twice and the streaking Washington Capitals scored the final four goals
to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Thursday night in the first game
this season between two of the NHL's elite teams.
Tomas Fleischmann scored the go-ahead
goal early in the third period and set up Nicklas Backstrom's breakaway
goal less than a minute later for Washington, which won its fifth in a
row and eighth in nine games to improve to 4-0-1 against Pittsburgh
during the last two seasons, although the Penguins won when it mattered
in the playoffs.
Eric Fehr and Mike Knuble also scored
for the Capitals as Washington came back from deficits of 1-0 and 3-2
despite Sidney Crosby's goal, a revived Evgeni Malkin's three assists
and a goal from rookie Nick Johnson in his first NHL game.
The Capitals seized the lead when
Fleischmann grabbed Alexander Semin's chip pass in stride in the
neutral zone and scored on a breakaway 2:32 into the third.
Bill Guerin drew an interference
penalty 27 seconds later, and Backstrom, uncontested, put the puck
under the crossbar on a wraparound created by Fleischmann's pass to
make it 5-3 at 3:25.
The first Capitals-Penguins game
since Pittsburgh's 6-2 win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference
semifinals on May 13 was only the start of their four-game season
series, but it had a different feel than a mere regular-season game —
and not just because stars Ovechkin and Crosby revived their rivalry.
As usual, Crosby and Ovechkin
appeared to raise their games when they oppose each other. In their 23
career meetings, Crosby has 17 goals and 23 assists and Ovechkin has 18
goals and 17 assists.
The pace was up-tempo from the start,
the stars were on their games and goalies Jose Theodore and Brent
Johnson were tentative early, although Theodore settled in to make 35
saves and shut out Pittsburgh for the final period and a half.
There was lots of hitting — Penguins
defenseman Kris Letang drew as big a cheer for checking Ovechkin as he
did for scoring the goal that put Pittsburgh up 3-2 midway through the
second period. Later in the period, Fleischmann leveled Letang,
although the hit did not appear to be retaliatory.
Washington gained control after
Brent Johnson had no chance on Ovechkin's hard wrist shot from the high
slot as Knuble screened the goalie, making it 3-all at 16:25 of the
second — the first of Washington's two power-play goals in two chances.
Letang was off for holding Ovechkin, and the Penguins never got back
into the game.
Last spring's series effectively was
the Eastern Conference finals, as Pittsburgh went on to sweep Carolina
before beating Detroit in seven games. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau
and some players said it was difficult to watch the Penguins go on to
win the Stanley Cup after the Capitals owned home-ice advantage against
them in Game 7.
There were Olympic overtones, too,
with Ovechkin and Malkin teaming up for Russia and Crosby expected to
be Canada's biggest name. The teams meet again Feb. 7 in Washington,
exactly a week before the players start arriving in Vancouver.
Notes
Penguins fans donated $17,309
for Haiti earthquake relief, an amount the team then matched. …
Capitals D Mike Green, the top scorer among NHL defensemen with 50
points, sat out with an undisclosed injury. The Penguins were without F
Max Talbot and F Pascal Dupuis after they were hurt Tuesday against the
Islanders. Dupuis suffered a facial cut when he was rammed into the
boards by D Andy Sutton, who was later given a two-game suspension.
Nick Johnson, called up because of the injuries, scored at 2:50 of the
second. … Crosby was limited to a point after having two goals and
four assists against the Islanders. … Malkin, slumping for several
weeks, has six points in two games.