Caps Rally Big, But Fall to Pens 4-3 in OT

Greg Fiume/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 (OT) on Thursday night at Verizon Center. The loss dropped the Capitals record to 55-17-8 (118) points. The Capitals next travel to St. Louis to battle the Blues on Saturday night. Puck-drop is 8:00 PM EST.

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Johansson-Wilson
Winnik-Richards-Beagle

Defensive Pairs
Orpik-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Schmidt

Nicklas Backstrom returned to the line-up after missing the last three games due to an upper-body injury he sustained against the Flyers on March 30th. Michael Latta, Mike Weber, Taylor Chorney and Stanislav Galiev were the healthy scratches. The goalie match-up, provided by @washcaps:

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals would give up a goal just 44 seconds into the game on a blown defensive assignment by the Schmidt-Orlov defensive pairing, which led to a 3-on-2 break away for the goal. The Capitals would settle down, although the power play continues to struggle, going 0-2 in the first period. The Caps would yield another early goal in the second period, this time short-handed, just 28 seconds into the period. The Caps would yield another goal before getting on the scoreboard, trailing 3-1 at the second intermission. Marcus Johnasson scored two goals, including one in the third period that closed the gap to 3-2 midway through the final frame. Andre Burakovsky would tie the game to send it to overtime. Crosby would win it in overtime. Team stats for the game can be found here: Player stats for the game can be found here: Face-off summary can be found here: Photos for the game can be found here:

The Penguins lit the lamp just 44 seconds into the contest on a 3-on-2 break-away goal by Matt Cullen.

The Capitals would go on the power play at 3:41 on a delay-of-game call on Pittsburgh, but the Caps would be unable to generate much with the man-advantage, with no shots on goal. 5-on-5 play was fairly even for the remainder of the opening frame. The Caps would go back on the power play with 58 seconds remaining in the first period. The Caps would be unable to do much with the power play to end the period. The Pens led 1-0 after the first period of play. The Caps led 8-7 in shots on goal.

The Penguins would strike quickly again, this time just 28 seconds into the second period, a short-handed goal by Matthew Cullen, his second of the game, stretching the Pens lead to 2-0.

Tom Wilson would be called for a five-minute boarding penalty at 2:27 of the middle frame.

The Caps were able to successfully kill all five minutes of the Penguins man-advantage. However, the Penguins would score on another 3-on-2 rush, this time by Conor Sheary at 9:03 of the middle frame, stretching the lead to 3-0.

Marcus Johansson would get the Caps on the scoreboard at 17:19 of the middle frame, closing the gap to 3-1.

The second period would end with the Penguins leading 3-1. The Caps led in shots on goal 19-16 through the first two periods.

Marcus Johansson would score his second goal of the game at the 10:05 mark of the final period, closing the gap to 3-2.