In Washington, DC, the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three times in the middle frame on Wednesday to help them to a 4-1 win over the Capitals, and end a seven-game schneid.
“Overall, I think just a complete effort, and I thought we started to get a little bit of swagger back on the bench,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Sometimes when you go through those things like we did in the third period, when you’re down to four defensemen, it’s a little bit of a rallying cry for the guys and you could feel that on the bench in the third period.”
Casey DeSmith made 24 saves in the Penguins win.
“Safe to say we needed it, and we earned it,” DeSmith said. “The penalty kill was unbelievable (3-for-3). Down to four defensemen, [I] can’t give them enough credit. What a gutsy performance by those four in the third period, and I just thought we did an amazing job in the third just managing.”
Pittsburgh improved to 5-6-2.
After a scoreless opening period, Jason Zucker hit for a goal 7:43 of the second period for a q-0 lead.
Brock McGinn scored a shorthanded marker five minutes later to push the advantage to 2-0.
“I think everybody in here believes with the process that we’re doing right now,” McGinn said. “When this team is playing the right way and playing our game, I think we can beat everybody.”
Washington has lost five of their six games.
The Pens were down to three defensemen in the game, and tapped Jeff Carter to skate the blueline.
“We were trying to figure out which forward can skate backwards,” Sullivan joked. “I’m not sure he can skate backwards, but he’s a pretty smart player and we figured we could use his wealth of experience in the League to help him.”
At 15:05, Jeff Petry scored to give the Pens more breathing room with a 3-0 lead.
The Caps got one back off a strike by Marcus Johanssen at 12:22 of the third period. The goal failed to ignite any other offense from the Caps.
Washington dropped to 6-7-2.
Jake Guentzel hit for an empty-net goal with 96 seconds left in the third period for the 4-1 final.
“It feels great,” said Carter. “The last few games, I think these guys have really been building and, for most part tonight, it was a pretty solid effort by the group.
“So, good feeling in here now.”
Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves in the Caps loss.
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