Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Capitals 0

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-0 win against the Capitals:

First things first, there was no update on Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson.

He left the game at 16:11 of the second period when he was struck in the face on a clearing attempt by goaltender Tristan Jarry:

Matheson was bleeding from the face and left the ice under his own power.

Any potential absence by Matheson would clearly not be good for the Penguins. He has been one of the team’s biggest individual success stories this season as he has staged something of a course correction for his career since joining the Penguins.

The Penguins seemed to struggle in the immediate aftermath of his departure. During the final 3:49 of the second period, the Capitals peppered the Penguins with five shots.

Thankfully for them, Jarry was tuned in during this game.

Perhaps his finest save came a few moments after Matheson was injured at the 16:41 mark of the second.

In the neutral zone, Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom banked a pass off the left wing boards and provided forward Anthony Mantha a chance to gain the offensive zone with momentum. Zipping past Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci and forward Jeff Carter, Mantha attacked the net, going forehand to backhand and jabbed a shot on net. Jarry read the sequence like a comic book and snuffed out the shot with his left skate.

He followed that up at the 17:50 mark by denying Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov on a point-blank chance from the left circle:

“He played awesome for us tonight,” Ceci said via video conference. “We got a little loose towards the end of the second period. A couple of long shifts, couldn’t get off the ice. He made some big saves for us and shut the door there.”

Jarry didn’t win the game by himself. The Penguins buttoned up their defense in the third period by allowing only five shots.

But that final 3:49 of the second period was a critical juncture of this contest. The Capitals finally generated some momentum and it was their best chance to make this a competitive affair.

But Jarry had other ideas.

“He was fantastic,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “There was a whole lot of chances that we gave up there in the second period and he was unbelievable, diving around, making great saves. You can see it, he’s just calm, cool and confident in there right now. That just kind of flows through the lineup anytime your goalie is making saves like that.”

What happened

Rust opened the scoring with two unassisted goals. His first goal came only 2:56 into regulation. After Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway failed to keep a puck inside the Penguins’ blue line and stumbled to the ice, Rust chased it down as it slid into Washington’s zone. Claiming the puck in front of the home bench, Rust attacked the net from the left circle and snapped off a wrister that beat the underside of goaltender Ilya Samsonov’s glove on the far side for his 21st goal of the season.

Rust cashed in again all of 26 seconds into the second period. After Capitals forward Michael Raffl won a faceoff in the Penguins’ left circle against forward Sidney Crosby, Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov claimed the puck and attempted a slapper from center point. Rust challenged the shot and blocked it with his right leg, causing a rebound to deflect to the neutral zone. With Orlov late in reacting to the rebound, Rust surged past him, collected the puck and created his own breakaway from Washington’s blue line. Fending off Orlov, Rust deked forehand to backhand to forehand, juked Samsonov out of position and tucked in an easy shot.

The Penguins went up by a field goal at 10:43 of the second with a little bit of luck. After Penguins forward Jeff Carter claimed a faceoff in the Captials’ left circle against forward Nic Dowd, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang corralled the puck on the near wall, shielded it from Hathaway and whipped it toward the crease. Carter was battling for position to the right of the blue paint with Dowd and had the puck deflect off his right skate into the cage for his 12th goal of the season and fourth since joining the Penguins via trade April 12. Letang had the lone assist.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins had a 26-24 edge in shots.

• Penguins forwards Zach Aston-Reese, Rust, Capitals forwards Lars Eller, Mantha, and ex-Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz each led the game with three shots.

• Letang led the game with 26:28 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• Defenseman Zdeno Chara led the Capitals with 21:26 of ice time.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 30-23 (57%).

• Penguins forward Frederick Gaudreau was 7 for 9 (78%).

• Dowd was 5 for 9 (56%).

• Chara led the game with four blocked shots.

• Crosby and defenseman Marcus Pettersson led the Penguins with two blocked shots each.

• Jarry made 24 saves on 24 shots to earn his second shutout of the season (and second in a week).

• Samsonov made 23 saves on 26 shots.

Randomly speaking

• Aside from that spurt late in the second period, the Penguins played a pretty strong defensive game. Capitals coach Peter Laviolette repeatedly called it a “low-event” game. They got to an early lead and really just inhibited any notion of the Capitals trying to make this a run-and-gun affair. At the risk of stating the obvious, this might have been their best defensive effort of the season.

• A major caveat to that is the absences of Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin and defenseman John Carlson. That’s two of Washington’s most indispensable players, and the Capitals are clearly an inferior team minus their talents. That said, the Penguins have found a way to make do without the services of forwards Evgeni Malkin and Brandon Tanev for a few weeks.

• Having a 44-year-old like Chara, even if he’s a freak of evolution, lead your team in ice time is never ideal.

• The evolution of Bryan Rust as a goal-scorer continues. When he first got to the NHL in 2014, he was just a guy who blasted pucks from anywhere on the ice. Now, he’s a guy who can score from anywhere on the ice. If the NHL had not been disrupted the past two seasons due to the pandemic, he’s a 30-goal scorer.

• Carter has certainly scored prettier goals in his career than the one he recorded Saturday. But such a goal further displayed how comfortable he is getting playing with the Penguins. He simply won a faceoff and went to the net, getting a somewhat lucky bounce. He’s a very intelligent player given his 16 years of NHL experience. His savvy was on display with that sequence.

• The Penguins were 0 for 2 on the power play, though each of their chances with the man advantage came late when they were shielding a three-goal lead and they weren’t really pressing the issue.

• The Capitals are no strangers when it comes to trying to bully the Penguins, but they sure picked a strange target in Penguins forward Teddy Blueger.

First, at 10:20 of the third period, Blueger and rugged Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon got tied up and Dillon (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) tried to fight Blueger (6-foot, 185 pounds). Both players were given fighting majors but it would be a stretch to label their interaction as a “fight.” Blueger made a business decision and bailed before it got too serious.

Later, at 17:07 of the third period, Blueger made a rush on the Capitals’ net and was cross-checked by forward Tom Wilson, a long-time Penguins nemesis. As Blueger recovered to his skates, Wilson grabbed Blueger by the jersey and gave him a jab to the face, presumably in hopes of getting Blueger to take a retaliatory penalty. Blueger didn’t bite and the Penguins were able to milk the final minutes off the clock.

It was just odd seeing Blueger, a fairly inert entity in terms of mixing things up, being such a target of ire.

• With forward Evan Rodrigues sidelined due to a suspected left ankle injury, forward Sam Lafferty returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for five games. His insertion into the lineup was interesting given his penchant for throwing hits and the type of game the Capitals prefer to play.

Lafferty logged 9:00 of ice time on 15 shifts and recorded two shots on two attempts. He was also credited with a team-leading four hits and even mixed it up with Wilson after the game had ended.

• Crosby was held without a point for the third consecutive game. That’s his longest such streak of the season.

• The Penguins finished the regular season with a 6-2-0 record against the Capitals, with four of those wins going beyond regulation.

Historically speaking

• It had been a while since the Penguins last shut out the Capitals in a regular season game. Like “Dan Bylsma was still the coach” while.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in a 2-0 home win on March 11, 2014. Forward Jussi Jokinen and Crosby scored the Penguins’ goals that day.

• This was only the third time the Penguins had ever played a regular season game in May. The first two each came in the final days of the 1994-95 season which was delayed and shortened by a lockout.

On May 2, 1995, they lost, 7-2, on the road against the Capitals. Then on May 3, they were beaten at home by the Florida Panthers, 4-3.

• Rust’s second goal was the 100th of his career.

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan on Jarry:

“He’s just been so solid. He’s tracking the puck so well. His rebound control has been terrific. His handles tonight on some of the rims, especially our penalty kill, he got to some pucks and helped us get 200-foot clears. That’s a dimension of his game where he can be so good for us in helping us get out of our end, whether it be five-on-five with our breakouts or on the penalty kill when teams dump the puck in. He’s on top of his game right now. He made some huge saves in the second half of the second period. … I thought our game got away from us a little bit. Give Washington credit, they pushed hard there and they had momentum in that second half of the second period. Tristan made some real big saves to keep the score where it was. …That’s the impact that Tristan can have on the game for us is he makes some key saves at key times that give us an opportunity to win games. “

• Sullivan on Rust:

“I’m proud of him. We were together in the (American Hockey League) in Wilkes-Barre. I’ve seen his game at the (AHL) level and grow into the player that he is right now. I couldn’t be happier for him or more proud of him. He’s really turned himself into a real impact player. He understands how to play to his strengths. He’s developed his offensive game, I think, as any younger player that I’ve been around as a coach. … I can’t say enough about (Rust) and what he brings to this team. … He is one (heck) of a hockey player.”

• Ceci on the Penguins’ success against the Capitals this season:

“Just trying to play in their face, be up on pucks and try to take their speed away. They’re really good off the rush when they get speed and with odd-man rushes. So we’re trying to eliminate that as much as we can. I think we did a better job tonight than we have in the past and it showed.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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