Empty Thoughts: Capitals 5, Penguins 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 5-2 loss to the Capitals:

Tom Wilson was at it again.

During the first period, at the 15:27 mark, the long-time Penguins nemesis dropped Penguins forward Mark Jankowski with a late hit in the neutral zone that shook up Jankowski.

After Jankowski had whacked a loose puck away, the Capitals power forward hammered him to the ice well beyond the official definition of a legal, timely hit.

The NHL allows a window of 0.6 seconds after a player releases a puck on a shot or pass or whatever before a hit is deemed “late.” There was no time available for how tardy Wilson’s hit was, but it could have been clocked with a calendar.

Wilson was given an interference minor as Jankowski retreated to the dressing room and stayed there for the remainder of the period. He came back by the start of the second period.

As is the case anytime Wilson inflicts damage on one of his players, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was asked for his opinion on the hit. And he gave an answer similar to what he usually gives in regards to Wilson or any of the other Capitals who have injured Penguins over the years.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sullivan said via video conference. “The referees are going to make the calls. They’re going to call it as they see it. We’re just going to play.”

None of this should be surprising. The Penguins, as constructed by former general manager Jim Rutherford and orchestrated by Sullivan, do not have that element in their lineup or possess much of it throughout the depth chart, going down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins know other teams are going to outhit them and win most physical battles. They accept that and try to out-skate the opposition. It’s been that way for more than half a decade.

On the few occasions they have acquired players intended to address Wilson or others of his ilk physically, it has rarely led to anything, aside from a pretty bad head injury for former Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak.

That could potentially change under new management. President of hockey operations Brian Burke has been open about his preference of having players who offer that dimension. At the same time, general manager Ron Hextall largely modernized the Philadelphia Flyers during his tenure with that organization by eliminating what seemed to be a “quota” of having at least one enforcer on the roster. In a lot of ways, Hextall constructed the Flyers much like the Penguins in having skill up and down the lineup.

But until any changes come, the Penguins don’t have the personnel to “respond” to Wilson with a fight or some other nonsense along those lines. They aren’t designed to.

There isn’t a Rooster Cogburn on the Penguins’ roster that’s going to to take out Wilson’s Ned Pepper.

“The (referees) thought it was a penalty and they made the call,” Tanev said. “It’s not in our control. It’s up to the (referees) and their judgment and what they want to do in the situations. We’ve just got to continue to play the game and play the game the right way.“

What happened

The Capitals took the game’s first lead at 11:20 of the first period. After a failed clearing attempt by Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci from his own left corner, Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom controlled the puck in the left circle and skip-passed the puck to the right circle for defenseman Nick Jensen. Settling the puck and waiting a moment for things to develop, Jensen fed the puck back to the slot for Backstrom who re-directed a shot with his forehand past the blocker of goaltender Tristan Jarry for his ninth goal. Jensen netted the lone assist.

After a scoreless second period, it became a 2-0 game 3:18 into the third period thanks to a dazzling individual effort by Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. From the left wing of the neutral zone, Capitals forward Lars Eller centered a pass to Oshie. Gaining the offensive zone, Oshie challenged Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson one-on-one, dragging the puck from his forehand to his backhand. Just as he was falling, Oshie pokechecked a backhander that fluttered under Jarry’s right armpit and into the cage for his fifth goal. Assists went to Eller and defenseman John Carlson.

The Capitals seemed poised to put the game out of reach with a power-play chance shortly thereafter but a short-handed goal by Tanev only 62 seconds later got the Penguins on the scoreboard. After Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin slid an errant pass out of the Penguins’ left corner to no one in particular at the left point, Tanev picked up the puck and pushed it up ice into the offensive zone. Gaining the blue line, Tanev crisscrossed with Penguins forward Teddy Blueger and attacked the net from the left circle. Fending off a stick check from Carlson, Tanev drew goaltender Vitek Vanecek out of his crease and slipped a forehand shot through his five hole. It was Tanev’s fifth goal and it was unassisted.

Things were tied, 2-2, at 7:22 of the third thanks to Penguins forward Jake Guentzel getting his seventh goal. Corralling a puck in the Capitals right corner, Guentzel bounced off a check from Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon and darted to the net. Taking advantage of a slight pick by Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen against Capitals forward Nic Dowd, Guentzel jammed in a forehand shot through Vanecek’s five hole. Assists went to forward Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang.

A power-play goal by Wilson at 12:40 of the third restored a lead, 3-2. Controlling play in the Penguins’ right circle, Carlson fired a pass to the slot for Wilson. As Letang tried to defend in vain without a stick, Wilson re-directed the puck past Jarry’s glove for his seventh goal. Assists were recorded by Carlson and Ovechkin.

After Letang broke another stick and lost the puck, ex-Penguins forward Carl Hagelin scored an empty net goal at 18:38 of the third. It was his second goal of the season and was unassisted.

Eller added another empty net goal at 19:08 of the third. It was his third goal of this season. Oshie and Backstrom had assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Capitals controlled shots, 35-28.

• Penguins forward Bryan Rust and Backstrom each led the game with five shots.

• Letang led the game with 23:50 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• Carlson led the Capitals with 22:34 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• The only Capitals skater who failed to record a shot was forward Garnet Hathaway.

• The Capitals controlled faceoffs, 35-22 (61%).

• Eller was 12 for 19 (63%).

• Crosby was 9 for 20 (45%).

• Tanev and Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson each led the game with four blocked shots.

• None of the Capitals had more one blocked shot.

Randomly speaking

• As for the legality of Wilson’s hit, a minor penalty seemed like a fitting punishment. Jankowski was shaken up on the play but he returned. So any notion that Wilson might face supplemental discipline seems like a pipe dream. He interfered with a player and got a two-minute minor. That’s it.

• Ceci extracted some measure of revenge at 2:15 of the second period. As Wilson tried to push a puck up ice in the neutral zone, Ceci got some leverage and planted Wilson on the ice with a nice check.

• The biggest reason the Penguins lost this game was their power play. They had four chances and generated all of four shots (as well as no goals).

For the most part, they actually did a decent job of keeping the puck in the offensive zone and maintaining possession. But they mostly just passed it around the perimeter waiting for a shot to open up that never arrived. After working extensively on taking more of a shot-first approach with extra practices they had with some games being postponed a few weeks ago, they regressed at being aggressive with shooting the puck.

• Matheson got walked for a goal for the second consecutive game. He can do some wonderful things with the puck and with his skating. But defending one-on-one appears to be a weakness.

• Jarry was fine. Perhaps he could have stolen a goal on the sequence Oshie scored on. But none of the goals he allowed were particularly weak.

• The abundance of special teams probably impacted this but P.O Joseph’s ice time dropped for the third consecutive game as he recorded only 12:51 on 19 shifts. That said, this might have been his best game in at least a week simply because he wasn’t directly responsible for any goals against.

• Rookie forward Drew O’Connor came back into the lineup thanks to the trickle-up effect from Jason Zucker’s injury. He ended up taking a hooking penalty that led to Wilson’s goal. That’s not exactly a great way to stay in the lineup.

• Backstrom has been many things over his wonderful career that should land him in the Hockey Hall of Fame. But he’s never been a particularly potent goal-scorer. Sure he has a handful of 20-goal seasons and even reached the 30-goal mark once many years ago. But he’s a playmaker. That said, he’s really found some goal-scoring touch this season with nine goals in 19 games. Were this a full 82-game season, he’d be on pace for 38 goals.

Historically speaking

• The last time the Penguins gave up two empty net goals in the same game was a 3-0 home loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 19, 2019. Forwards William Karlson and Mark Stone scored those goals.

Publicly speaking

• Guentzel on the power play:

“I thought we had a lot of zone time. It’s not that (a lack of possession). It’s not the work ethic getting the puck back. It’s just, I think sometimes we’re looking to pass it into the net or making that extra pass instead of just throwing it on net and breaking down coverage and trying to get one that way. We’ve got to get back to work on it and start shooting the puck.”

• Sullivan on the power play:

“We passed up opportunities to shoot the puck. We had a significant amount of zone time. It didn’t translate into as many plays at the net that I think we could have. And usually, when we put more pucks in play, we create off of it. (The Penguins) did a lot of good things on the entries. We had significant zone time. We had opportunities to put the puck at the net a little bit more. We could have generated a little bit more.”

• Guentzel on the power play’s failure to score after the Wilson penalty:

“As a power play, we’ve got to score one there. We’ve just got to stick to our own game. The referees will worry about him. We’ve just got to stick to our game and next time, we’ve got to make sure we score on that one.”

• Sullivan on his forwards failing to give a stick to Letang on the sequence that led to Wilson’s goal:

“We just didn’t do it. We didn’t execute it. Obviously, we’d like to get our defenseman a stick. It’s hard to defend the net-front without a stick. We’ve got to make sure that we get the defenseman the stick. If somebody’s going to play without it, it has to be a forward in the higher ice.”

• Tanev on his goal:

“I saw I had some space carrying the puck up ice. I think Teddy did a great job of pushing the defenseman back and creating some more space for me. I was fortunate to put a puck on net. The end result was a goal. It was a great job by Teddy in creating some space for me. I’m just putting pucks to the net and getting some fortunate bounces.”

• Guentzel on his goal and Kapanen’s importance on the sequence:

“(Letang) just kind of cycled it down. They like to play man-on-man so I just tried to beat my guy. Great play by (Kapanen) to allow that lane for me to get to the front of the net. Just trying to get it to the front of the net and see what happens from there. Not really sure where it went in but I’ll take it.”

• Wilson thought well of his hit:

“I thought it was a great hit. But I haven’t watched it at all. He batted it out of the air and I finished him through the body right after. I think that’s a great hockey play.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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