The Washington Capitals fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 (SO) Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The loss drops the Capitals record to 2-0-1 on the season. The same two teams go at it again Tuesday night in Pittsburgh with puck drop set for 7:07 PM.

GAME STATS

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STARTERS
Ilya Samsonov got the start in goal for the Capitals. Casey DeSmith started between the pipes for the Penguins. The starting lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

FIRST PERIOD
The Penguins opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the contest with a goal from Evan Rodrigues (1).

took the @penguins a whole 19 seconds to score pic.twitter.com/qzSGy8xUCk

— megan YELI MVP brown (@thatgirlondeck) January 17, 2021

The Capitals would tie the game with a gritty goal from the 4th line. Nic Dowd (1) would ultimately push the puck over the line to tie the game 1-1 at 12:04 of the opening frame.

Dowd line eating 😤 pic.twitter.com/IDBFmL44F1

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021

The Capitals would take a 2-1 lead with a tally from Alex Ovechkin, his first of the season, at 14:24 of the first period. Evgeny Kuznetsov (1) and Tom Wilson (2) had the helpers.

1st of how many? 👉👈 @ovi8 pic.twitter.com/8N97z9VieW

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021

The first period would conclude with the Capitals leading 2-1. The Capitals led in shot attempts 17-8 and 12-8 in shots on goal (SOG). The Capitals and Penguins were both 0 for 1 on the power play in the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD
The Penguins would tie the game with a goal from Colton Sceviour (1) at 2:10 of the middle frame. The play was reviewed to verify that the puck had actually crossed the goal line, which was confirmed.

Stay 👏 in 👏 the 👏 crease 👏 pic.twitter.com/6lcTIipSM9

— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) January 17, 2021

The Capitals regained the lead with a power play goal from Nicklas Backstrom (2) at 10:09 of the second period. Evgeny Kuznetsov (2) and Alex Ovechkin (3) had the assists.

knock knock it’s NICKY! pic.twitter.com/3FfAyxn5wX

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021

The Penguins would quickly tie the game with a goal from Marcus Pettersson at 12:57 of the second period.

Andddddddd just like that it’s TIED!#LetsGoPens with the quick response. 🚨

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/z7Kgw3ctr1 pic.twitter.com/yky8rWxGrm

— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) January 17, 2021

The second period would end with the game tied 3-3. Penguins led in shot attempts 12-4 and 11-3 in SOG. The Capitals were 1 for 3 and the Penguins 0 for 4 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals and Penguins skated to a scoreless draw for the final frame. Alex Ovechkin would come close on a power play, letting one rip from the office, but the shot would hit two posts and stay out.

THE DOUBLE DOINK. 👀#AllCaps | #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/Z7xts0Gp3q

— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) January 17, 2021

Regulation would expire with the game remaining tied 3-3.

OVERTIME/SHOOTOUT
The overtime period would also go scoreless, sending the game to a shootout.

Pens: Letang: No good
Caps: Oshie: No good
Pens: Crosby: No good
Caps: Backstrom: No good
Pens: Malkin: No good
Caps: Kuznetsov: No good
Pens: Guentzel: Good
Caps: Ovechkin: No good

Penguins win in shootout.

NOTES

• Capitals take 5 of 6 possible points in first three games of road trip.
• Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 of 27 shots faced for a .889 game save percentage.
• Capitals were 1 for 4 and the Penguins 0 for 5 on the power play.
• Penguins led faceoff battle 53-47% for the game.
• Capitals led in hits 46-33.
• Shot attempts for the game were tied 32-32.
• Penguins led in shots on goal 28-22.

SHAVINGS

• Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season and gives the Caps a 2-1 lead. With his 707th career goal, he’s now two goals shy of passing Mike Gartner (708) for the seventh most goals in NHL history.
• Nic Dowd ties the game 1-1 with his first goal of the season. Entering 2020-21, Dowd’s 60.8 goals for percentage (48 goals for, 31 against) at even strength over the last two seasons was tied for the 10th-highest percentage among NHL forwards with at least 100 games.
• Evgeny Kuznetsov picked up the primary assist on Ovechkin’s goal. Kuznetsov is one of 15 forwards in the NHL that has recorded at least 40 assists in four of the previous five seasons, and he ranked 14th in assists during that span (237).
• Evgeny Kuznetsov picked up the primary assist on Backstrom’s goal, his second of the game and 48th multi-assist game of his career.

MEDIA
Head Coach Laviolette 

“There were some things that I liked throughout the game and there were certainly some things that need to be better and we’ll continue to work at it.”

Postgame sound from head coach Peter Laviolette.#CapsPens pic.twitter.com/WXWYaoynqY

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021

Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom

“We got to find that consistency a little better. Make sure we’re playing 60 minutes…that’s an area we got to work on for sure.”

Hear from Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom after this afternoon’s #CapsPens tilt. pic.twitter.com/mlGWUwEzH3

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021