A no-win situation
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Through this pileup in the Penguins' net, Washington's Mike Knuble scores a goal against Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period Wednesday night in Washington. Jordan Staal tries to stop Knuble, who would later win the game in a shootout.
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WASHINGTON -- This one will sting for a while, and the Penguins know it.
Losing always does, at least a little.
And doing it this way -- when a 2-0 lead in a three-round shootout melts away -- hurts a lot.
But the Penguins' 4-3 loss to Washington at Verizon Center just might turn out to be one of the pivotal moments in their season. In a positive way.
Not, obviously, because Mike Knuble of the Capitals scored in the fourth round of the shootout to end the game, but because of all the good things the Penguins did before it.
Despite playing without their cornerstone defenseman, Sergei Gonchar (illness), and center Evgeni Malkin (foot), they competed on even -- or better -- terms with the NHL's top point-producing team for 65 minutes.
They overcame adversity and fought back from behind, worked with the kind of intensity and focus that has been missing from their game so often in recent weeks.
Oh, they made some mistakes -- there were on-ice decisions that were second-guessed, shootout saves goalie Marc-Andre Fleury wished he had made -- but, for the first time in a while, the Penguins turned in an whole-game effort on which they might be able to build a strong stretch drive.
At the very least, the point they earned when Jordan Staal tied the score with 3:06 left in regulation boosted them back into first place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of New Jersey. The Devils, though, have played two fewer games.
But the impact of this kind of performance, accomplished without two guys who contribute a lot of quality minutes, could be felt long after the current standings have been forgotten.
"For a lot of reasons, that's the type of game we expect from our team, and the way we can play," coach Dan Bylsma said.
"The way we played, that's the way we need to play to play our game. Getting to our game, we did that for long stretches. And we responded when things didn't go well, stuck with our game."
And they came about as close to earning two points as a team can without actually doing it.
Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby beat Capitals goalie Jose Theodore in the first two rounds of the shootout, while Fleury rejected the first Washington shooter he faced, Nicklas Backstrom.
First Published March 25, 2010 12:00 am
