Penguins Grades: Capitals Rebuild Shows Up Pens, Big Lessons to Learn

WASHINGTON D.C. — The Pittsburgh Penguins locker room was a mixture of sullen and encouraged. From coach Mike Sullivan to Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell, the internal reaction to their 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals was an expansive mixture of emotions.

Surely, the Penguins’ leadership core was unaware that the two teams that have been on parallel tracks for most of the last two decades are suddenly in very different places. Washington has zoomed past the Penguins with a mixture of young players and newly acquired players in their 20s, while the Penguins are fighting to preserve the past era with their star players and others acquired as the prelude to a rebuild because they arrived with additional draft picks attached.

In full disclosure, Washington was not burdened with the same no-movement clauses and 35+ deals that have trapped the Penguins. Instead, Washington’s veterans have essentially retired due to injuries, freeing up loads of cap space. Washington also kept their draft picks far more often than trading them, leading to production from players like Connor McMichael (2019) and smooth trades for young players like Rasmus Sandin, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, and Jakob Chychrun.

It’s still Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin, but the Capitals from 2022 are no more. The Penguins from 2022 are still here…but older.

Saturday, Washington displayed its new look and a high-energy defensive structure behind coach Spencer Carbery and swallowed the Penguins like a python controlling its prey.

It was a close game, but also, it wasn’t. So much like the teams’ positions in the bigger picture, they are close but going in very different directions.

“You know, we competed hard. I thought we had opportunities to maybe put more pucks in play and get inside the dots a little bit,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We had some looks. We had some opportunities. Listen, it’s a one-goal game.”

It was a one-goal game until the final couple of minutes. Washington scored a power-play goal in the final seconds of their opportunity and then an empty netter.

“Yeah. I’m not sure (why we struggled to score). Maybe (we needed) to get out of our end a little better,” Crosby said in a soft voice. “I don’t… I have to watch it again. I thought it was pretty tight on both sides of the puck.”

Lost in the shuffle, the Penguins didn’t score until midway through the third period. They cut the lead to 2-1 but deserved no better.

The 4-1 final was probably a more apt score than 2-1. Washington got inside the dots. The Penguins merely thought about it. Washington held their fort like the revolutionaries who built this city. The Penguins didn’t have the firepower to overcome the disparity.

Rebuild vs. Rebuild

The Capitals now have 31 wins and 15 losses, including overtime and shootouts. The Penguins now have only 18 wins and 29 losses, including overtime and shootouts.

Despite the Penguins being 5-0-1 in their last six games at Capital One Arena and possessing a 6-3-0 in the second of back-to-back games, the revamped Capitals flexed their rebuild, which is a few years ahead of the Penguins. To underscore that point, Chychrun, whom some in the Penguins organization long desired, scored Washington’s first goal.

Read More: Penguins vs. the Metro; How the Capitals Took Big Swings To Rebuild

Washington acquired Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators over the summer, maximizing the salary cap flexibility afforded to them by T.J. Oshie essentially retiring but going on long-term injured reserve.

Top center Pierre-Luc Dubois had two points, showcasing Capitals’ former GM (now president of hockey operations) Brian MacLellan’s successful gamble when Washington and the LA Kings swapped bad contracts. Washington sent goalie Darcy Kuemper to LA for Dubois.

The Capitals snagged Aliaksei Protas, 24, in the third round of the 2019 draft and Connor McMichael in the first-round pick (taken after the Penguins’ Sam Poulin in the 21st). Both had two points.

The Penguins had 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering and 2018 second-round pick Joel Blomqvist in net. Otherwise, the Penguins’ roster is largely older stars and transient players hoping to find a home.

The Penguins’ offseason acquisitions and young players were no match Saturday and only 32-year-old Bryan Rust scored.

Sullivan tried to remain in the moment and keep the focus on the playoff race, but with just three wins in 11 games and getting bounced by a team they used to torture, the greater picture seemed to haunt him, too.

“I don’t know what we’re going to take away from it right now. It’s too raw. I’ll digest it. I’ll watch the film. We’ll see what we can take from it,” said Sullivan. “But we’ve just got to keep competing. And that’s just that’s the world we live in right now. We’re trying to stay in the playoff race. Every game…every game is important. We have to keep competing here.”

And on those stone tablets, the true story of the 4-1 Capitals win, or Penguins’ loss, was written but in the context of a much greater story. Perhaps this is the first time since the mid-1980s that the Capitals have the upper hand in the fierce rivalry.

Penguins Report Card

Team: B-

They had a lethargic start. The Capitals were able to put bodies on the blue line and take away the middle of the ice. The Penguins third line got the puck deep with control a couple of times. However, that was the only line that had any success getting past the Capitals wall, for which the Penguins paid the price. Without pressure in the defensive zone, the Capitals were emboldened.

The Penguins needed a few more defensive plays and counterattacks. Some determined net-battles to claim that space. And they needed more fourth-sticks from Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang.

The Penguins just needed more.

Joel Blomqvist: A

The young goalie made quite a few good saves. Sullivan said he was tremendous but didn’t need to waste words describing it.

“He stopped the puck.”

Depth: B

The Penguins’ most successful lines in terms of puck possession were the third and fourth lines. Unsurprisingly, Cody Glass played a big role. Drew O’Connor was aggressive again, too. Games in which the Penguins are trying to forecheck and pressure the opposing defensemen are not entirely kind to Kevin Hayes. He created some offensive chances, though.

Lizotte, Glass and Acciari were noticeably o the puck in the offensive zone, too.