Two straight victories take the Pittsburgh Penguins (4th in East Division) to a road contest against the Washington Capitals (2nd in the East), who have already lost three of their previous four encounters with the Pens this season.
Pens Edge Out Islanders
The Pittsburgh Penguins (9-6-1) won for the second straight time and fourth in their last five fixtures (4-1-0) after beating the New York Islanders with a count of 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday. Sidney Crosby (6 goals, 15 points this year) became the first athlete to play 1,000 games for the Pens, dishing out two assists to Kris Letang (2 goals, 9 points), who opened the scoring during power play midway through the second period and banked the eventual winner with 6:26 remaining in the contest after Mike Matheson (1 goal, 3 points) tied the proceedings at 2-2 six minutes prior.Tristan Jarry’s confidence level is growing with every game, but starts all with practice. pic.twitter.com/arjrWhuGD5
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 22, 2021
Goalie Tristan Jarry stopped 33 shots on Saturday, taking his current performance total to 5-5-1 for the season with a 3.30 GAA and a .892 save percentage. He has posted a 1-1-0 previous record against the Washington Capitals with a 3.05 GAA and a .918 save percentage. The Penguins, meanwhile, are netting the 15th highest number of goals per game this season (3.00), while giving up the 7th highest quantity on the defensive end (3.31). They are 25th in power play with a 14.9% success rate (7-for-47) and 26th in penalty kill with 74.0% efficiency (37-for-50).
Capitals Overcome Devils
A third victory in the past four outings (3-1-0) came about for the Washington Capitals (9-5-3), who edged out the New Jersey Devils with a score of 4-3 at Capital One Arena on Sunday. Playing the second fixture of a back-to-back set following Saturday’s 4-1 home defeat to the New York Rangers, the Caps rallied from two goals down in the second period, with T.J. Oshie (4 markers, 12 points this year) netting twice for the night. John Carlson (5 goals, 14 points) and Alex Ovechkin (6 goals, 15 points) also scored for Washington, which outshot New Jersey 41-26, killed two of its three penalties and went 3-for-4 on power play.POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: #Caps 4, Devils 3 - Caps win battle of well-rested goalies, Washington's power play strikes for trio of tallies, Ovechkin claims another victim, more: https://t.co/NtXqC18UPH
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) February 22, 2021
Goalie Craig Anderson (1-1-0 on the season with a 3.61 GAA and a .853 save percentage) made 22 saves in his first win of the current campaign. Vitek Vanecek (7-4-2 on the year with a 2.92 GAA and a .907 save percentage), though, is expected back in the cage for the Capitals on Tuesday, having already gone 1-1-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins historically with a 3.32 GAA and a .892 save percentage. Washington, meanwhile, is 8th in most goals scored per game this season (3.35), 4th in most goals allowed on average (3.41), 2nd best in power play (33.3%; 15-for-45) and 16th in penalty kill (79.3%; 46-for-58).
Team Trends
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Pittsburgh (according to Covers.com)
- Penguins are 2-8 in their last 10 road games.
- Penguins are 3-7 in their last 10 vs. a team with a winning record.
Washington (according to Covers.com)
- Capitals are 6-1 in their last 7 Tuesday games.
- Capitals are 9-4 in their last 13 in the third game of a 3-in-4 situation.
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