Caps complete 3-game season sweep of Pens
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
In a rivalry dominated by Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, it was left to a player who was 0-for-forever in shootouts to decide the latest tussle between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Mike Knuble was plucked off the bench by coach Bruce Boudreau to give it a try for the Capitals in the fourth round of the shootout, even though he had taken only four attempts — and missed them all — since the tiebreaker was introduced in 2005.
He looked like an old pro at the task, scoring with a strong move against Marc-Andre Fleury to give Washington a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.
“I couldn’t believe Bruce was doing it to me,” Knuble said. “I didn’t play in overtime at all, so I thought my night was over. So he taps you and you’re just like ’Ho!’ ... I told him when I got off the ice, ‘I don’t like you when you do that. Don’t do that stuff to me.’”
So why he chosen, given his track record?
“I didn’t know what he was before,” Boudreau said. “I just thought he was going to score.”
So it was a gut instinct?
“And it’s a big gut,” Boudreau said, nodding and laughing.
The Capitals have won all three meetings against their nemesis this season by dominating the end game, outscoring Pittsburgh 8-1 in the third period and overtime. They pulled this one off with only one point from Alex Ovechkin — an assist on Knuble’s second-period goal — as they won for the eighth time in 11 games and increased their already mammoth lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.
The Capitals also tied the franchise points record of 108 set last season. Jose Theodore made 39 saves for the Capitals, increasing his club-record streak to 19 games (17-0-2) without a loss in regulation, the longest such streak by an NHL goalie in 10 years.
Every game between the Capitals and Penguins is a big one these days.
“It was mentally a very important win for us,” Ovechkin said. “We know they have a very good team. They miss [Sergei] Gonchar and [Evgeni] Malkin, but they’re still the Stanley Cup champions.”