Pen Pow

I think the Caps played their most complete game of the year earlier today. It wasn't a blow-out, but I thought Fleury actually had a fantastic game to keep it from becoming one.

The Caps mostly kept the play in the Pens zone, got a lot of chances, and didn't allow much coming back the other way. Neuvy got his second shut-out of the year, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

The penalty kill not only killed both penalties the Pens got, but MarJo potted one with a backhander past the defender, and over Fleury's shoulder with five seconds left in the first of those penalty's.

Actually, though, I rather disagreed with Hendricks getting that penalty. He was skating by the net, was pulled off balance by the defender, and fell (with some additional help from that selfsame defender) onto Fleury, which negated a goal that went in a second or two later.

Getting back to MarJo, his apparent improvement on the dot didn't appear today. The Penguins didn't have anyone win more than 38% of their faceoffs, yet MarJo didn't have a better percentage than the two who won that often.

I must have only noticed Matty P on the dot the one time he lost; he had a great day there, winning four to go with that loser. He was also helping his line keep buzzing quite a bit, especially in the first period, and had the secondary assist on Laich's goal that opened the scoring.

Knuble finished the scoring with an empty-netter in the last minute.

The only bad parts were the slapshot that Green took to the head in the second period (he didn't return), and the blow that OV took to the knee from Cooke. If Cooke doesn't get suspended for that knee-on-knee hit, I will be very upset. OV did jump up and try to go after Cooke, which bodes well for his status, but I'm still a bit concerned. Hopefully, neither of them will miss any time.

Let's hope the good momentum and mojo will carry over into Tuesday's game against the Sharks. And maybe we'll see Semin back? (No, I haven't heard anything to indicate that that's likely; I'm just hoping.)