NHL-leading Capitals beat Penguins for their 4th win in a row
WASHINGTON — Jakob Chychrun, Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored, Logan Thompson made 18 saves and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday night for their fourth consecutive victory.
Thompson came up just short of becoming the first player in franchise history to record three shutouts in a row, when he allowed Bryan Rust to score midway through the third period. His shutout streak ended at 198 minutes, 22 seconds, the longest in the league this season and third in team history.
Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:30 left. The Capitals are 7-0-3 in their past 10 games, picking up points despite not playing their best during this stretch.
The Penguins lost for an eighth time in 10 games. Pittsburgh goaltender Joel Blomqvist allowed three goals on 32 shots.
Penguins: Even with defenseman Kris Letang back from his illness, they couldn’t keep the momentum going after beating Buffalo on Friday night and celebrating goaltender Alex Nedjelkovic’s empty-net goa l.
Capitals: Charlie Lindgren was activated off injured reserve to back up after getting cleared from a concussion, and now Spencer Carbery and the coaching staff has some decisions to make given Thompson’s dominance in net. Thompson and Lindgren had been alternating every other game.
With the Penguins pressing after cutting their deficit to one on Rust's goal, Dubois scored with 2:10 left off a feed from Connor McMichael to provide some insurance.
Protas has 19 goals in 46 games this season. He had a total of 13 in his first 169 NHL games.
Penguins visit Los Angeles on Monday to open a five-game Western Conference swing, and Capitals play at Edmonton on Tuesday to start a five-game trip.
