New York. After seven straight losses, Pittsburgh finally managed to get two points away from Washington last night.
“It was the biggest effort we’ve done in the whole season,” goalkeeper Casey Desmith said after the 4-1 win.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ long slack has been one of the biggest puzzles of the inaugural month of the NHL season.
Before the season, they were generally seen as one of the best teams, but after a good start, they collapsed completely and before last night’s round they lost seven games in a row.
Against Washington at the Capital One Arena, they finally managed to cut the heavy streak and make their way to a 4-1 win.
The capitals sure have massive problems with broken players – as well as long-term injuries Niklas BackstromAnd Tom Wilson and Karl Hagelin are now also as missing as stars like TJ Oshie and John Carlson – but even pens have had to deal with a shortage of people in meeting rivals..
Yann Ruta and Pierre-Oliver Joseph were forced out during the match, so they fell back to four long backs and instead had veteran center Jeff Carter help with defensive work.
“I’m not sure he can turn back, but he’s smart and we thought his wealth of experience would help him,” smiles coach Mike Sullivan.
Marcus Johansson scored the consolation goal for Washington, and Rikard Raquel and Marcus Peterson provided assists for the visitors.
Once the Vancouver Canucks take a step forward, they quickly get one back right after that. It seems that anyway. Yesterday they beat Ottawa, but last night they battled a 5-2 landslide win over Montreal at Bale Center.
“We went the wrong way, they were hungrier from the start and we had to chase the whole match,” Elias Peterson sighs.
He even played the goal scored by fellow countryman Nils Hooglander.
The Florida Panthers beat the Carolinas 3-0 at home in Sunrise, and Minnesota beat Anaheim 4-1 on the road. In that match, Joel Erickson Eck was noted for helping.