POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Pens 2, Caps 1

Streaks Stopper - Wednesday's 2-1 hard luck loss to the Penguins at Capital One Arena put an end to a few streaks here in the District. The Caps' five-game winning streak is obviously no more, as is their impressive run of 14 straight games scoring three or more goals.

On an individual level, Alex Ovechkin's 14-game scoring streak and his six-game goal streak have gone by the wayside, as has Evgeny Kuznetsov's eight-game assist streak, which was one game shy of matching a franchise mark.

All three goals in the game came in the second period, the Caps scoring first on a Lars Eller goal at 6:38 of the second. But Washington's 1-0 lead didn't last three minutes; Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby deflected a Kris Letang power play point shot past Caps goalie Braden Holtby to tie the game before the midway point of the middle period. Bryan Rust scored the deciding goal with 1:02 left in the second, getting a fortuitous bounce on a goalmouth scramble to score his sixth goal in five games.
The Caps won their previous two games despite losing the special teams battle decisively both nights. They weren't able to extend that streak to three, mainly because they weren't able to finish on a number of strong chances, or to get a bounce like the one Pittsburgh got on the Rust goal.
A couple of Caps shots glanced off the iron, a couple more missed from prime scoring areas, and two got thru Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray and wobbled perilously close to going over the goal line. One of them hit the post and rolled away, and Pens defenseman Marcus Pettersson expertly swept the other one out of harm's way at the last possible second.
"It was a competitive game both ways; intense," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "Both teams had opportunities, and at the end of the day they were able to convert on one more than us. So it was a competitive game where at five-on-five it was even, and special teams has a part in it."

Powerless -For the first time this season and for the first time since they went 0-for-5 with the extra man in a 3-1 win over the Pens in Pittsburgh on April 1, the Caps failed to score a power play goal in a game in which they had five or more extra man chances on Wednesday.
Washington spent a total of 9:03 of Wednesday's game working with the manpower advantage, but it was unable to light the lamp. The Caps mustered six shots on net during that time, but they also permitted six shots while on the power play, and Caps goalie Braden Holtby had to come up with big stops on a couple of them.
"They're a team that pressures, and we expected that," says Reirden. "I think we had some chances, particularly on our last one. Earlier ones, they pressured up ice and were able to disrupt our timing a little bit. But I liked some of the chances we got in that situation and clearly special teams is an area we need to continue to work on, and it's definitely important as the season goes on, as we know."
Washington came into Wednesday's game with three power-play goals on eight tries in its previous three games, but it was rather lackluster on a couple of extra man opportunities in short succession early in the second period, when the game was still scoreless.

"I think we had a couple too many failed entries," assesses Caps defenseman John Carlson. "I think we got some good chances, some good looks, like we're used to, but we missed the net a little bit too much or not putting it in the right spots if you're not trying to score. Those become easy clears for them where they don't really have to work for them, and we had too many of those."
As is always the case, there is another team on the ice and Pittsburgh's penalty killers did quite well in limiting the Caps, too.
"They were terrific," says Penguins coach Mike Sullivan of his penalty killing outfit. "Washington's power play is very dangerous. They've got a lot of weapons. It's not an easy power play to kill against. We took an awful lot of penalties tonight. It's hard, because it takes some of our offensive guys out of the flow when we take that many. We certainly don't want to take that many night in and night out, but I thought our penalty kill was terrific tonight."
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears suffered a 5-0 shutout setback to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown. The Bears managed only 18 shots on net and Hershey netminder Vitek Vanecek was dented for five goals on 34 shots, falling to 5-6-2 on the season with the loss.
The Bears will be back in action on Friday night when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 29:02 in ice time … Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Brett Connolly led Washington with five shots on net each, and Ovechkin led the Caps with 14 shot attempts … Eight of No. 8's shot tries missed the mark … Ovechkin also led the team with six hits … Matt Niskanen and Michal Kempny each blocked three shots to lead the Capitals … Nicklas Backstrom won 12 of 19 draws (63 percent).