Short-handed Capitals manage to get a point PITTSBURGH — Already without star center Nicklas Backstrom, the Capitals appeared in deep trouble Sunday morning when fellow center Marcus Johansson took ill and was scratched.
On the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins, that appeared to be a devastating blow to a team already thin down the middle of its lineup. Yet somehow Washington managed to survive and earn a standings point.
Alex Ovechkin scored just 68 seconds into the third period to put the Caps ahead, but a goal by James Neal midway through the third period and then another by Evgeni Malkin in overtime lifted Pittsburgh to a 4-3 victory at Consol Energy Center.
Washington fell behind 2-0 before the game was six minutes old thanks to goals from defenseman Kris Letang on the power play and from Neal off a faceoff. Things looked dire for the Caps (25-19-3), who had been shut out last week 3-0 by both the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, two of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference.
So the point was nice. But there was a reason forward Brooks Laich, who was late getting over to Malkin at the right doorstep on the game-winning stuff attempt after a shot rebounded off the end boards, had his head buried in a towel in the locker room after the game.
“It’s a frustrating loss, but I think it was a good game,” Washington goalie Michal Neuvirth said. “We battle hard, and they got the lucky bounce at the end.”
The Caps didn’t let the lineup changes affect them. Instead, Washington fired 10 shots at Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (17 saves) in the second period, Mike Knuble hit a post and Matt Hendricks was denied on a breakaway as he flew out of the penalty box and tried to deke Fleury.
But in between those near misses, defenseman Dennis Wideman fed Laich in front for a goal at 11:02 of the second. Just 3:36 later, Hendricks disrupted Letang in the Pittsburgh offensive zone, and that turnover allowed Alex Ovechkin to push the puck ahead to Mathieu Perreault. His shot was stopped by Fleury, but Alexander Semin was there to convert the rebound and tie the game at 2-2.
Ovechkin, waiting at the left circle, later finished a beautiful cross-ice feed from Semin 1:08 into the third. That play started with a nifty drop pass from Perreault — on the top line in place of Johansson — as he and his teammates entered the offensive zone. It was goal No. 20 for Ovechkin and his first three-point game of the year.
“We got some guys out of the lineup right now. And that team does, too,” Wideman said. “That team’s been playing a short lineup all year. But I think for us to hang in there and play as hard as we did was good. We showed some emotion. We got in there and mixed it up a little bit, and that’s good for our team to get in and stand up for each other.”
