POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 6, Pens 3

Closer To You - For much of the last several weeks, the Capitals have looked like a lock to finish in the second wild card slot, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference standings. They've been comfortably clear of both Columbus and the New York Islanders, but also without much in the way of realistic upward mobility in the Eastern Conference supremacy/seeding ladder.

But as they prepared to take on the Penguins on Saturday in Pittsburgh, the Caps found themselves presented with an opportunity afforded them by the Pens' recent slide. Pittsburgh entered Saturday's tilt with two wins in its previous eight games (2-5-1). If the Caps could win Saturday's game in regulation, they would be just four points south of the Pens. And because the Caps hold two games in hand on the Pens, they could pull even with Pittsburgh in points by virtue of winning those games in hand.
The Pens currently hold the tiebreaker between the two teams, but the Caps could still hop over Pittsburgh by winning both games in hand and by playing a point better than the Pens the rest of the way. None of that will be easy, and it's still statistically unlikely. But the Caps helped themselves to step one of the process with a 6-3 win at Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
It wasn't always pretty, but it was - as is typically the case when these two teams tangle - riveting, compelling and entertaining hockey from two teams who seem eternally amped to play one another, no matter the time of day.
By the time the game was 61 seconds old, each team had scored once.
"You could tell just going to the bench in the first period that it had a playoff feel to it," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the game and the environment. "Our guys were ready for it. The [goal] against and the one for really early I don't think was indicative of either team not being ready. Both teams were ready to play. But it did have a good feel to it."
Five goals were scored in the first frame, all of them at even strength. For the sixth time in eight games, the Caps were nicked for multiple goals against in the first, but for the second straight contest, they put a crooked number on the board themselves in the opening frame.
Down 3-2 entering the second period, the Caps weathered an early Pittsburgh storm, then tied the game on Alex Ovechkin's 5-on-3 power-play goal before the five-minute mark of the second.
The Caps and Penguins combined to six goals in the game's first 35 minutes, then battled to a stalemate for the next 25-plus minutes, until Tom Wilson made a nifty play at the Washington line to spark a 2-on-1 rush with Ovechkin. Wilson wisely opted to shoot rather than pass, tucking a shot to the top right corner to put the Caps up 4-3 with 8:25 remaining. The goal was Wilson's 22nd of the season, matching his single-season career high.
Evgeny Kuznetsov added a shorthanded empty-net goal during a late Pittsburgh power play and Martin Fehervary also had an empty-net tally in the waning seconds, enabling the Caps to win for the third time in four meetings with the Penguins this season.
Turning Point - Washington was 90 seconds away from getting out of the first period with a 2-1 lead. But it yielded a pair of Pittsburgh goals in the last minute and a half of the first, and it went to the room down a goal instead.
The Pens came out with purpose in the second, and they dominated the Caps in their end, forcing a trio of icing calls against Washington in the first two minutes. All five Caps skaters were hemmed onto the ice for more than two minutes, and Ilya Samsonov made a quartet of key stops during that stretch.
Wilson was able to turn the tide by drawing an interference call on Pens defenseman Kris Letang. Before Letang exited the box, the Pens would be penalized twice more, leading to a lengthy 5-on-3 stretch for Washington, and eventually, Ovechkin's tying goal.
"I think it was the first time in my career that I actually looked up at the clock and saw that it was past two minutes," says Wilson, of getting stuck on the ice for 2 minutes and 25 seconds on his first shift of the middle frame. "I'm like, 'Uh oh, we've been out here a while.'
"It was one of those things where I actually wasn't moving too much, so I had a little bit of legs. It's harder on the center men when you're hemmed in your zone, and Nicky [Backstrom] was doing a lot of the skating. So when that puck kind of went out to space [in neutral ice], [Anthony Mantha] and I had some legs and we were able to get down ice and draw a penalty."
Those penalties gutted Pittsburgh's momentum and enabled the Caps to pull even.
"They changed the complexion of the game," says Pens coach Mike Sullivan. "When you put that power play on the ice for a 5-on-3 for two minutes - basically - that's a tall task."
Half A Century - Samsonov earned his 50th career victory on Saturday, becoming the 10th goaltender in franchise history to reach that mark. Nearing the end of his third NHL season - and his first of 82 games in length - Samsonov is now 50-19-7 for his career, with six shutouts, a 2.76 GAA and a .904 save pct.
This One Goes To Eleven - Dmitry Orlov scored his 11th goal of the season in the first period of Saturday's game, establishing a career high. He scored 10 goals in the Caps' Stanley Cup championship season of 2017-18. The goal also lifts Orlov to 30 points for the third time; his career best is 33 in 2016-17.
"He has had an excellent year," says Laviolette of Orlov. "He and [Nick Jensen] together have really been a great duo. You think about how much we use them defensively and the role that we put them in, but they're both having really good offensive years. They've done an excellent job."
Mojo Working - Caps forward Marcus Johansson scored his first goal since being obtained from Seattle at the March 21 trade deadline, and his first regular season goal as a Capital in five years and one day, since he scored against the Bruins in Boston on April 8, 2017.
"It's always nice to get that first one," says Johansson. "It's always fun to be part of the scoring and all that, but as long as we win, I couldn't care less. So yeah, it's fun to get it, but more importantly we got the win."
Prior to Saturday, Johansson's last goal of any kind in a Caps' sweater was a series-clinching overtime goal against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, in Game 6 of the opening round series between the two teams on April 23, 2017, his second goal of that game.
On Saturday in Pittsburgh, Johansson also got to feel the unique heat of the Caps-Pens rivalry for the first time in about five years.
"It's a lot of fun," says Johansson. "It's something special and always has been. These types of games have a lot of emotion, and they're fun to be part of."
The Great Eight Update - Ovechkin's power-play goal was his 44th marker of the season, tying Gordie Howe for the second-most goals in a season by a player aged 36 or older. Howe scored 44 goals at the age of 40 in 1968-69, and the record is held by Teemu Selanne, who netted 48 goals at the age of 36 in 2006-07.
Ovechkin's goal came against Pens netminder Tristan Jarry, and marked the first time he has scored against Jarry in eight games. Ovechkin has now scored against 158 different goaltenders, fourth-most in NHL history. Jaromir Jagr (178) holds the all-time mark.
Down On The Farm -For the first time since March 23, the AHL Hershey Bears were back home on Saturday night, hosting the Springfield Thunderbirds at Giant Center. The Bears took to the home cooking, earning a 5-2 win over the T-Birds.
Less than a minute after they fell down 1-0 in the first, the Bears pulled even on Dylan McIlrath's fourth goal of the season, assisted by Garrett Pilon and Mason Morelli at 8:41 of the opening period. Just over seven minutes later, Aliaksei Protas netted his seventh of the season to put the Bears in front for good. Mike Vecchione and Brett Leason assisted on the goal at 15:41 of the first.
At 13:26 of the second, Shane Gersich scored his 13th of the season with a solo helper from Pilon, pushing the Hershey lead to 3-1. The Bears carried a 3-2 lead into the final frame.
At 3:57 of the third, Vecchione notched his 15th of the season with help from Protas and Alex Alexeyev, restoring the two-goal Hershey lead at 4-2. With help from Vecchione and Protas, Cody Franson closed out the scoring on a Bears two-man advantage at 16:14, netting his ninth of the season.
Pheonix Copley stopped 25 of 27 shots in the Hershey nets, improving to 17-9-5 on the season.
The 32-27-5-4 Bears are right back in action again on Sunday when they again host the Thunderbirds at Giant Center.
By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Caps with 24:15 in ice time … Kuznetsov led the Caps with six shots on net and seven shot attempts … Martin Fehervary led Washington with nine hits … Wilson led the Caps with four blocked shots … Backstrom won 13 of 20 face-offs (65 percent) and Connor McMichael won five of six (83 percent).