Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Capitals 2 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime win against the Capitals:

First things first, there was no update on Penguins forward Jason Zucker following the game.

At 10:03 of the third period, he rushed to the right point of the defensive zone to defend a wrister by Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen. Their right skates came in contact and Zucker took an awkward tumble into the boards in front of his bench. His left leg was pinned against the wall as most of his weight came crashing down.

It looked awful and given that the Capital One Arena was mostly empty, Zucker’s screams were audible on television, even off camera.

Zucker laid on the ice for several minutes and needed help from team staffers to even get to the dressing room.

From what was visible on television, his teammates just seemed to be legitimately worried about Zucker.

“Definitely a lot of concern,” Penguins defenseman John Marino said. “Obviously, he’s a big part of this team, on and off the ice. It (stinks) when a guy goes down. Nobody wants to see that.”

Zucker has been part of the Penguins for just over a year as he was acquired via trade in early February of 2020. And keep in mind what has happened over much of the past year with regards to the pandemic. That’s to say there have not been many games, relatively speaking. So Zucker’s exposure to his new teammates on road trips, team dinners, practices, family functions, etc. has been scant.

Sure, he’s probably on text chains and video chats. But he hasn’t been with his new teammates in a meaningful direct way for all that much time within the context of a very trying 11-plus months for the world.

Despite that, he’s become a very popular teammate. A pretty outgoing and sociable personality, Zucker is one of the more prominent voices on a team full soft-spoken and curt entities.

Whether it’s through his various social initiatives — he has been wearing commemorative skates in honor of NHL pioneer Willie O’Ree as of late — or just the fact that he has three kids and relates well to other fathers on the team, Zucker had quickly become enveloped with his teammates despite limited interactions.

So when he got injured Tuesday, there appeared to be dire concern from the other 19 Penguins players in uniform.

That’s not to say if a newcomer like Colton Sceviour or a rookie like Drew O’Connor was injured in an equally gruesome fashion, the reaction would be indifference. But Zucker’s affable nature just seemed to make his misfortune even glummer for his teammates.

“He’s a popular guy,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “He’s a real good person. He’s a great teammate. He’s totally invested in the Penguins. Anytime a teammate goes down, there’s obvious concern from everybody because we all care about him. He’s really become one of the quiet leaders in the locker room. He’s a veteran guy for us. He plays the game hard. He’s a popular guy in our room.”

What happened

Malkin scored the contest’s first goal on a power play 6:41 into regulation. Off the Capitals’ left half wall, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel fed a pass to the center point for defenseman Kris Letang. Taking a few moments to survey the offensive zone, Letang chucked a shot/pass to the right of the cage where Malkin was positioned. Concentrating on the puck, Malkin was able to re-direct the puck with his stick past goaltender Vitek Vanecek’s glove hand on the near side for his fourth goal of the season. Letang and Guentzel registered assists.

The game was tied 1-1 at 4:38 into the second period. From in front of the Penguins’ bench, Capitals defenseman Zdeno Chara chipped a puck across the ice to the offensive blue line for forward Richard Panik. Gaining the offensive zone with speed, Panik surged past minimal resistance from Malkin then powered through a check attempt by Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson. Cutting across the front of the crease, Panik was able to tuck his second goal of the season past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right skate. Chara and defenseman John Carlson had assists.

Washington took its first lead, 2-1, at 13:18 of the second. Penguins rookie defenseman P.O Joseph tried to play a puck off his own left wing wall but pressure from forechecking Capitals forward Jakub Vrana forced Joseph to turn the puck over as he backhanded it to the left point for onrushing Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov. Darting to the left circle, Kuznetsov slipped a subtle forehand pass to the right circle for former Penguins forward Conor Sheary who pumped a one-timer past Jarry’s glove hand on the near side for his fifth goal. Kuznetsov had the lone assist.

Only 22 seconds later, the Penguins responded. Spinning away from Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov in the offensive high slot, Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen fed a pass to Marino at the right point. Allowing the play to develop, Marino lofted another shot/pass toward the right of the cage where Guentzel deflected the puck with the shaft of his stick past Vanacek on the far side for his sixth goal. Assists went to Marino and Kapanen.

After a scoreless third period, the Penguins claimed victory in overtime at the 1:43 mark. From the Penguins’ center point, Orlov pumped a wrister wide to the left of the cage. Jarry left his crease and backhand swatted the rebound off the left wing boards and created an outlet of sorts for Penguins forward Teddy Blueger. Claiming the puck, Blueger chugged up the right wing, creating a two-on-one rush through the neutral zone with Kapanen against Orlov. Gaining the offensive zone, Blueger drew Orlov into the right circle and slipped a pass to a wide open Kapanen in the left circle. Winding up, Kapanen smacked a one-timer past the blocker of Vanecek on the near side for his third goal and a win. Blueger and Jarry got assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins dominated shots, 37-22.

• Guentzel led the game with six shots.

• Forward Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller, T.J. Oshie, Sheary, Vrana, defensemen Brenden Dillon and Justin Schultz each led the Capitals with two shots.

• Marino led the game with 22:18 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Carlson led the Capitals with 22:00 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• The Penguins led in faceoffs, 35-28 (56%).

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was 17 for 25 (68%).

• Eller was 8 for 14 (57%).

• Matheson and Dillon each led the game with four blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• Kapanen provided quite a response after being benched during the third period of Saturday’s 3-2 home win against the New York Islanders. He wasn’t just benched in that game. He was demoted to the fourth line then he was benched.

After what one can assume was a frank conversation with Sullivan on Monday, Kapanen was placed back on the top line and came through with two important points. He looked much more attentive to the details of his role.

• During the final 9:01 of regulation, Letang and Joseph did not record a shift. According to Sullivan, Letang was in the dressing room receiving medical care but did not specify for what. Eventually, he did return and recorded a single shift in overtime. As for Joseph, he seemed to be “guilty by association” and did not get on the ice as the bottom two pairings — Marino and Matheson as well as Cody Ceci and Marcus Pettersson — finished the third period.

Either way, the Penguins won this game without their top defensive pairing for the final nine-plus minutes of regulation.

• Zucker’s injury — let’s just assume he could be out for some significant length of time — comes just as Jared McCann is taking steps in returning to the lineup. Currently on injured reserve as a result of an undisclosed ailment that has sidelined him for six games, McCann is on the road trip skating with the team in some capacity while other guys on injured reserve such as defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forward Evan Rodrigues remain in Western Pennsylvania.

It might be premature to assume McCann is ready to return as soon as their next game Thursday, but he’s not on the road trip just to get Marriott points. He could fill an immediate need on the left wing with Zucker sidelined.

• Blueger keeps finding new ways to contribute. He gets on the ice in overtime and creates a two-on-one. Furthermore, he looked off a fake shot just a bit to draw in Orlov to set up Kapanen’s goal. He’s such a smart player.

• Malkin scored the game’s first goal and did so on a power play. So there was progress for him individually and for that group. But later in the second period, Malkin (and Matheson, in all fairness) gave Panik an easy route to the net on the Capitals’ first goal.

On the occasions Malkin looks like he’s taking a step forward, he often seems to take a step back in an immediate sense.

• Overall, the Penguins played a really good defensive game considering how much they possessed the puck and kept it away from the Capitals. It was one of their better overall performances of the season.

• It’s hard to say Jarry was really tested a great deal but he was pretty sturdy and extended his string of strong performances as of late. And his play to bat that puck up ice to eventually set up Kapanen’s goal was subtle but impressive.

• Sceviour returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for two games. By no means was he an impactful entity on the ice but he appeared to have some urgency to the 7:03 of ice time he offered on 12 shifts. Sceviour pumped three shots on net on three attempts and just looked like he wanted to do something with the minimal ice time he gets.

• Vanecek might be a good goaltender someday. He has some pedigree as a second-round pick (No. 39 overall) in 2014 and there are some NHL-caliber skills evident. But the Capitals are doing him no favors throwing him into the fire this often. That said, they really have no choice given the health issues of starter Ilya Samsonov (covid-19 protocol) and Henrik Lundqvist (heart).

Historically speaking

• This was the Penguins’ first overtime win against the Capitals since all the way back on Jan. 19 of 2021. Crosby scored the winning goal of a 5-4 home victory.

• Jarry (40 wins) surpassed Gary Inness (39) for 14th place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.

• Jarry is now tied for the NHL lead in goaltending assists along with Kevin Lankinen of the Chicago Blackhawks and Anton Khudobin of the Dallas Stars with two each. He is also now tied with Matt Murray for eighth place on the franchise’s career goaltending scoring list with four points (all assists). Tom Barrasso is entrenched in the top spot with 31 points (also, all assists).

• Sheary scored a goal against his former team for the second consecutive game. He now has eight points (six goals, two assists) in eight career games against the Penguins.

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan was high on Kapanen:

“I thought it was one of (Kapanen’s) best games as a Penguin. He was much more involved in the forecheck. He stayed engaged in the offensive zone with his linemates. His speed was more evident and obviously, the goal he scored, you can see how capable of a goal scorer he is. With the speed that he has and that scoring touch, we think he can be a real important player for us. I thought it might have been one of (Kapanen’s) best games, if not his best game, as a Penguin.”

• Kapanen spoke of the conversation he had with Sullivan on Monday:

“It was a good time to have a conversation with him, kind of reset and look back at the past games that I have played which obviously haven’t been good enough. Just kind of talking about what he expects of me, what he expects out of me. To play with (Crosby and Guentzel), it’s obviously a privilege. Our line played better today and I feel like I took strides forward in the right direction. But there’s still room to improve.

“Everybody sees how I played. I see it too. I feel it. It wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t as engaged as I wanted to be and should have been. So it was a good time to have a talk. He was trying to help me out as much as he can to push me forward into becoming a better player. It was a good time to have that talk.”

• Kapanen on his goal:

“They had a chance in our zone and it kind of went into the boards there. Teddy did a good job of picking it up. I just kind of yelled at him that we have a two-on-one (rush). He just found me really well. He was kind of (showing) a fake shot, gave it to me and I just tried to go short side. I was lucky enough that it went in.”

• Capitals coach Peter Laviolette didn’t think his team offered enough:

“The games against Pittsburgh, you’ve got to compete at a higher level. You’ve got to compete from the (opening) faceoff drops. Just trying to win that battle, that possession … You’ve got to gear up and prepare for that.”

• Sheary on his success against his former team:

“I don’t really know. I guess I know a little bit of their tendencies from being there. I guess a lot of guys in this league have a team that they just find ways to score against and play well against. For whatever reason, that’s been Pittsburgh since I left there. I don’t know what it is specifically. Maybe I just get a little bit more ramped up to play against them.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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