Pens take a CrAP in DC

The Pittsburgh Penguins did something they have not done since March of 2008 tonight when they beat the Capitals in the regular season and in regulation 2-1 at the Verizon Center.  This is a number that every Captard can recite.   The number they forget is the one that says the Penguins have sent them home in the post season in 7 of the past 8 playoff meetings.  I digress.  Tonight's game was billed as a battle of the stars, with Crosby and Malkin v Ovechkin and Backstrom.  Other than Ovechkin running around and charging as usual, none of these players were that visible tonight, and none of them factored into the scoring.  It was a grinders game for both sides.  At 14:39 of the first period, Craig Fucking Adams snuck in the backdoor and scored his second goal of the game off of a beautiful feed from behind the cage by AA Enforcer aka Beagle Beater.  It was Asham's 6th assist of the season, and Richard Park collected his 5th of the year on the play.  At $775,000 per year, Asham sure fills a lot of roles for the Penguins. Right after the goal, 6 foot 4 and 220lb Caps tough guy John Erskine attempted to extract some revenge for the Beagle Beating by engaging AA in a fight.  Both men threw some big punches, with Asham landing more before Erskine took him off his feet lead the brain dead red thinking he won the fight.  Asham is a man I spent year exchanging unpleasant words with at Old Lady Mellon while he played for the Devils and Flyers.  Today, AA is one of my favorite Pens, and I have collected his game worn practice jersey from the Winter Classic, a game worn road jersey from Montreal, and a signed, game worn jersey from this year's Black and Gold game!  Ash was robbed in the second period, or he would have had himself the Gordie Howe hat trick tonight.  Back to the game.  Early in the second period, red hot Jason Chimera potted his 10th goal of the season, from Joel Ward and Brooks Laich, a very formidable third line for the Caps.  The second period ended 1-1.  Early in the third period, Simon Despres collected a puck along the boards in the Penguins' zone, got it out to Tyler Kennedy, who made a weak pass that John Erskine appeared to intercept.  But Chris Kunitz stripped Frankenstein of the puck, walked in, and bounced a knuckleball of a wrist shot off of Tomas Vokoun at 17:24 for his 9th goal of the year.  He was assisted by Tyler Kennedy (7), and Simon Despres' first assist of his NHL career.  It turned out to be the game winner, as the Capitals were only able to register 2 shots on goal in the third period, the last one coming at 14:28 by Cody Eakin.  In fact, the Capitals only managed 17 shots on goal in the game, the fewest they have ever taken against the Penguins.  The Penguins sit atop the NHL with a 15-7-4 record and 34 points.   Some additional notes from the game include Marc Andre Fleury recording his 14th win of the season, tying Jimmy Howard of Detroit for the league lead.  It also has Fleury on pace to be the 4th fastest goaltender to 200 career wins in NHL history.  Finally, let me spend a little time talking about the Penguins defense.  It was a bit concerning to enter this evening's game without 2 of the team's top defenseman, and using a third pairing of Despres in his first NHL game and Robert Bortuzzo in his third.  As it turned out, the defense was stellar.  Paul Martin earned the number one star despite not factoring in on the scoresheet due to solid play in all three zones and logging 28:11 of ice time.  Deryk Engelland played another great all around game, as a physical force, blocking shots, shutting Ovagkin down, and joining the rush at times.  I have said it before, he may be the most improved player on the team.  Orpik was passing out some free candy as well.  Finally, the two youngsters who are part of a STABLE of young blue liners were solid tonight. Despres had over 10 minutes of ice time, was a plus 2, and had an assist on the game winning goal.  Bortuzzo played more than 12 minutes tonight, and played a solid steady game again.  Disco did not try to hide them, as they skated regular shifts with the Pens protecting a one goal lead, even in the final five minutes, and the Caps only got two shots off all period long.  If you add Strait, Morrow, and Samuelsson to Despres and Bortuzzo, the Pens have 5 stud defenseman ready or almost ready for NHL time to complement their veteran core group.  Nice win on the road to spoil Dale (head) Hunter's NHL debut.  Late in the game John Karlson elbowed Matt Cooke in the head, and it will be intersting to see the league's response, since the infraction occurred to the hated Matt Cooke.  The love apparently spilled out to the streets with reports of fights, including a female Pens fan getting punched and knocked down in the street by a male Caps fan.  Game on bitches!