Miroschnichenko Scores First NHL Goal As Washington Capitals Pummel Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-0, Before Trade Deadline; Ovechkin Moves Into Top-15 Among NHL’s All-Time Point Leaders

Contents
Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty ImagesFIRST PERIODScreenshots: Natural StatTrickSECOND PERIODTHIRD PERIODStandingsLike this:
Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals trounced the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 6-0 at PPG Paints Arena, where they have won five of their past six visits to, on Thursday after trading left-wing Anthony Mantha and defenseman Joel Edmundson this week before the NHL Trade Deadline at 3 PM ET on Friday. The team improved to 29-23-9 (.549 points percentage) this season. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 39 saves in the shutout, the most he has ever made at the NHL level in such a victory. It was his career-high 14th win of the season.

Washington’s Lines

Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Aliaksei Protas
Max Pacioretty – Connor McMichael – Tom Wilson
Ivan Miroschnicenko – Dylan Strome – Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn – Mike Sgarbossa – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Trevor Van Riemsdyk – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev – Ethan Bear

Lindgren
Hunter Shepard

Scratched: N/A

Injured: C Nicklas Backstrom (hip), D Martin Fehervary (lower-body), RW T.J. Oshie (upper-body), C Nic Dowd (upper-body), G Darcy Kuemper (illness)

Shepard was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears prior to puck drop. Malenstyn, Aube-Kubel, Pacioretty, Jensen, Dowd, and Lindgren have all received trade interest leading up to Friday.

Pittsburgh’s Lines

Lars Eller – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith – Evgeni Malkin – Valtteri Puustinen
Jesse Puljujarvi – Noel Acciari – Emil Bemstrom
Jansen Harkins – Jonna Koppanen – Jeff Carter

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves – Chad Ruhwedel

Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic

Scratched: D John Ludvig, LW Jonathan Gruden

Injured: LW Jake Guentzel (upper-body), RW Bryan Rust (upper-body), LW Matt Nieto (knee), LW Drew O’Connor (concussion)

FIRST PERIOD

Scoring

1:51, 1-0 Washington (SHG): After Malenstyn broke a pass up and chipped the puck up the boards, he sprinted to it and fed Wilson across at the net-mouth. Jarry stopped Wilson’s first attempt with the blocker before Wilson tapped in the loose puck on the follow-up. The goal was Wilson’s ninth career shorthanded tally, which moves him past Matt Pettinger for the eighth most in franchise history. Wilson has scored in four-straight games at PPG Paints Arena and has recorded a point in five-straight contests at Pittsburgh (2/1/22-3/7/24: four goals, six points).

Shots: 17-15 Washington

Other Notable Stats: Washington had three power plays while Pittsburgh had one, 6-3 Washington in blocked shots, 9-4 Pittsburgh in hits

Screenshots: Natural StatTrick

SECOND PERIOD

Scoring

0:30, 2-0 (PPG): Ovechkin slammed in the rebound off of Carlson’s wrist shot, which was deflected into Jarry’s pad by Strome in front, at the doorstep. Strome has recorded 20 points (six goals) in his last 16 games. Ovechkin has scored 10 goals in his last 15. The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in six-straight games and in nine of their last 10 games. Washington’s 14 power-play goals since Feb. 8 are the second most in the NHL (Florida: 16 PPG). Strome extended his point streak to three games (four assists, five points). Strome, who recorded 12 assists through his first 47 games of the season, has now tallied 14 assists in his last 14 games.

3:16, 3-0: Jensen tapped in the rebound off of Malenstyn’s wrister from the dot at the side of the net. The goal was Jensen’s first of the season. Jensen’s nine points (seven assists) in 28 career games vs. Pittsburgh are the second most he has recorded against a single franchise (three goals, 10 points in 21 games vs. Toronto Maple Leafs). With the assist, Malenstyn earned his second career multi-assist game (12/10/23 at Chicago Blackhawks: two).

At 7:18, Harkins took Malenstyn down to the ice as the two tussled.

8:50, 4-0: Lapierre turned around in front of the net and wristed one through the five-hole of Jarry after Van Riemsdyk set him up from behind the cage. He has four goals and six points in his last five games since being recalled from Hershey and six goals overall. Jarry’s night ended after he allowed four goals on 22 shots (.818). Lapierre’s six points since Feb. 26 rank second among NHL rookies, trailing only Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (five goals, eight points in 5 five games).

16:21, 5-0: Miroschnichenko got the puck after Strome set him up from behind the net and the puck rimmed around the boards, deked, took the puck wide on Jarry, and beat him to the right pad to score his first career NHL goal. Excluding Jensen, four of the team’s five goals tonight have been scored by Capitals’ first-round draft picks. With his 1,532nd career point (840 goals), Ovechkin passed Paul Coffey for the 15th-most points in NHL history.

Shots: 28-24 Pittsburgh, including 14-9 in the second

Other Notable Stats: 15-8 Washington in blocked shots, 19-9 Pittsburgh in hits, Washington scored once on three power plays while Pittsburgh did not convert on any of their three

THIRD PERIOD

Scoring

2:13, 6-0: Milano hammed a one-timer off the cycle after Alexeyev got a pass by Strome at the top, pinched, thread one under the stick of Graves. Milano has goals in four straight games. Strome notched his third assist of the outing, the fifth time that he has done so in his NHL career. Strome, who turned 27 on Thursday, has recorded 64 points (22 goals) in 63 career games played in the month of March.

Shots: 39-29 Pittsburgh, including 10-5 in the third

Other Notable Stats: Washington finished one-for-five on the power play while Pittsburgh went 0-for-four, 22-11 Pittsburgh in hits, 20-13 Washington in blocked shots

The Capitals’ 6-0 win over Pittsburgh marks their largest margin of victory in a shutout since March 15, 2021 (6-0 win at Buffalo Sabres).

Standings

Washington is currently five points back of the Tampa Bay Lighting (with three games in hand) for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and five behind the Detroit Red Wings (one) for the first. In addition, they are five/seven/nine … behind the Philadelphia Flyers (three) for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals are also a point behind the New York Islanders (with each team having played 61 games) in addition to three ahead of Pittsburgh (61) and the New Jersey Devils (with two in hand) in the wild-card race.

Next game: Saturday vs. Chicago Blackhawks (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown

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