WASHINGTON — The Penguins on Tuesday walked out of Capital One Arena with another win over the rival Washington Capitals. This one came in thrilling fashion, with Kasperi Kapanen scoring in overtime to give them a 3-2 victory.
But they appear to have suffered a significant loss during the third period.
The Penguins may be without Jason Zucker for a while after a fluky sequence that left the winger writhing on the ice in pain in front of the Pittsburgh bench.
Zucker was chasing the puck out to the point in the defensive zone when his skate collided with the skate of Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen. That knocked Zucker slightly off balance and when he fell to the ice his left leg got caught underneath him. With no fans inside the arena, Zucker’s painful shouts rang out.
Zucker laid on the ice for two minutes while athletic trainers and the team doctor examined him. Players from both teams tapped their sticks in respect as Zucker was helped to his feet. He was unable to put weight on his left leg as teammates helped him hobble to the bench and toward the tunnel to the dressing room.
He did not return to the game and no update on his status has been provided.
The 29-year-old joined the Penguins just over a year ago when former general manager Jim Rutherford acquired him from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for prospect Calen Addison and what turned out to be their 2021 first-round pick.
Zucker had six points and six assists in 15 regular-season games last season before the pandemic shut the league down. He has not been as productive this season. He has four goals, just seven points and a minus-5 rating through 17 games.
If Zucker is indeed out for an extended period of time, the Penguins will likely turn to Jared McCann in a top-six role. He has been sidelined since Feb. 6 due to a lower-body injury but is back on the ice and could return in the coming days.
Their left wing options include rookie Drew O’Connor and Zach Aston-Reese.
The Penguins controlled play for much of the evening, generating about twice as many shots from the slot, chances off the rush and overall shots on goal. Through two periods, they were out-shooting the home team by a 30-15 margin.
Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play 6:41 into the game to give the Penguins an early lead. Kris Letang made a heady play at the point to whip the puck through a crowd to Malkin, who ramped it over Vitek Vanecek’s left pad. It was just the third time all season the Penguins had a power-play goal in consecutive games.
That goal seemed to spark Malkin, who has now notched a point in three straight games. He danced around a Capitals defenseman later in the first but couldn’t get a shot off. He also at one point back-checked hard to help break up a play.
That was a theme throughout the period. Both Sidney Crosby and Zach Aston-Reese hustled all the way back to prevent a chance off the rush from happening.
The second was a different story, with the Capitals scoring twice off the rush.
Richard Panik tied the score at 1-1 a few minutes into the period. He drove wide past Mike Matheson and then made a hard cut at the goal line toward the net. He somehow tucked the puck between Tristan Jarry’s right skate and the post.
Conor Sheary ripped a one-timer past Jarry later in the period. It was second goal against his former team this season. But Jake Guentzel scored 22 seconds later, swatting John Marino’s rising shot past Vanecek, to tie the score back up.
Guentzel produced a pair of points Tuesday. He has nine of them in his last seven games and is now nipping at Crosby’s heels for the team lead in points.
Kapanen was back on Crosby’s right wing on Tuesday. During Saturday’s 3-2 win against the New York Islanders, Kapanen played just one shift in the third period. Coach Mike Sullivan said he met with Kapanen on Monday to clear the air.
The newcomer picked up an assist on Guentzel’s game-tying goal. He looped high in the zone and made a simple pass to Marino over at the right point.
Then, with 3:17 left in overtime, Kapanen ripped a one-timer from the left circle past a helpless Vanecek. Quite a response after getting benched the other night.
The Penguins have won four of their five matchups with the Capitals this season.
Jarry on Tuesday made his fifth consecutive start. In his previous four games, two of them against these Capitals, he went 3-1-0 with a .936 save percentage.
Tuesday started a four-game road trip for the Penguins. On Thursday, they play the Capitals then head to New York for a two-game set against the Rangers.
