WHAT HAPPENED:
Just two days after the Penguins defeated Washington 6-3, the Capitals responded with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. Zach Aston-Reese scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, while Tristan Jarry faced 42 shots in the contest.
It was a second straight strong performance from Jarry, who's starting to gain some traction between the pipes.
"I thought Tristan played a solid game," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "He made a lot of big saves for us. There was significant zone time when their power play was on the ice as often as it was. He saw a lot of shots. Hopefully for us and for Tristan, that will be a boost of confidence again. He's put a couple of pretty solid games together for us. We'll just try to keep building on it."
OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
There was a lot to like about Sunday's game, but not much to like about tonight's contest.
The Penguins actually played a decent first period, getting a couple of power plays early where they hit a crossbar and a post, and some other scoring chances that they just couldn't convert.
"I thought we had the start we wanted," Sullivan said. "I thought our power play was really good. We hit two posts. If we score there, I think the complexion of the game changes drastically."
But they didn't, and instead, the game completely got away from the Penguins in the second period. The Penguins got into penalty trouble just 13 seconds in, and while the Capitals didn't score, they got four shots - which was foreshadowing of what was to come.
Washington ended up getting four total power plays in the period. And while they didn't convert, the Capitals still prevented the Penguins from establishing any sort of momentum or flow and outshot them 18-5 en route to a 2-0 lead.
"I think we self-inflicted there," Sullivan said. "Eight of the 20 minutes we were in the box."
"I felt like the whole second period we were shorthanded," Teddy Blueger said. "We'd kill one penalty off and then a couple shifts later get another one. So it was just tough to generate momentum. I think that's kind of what happened. They kept playing offense shift after shift after shift on the power play, so it was tough for us to generate offense for us or sustain pressure that period. I think that's kind of when they really took the game over and had a really good spell, and we just didn't really recover from it."
The Capitals added to their lead just 1:09 into the third, and the Penguins couldn't produce any real pushback to get into the game.
"We've just got to find a way to continue to play the game and respond the right way," Sullivan said.
The Penguins have a day off on Wednesday before hosting the New York Islanders on Thursday.
OTHER THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Aston-Reese now has goals in each of his first three games this season after making his debut on Feb. 11 following offseason shoulder surgery. It is the longest scoring stretch of his NHL career.
Aston-Reese had recently said that he was looking to rediscover the offensive game he had during his time at Northeastern, where he was named a Hobey Baker finalist his senior year after potting an NCAA-leading 31 goals in 38 games before signing with the Penguins as an undrafted free agent.
"I'm not surprised," Sullivan said of Aston-Reese's production. "Zach is a good player. He's a smart, conscientious 200-foot player. He has the ability to score goals. He's scored goals at every level with the exception of the NHL. Unfortunately for Zach, he's had a couple of seasons where injuries have gotten in his way at inopportune times for his sake and for our sake."
That prompted some soul-searching from Aston-Reese this offseason as he took care of the shoulder injury that had been nagging him since his first season (2017-18), and has helped him get off to the start he has.
"There had been a lot of hesitation in giving and getting hits in my game," Aston-Reese said. "Having surgery kind of made me take a step back and think of why I'm always getting injured and what I could change, so I did change a few off-ice habits, like my diet and adding some different things to my training and taking care of my body. So a bunch of little things, but they all add up, and I think it's starting to show now."
Video: Aston-Reese and Jarry speak with the media
- While it wasn't good that Pittsburgh's penalty kill had to keep going over the boards, I thought those guys did a tremendous job within the circumstances.
They had a huge challenge going up against the NHL's top power play, as Washington entered tonight's game with a 35.5% success rate. But they were able to keep the Caps off the board, going a perfect 5-for-5 on the kill, thanks to some strong goaltending and tenacious play from Brandon Tanev.
Tanev made an impact every time he was on the ice, even earning a shorthanded breakaway after first blocking a shot on his own blue line that went right to Blueger. Tanev took off and got the puck right back, and his attempt actually went through Vanecek, but didn't cross the goal line.
- Defenseman Marcus Pettersson returned to the lineup after missing nine games with an upper-body injury suffered on Jan. 19 against Washington. He skated on the third pairing with Cody Ceci.
Goaltender Casey DeSmith was able to back up Jarry after missing Sunday's game with a non-COVID-related illness.
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