NHL Update: Washington Capitals knock off Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0
Michal Neuvirth stopped 39 shots, as Washington Capitals held on for a 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh Penguins, at Consol Energy Centre on Monday.
Neuvirth made 18 saves in the opening stanza, seven in the middle period and 14 in the third session for his third career shutout.
Alex Ovechkin recorded the lone goal of the game for Capitals, who won for the third time in four play-offs. Washington beat Pittsburgh for the 10th time in the previous 12 meetings and won its seventh consecutive game in the Pittsburgh.
"It's always fun to play against Pittsburgh," said Ovechkin. "It's always important to get two points, especially on the road."
Marc-Andre Fleury was the hard-luck loser, giving up only one goal on 24 shots for Penguins who has dropped for the sixth time in eight contests.
The play started very slowly. The opening stanza was goalless despite Capitals hitting seven shots on the net.
Neuvirth proved better. He saved 18 shots in the opening stanza alone. With less than seven minutes left in the first frame, Neuvirth kick out right pad to stop Pascal Dupuis’ backhander. After three minutes, he blocked Ryan Craig’s shot from
the left circle.
“I made a few saves early in the game and I was feeling pretty good,” Neuvirth said. “I was confident the whole game.”
Washington forward Matt Bradley pulled down Matt Cooke in the corner, leading to a scrum including Penguins’ Jordan Staal. Bradley was whistled for charging and Staal was credited with a roughing penalty.
Moments later, Ovechkin ripped a slap shot from the right circle that Fleury saved with a swooping glove.
The game stayed at 0-0 deadlock until Ovechkin put Washington on the board with almost 3 ½ minutes to play in the middle frame. The goal came when he streaked inside the blue line on a power play, received a pass from Marcus Johansson and fired
a shot from the point that Fleury was unable to block. It was Ovechkin’s 24th goal of the season.
“I had lots of time to see what’s going on, and I just fired it,” Ovechkin said. “We beat a good team in a hard building to play. We got these points, just enjoy our day off.”
Fleury faced only three shots in the final stanza and then he was benched in the last minute in favour of an extra skater, but Pittsburgh failed to equalize the scoring.
"We controlled just about every aspect of that game, we just couldn't find a way to put the puck in the net," said Penguins forward Mike Rupp.
Tags: