick side for his 24th goal. Hornqvist scored at 3:45 of the second period to put the Penguins up 2-0. After Murray made a save on a Stanislav Galiev shot, Sidney Crosby carried the puck through the neutral zone before passing to Olli Maatta at the top of the Capitals zone. Maatta set up Hornqvist to the left of Holtby and he scored his 16th goal on the backhand.
Richards scored 39 seconds later to cut the Penguins lead to 2-1. Defenseman Nate Schmidt corralled the puck in the Pittsburgh zone and tapped it to the high slot for Richards, who scored his second goal of the season through traffic.
Kuznetsov tied it 2-2 at 16:03 of the second. Justin Williams went behind the Pittsburgh net and attempted a wraparound that was blocked by Murray. Kuznetsov scored on the rebound for his 20th goal, an NHL career-high. He has 11 points in his past nine games, and his 65 points lead the Capitals. Despite rallying to win, Washington coach Barry Trotz would like to see the Capitals get off to a better start in upcoming games.
Pens Quotes
Matthew Murray: "They definitely came out hard in the second, and we kind of backed off a little bit more than we wanted to. We let them dictate the pace, which we can't do, especially with a team like that. We just need to try to dictate the pace a little more."Mike Sullivan: "We knew they were going to push back. They're a good team. We've got to control the momentum swings a little bit better."
Caps Quotes
Matt Niskanen: "This one's probably a little bit more of my forte, just taking slap shot after slap shot and get a lucky bounce and it goes in, rather than the end-to-end-stuff. Nice timing too; that time of the game in the third period, take advantage of a power play."
Other Results
Carolina @ New Jersey 3-1
Calgary @ Boston 1-2
Edmonton @ Buffalo 2-1 OT
NY Islanders @ Vancouver 3-2
No comments:
Post a Comment