The Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3, in a shootout to win their home opener at PPG Paints Arena and avoid starting the 2020-21 season 0-3.
Elvis left the building when Casey DeSmith stopped Alex Ovechkin in the fourth round of the shootout. He was the only fan in attendance with PPG Paints Arena closed to fans due to government restrictions on public gathering size.
DeSmith didn’t let the Capitals score on any of their four shootout attempts. Jake Guentzel scored the winner, sneaking a shot through Ilya Samsonov’s pads.
Pittsburgh scored 19 seconds into the game. Brian Dumoulin’s slap pass from the point caromed off Evan Rodrigues’ skate and in past Samsonov, who has taken over as Washington’s No. 1 goalie with Braden Holtby in Vancouver.
That early break did not spark the Penguins, who looked listless in the first period. That was a departure from their performances in Philadelphia. In both of those losses, the Penguins had their opponents on their heels from the jump.
The Capitals claimed the lead later in the first, scoring a pair of goals in scrums in front of DeSmith. Of the 13 goals a Penguins goalie has allowed in this young season, 11 were scored within 15 feet, including those first two Sunday.
After the Penguins lost their season opener to the Philadelphia Flyers, coach Mike Sullivan told his players to not let one screw-up snowball into more.
“Usually if one mistake was made, teams can recover. But it’s when a mistake is chased with a second or third mistake, that’s when it ends up in the back of the net,” said Sullivan, who saw that happen in Friday’s loss, too.
The second goal for the Capitals in Sunday’s matinee was more of the same.
Sidney Crosby twirled in the offensive zone but got knocked off the puck and lost his stick. He booted the puck across to John Marino, who seemed unaware that Tom Wilson was barreling in on him. After his turnover, Marino didn’t pick up Ovechkin as the Russian whacked a rebound try past DeSmith.
The Penguins fought back in the second period, making it 3-3 after two.
Colton Sceviour took advantage of a stick-handling misadventure from Samsonov early in the second period to score his first goal with the Penguins.
The Capitals pulled ahead again eight minutes later. Crosby went to the box for hooking seconds after he set up Jason Zucker for a promising chance that Samsonov slid across to shut it down. The Capitals cashed in on the ensuing 4-on-3. It was the third straight game that the Penguins gave up a power-play goal.
Marcus Pettersson whipped a gorgeous shot under the crossbar to tie it up at 3-3. Zucker patiently looped around the Capitals net before spotting Pettersson sneaking into the high slot. That was the first 5-on-5 goal the Penguins scored this season with the line of Zucker, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust on the ice.
After a tightly-checked third period, the game was settled in a shootout.
Sullivan gave struggling starter Tristan Jarry a break on Sunday, turning to DeSmith after the backup was sharp after replacing Jarry early in Friday’s loss.
In his first start at the NHL level since March 14, 2019, DeSmith stopped 20 shots before the shootout. His finest save came in the second period, when he scrambled across his crease to stymie Ovechkin’s one-time blast from the right circle.
The win kept the Penguins from starting 0-3 for the first time since 2015-16.
The Penguins and Capitals will face off again Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
