Rust’s Double Downs Capitals In Pens’ Season Finale

The conclusive blare of the final horn resonated through PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night, bringing the curtain down on a season of unfulfilled promise for the playoff-less Penguins, who nonetheless delivered a parting shot by defeating their rivals, the Washington Capitals, 5-2. While this victory offered a momentary high for the Penguins, its true significance lay in the potential wake-up call it delivered to the Capitals. Secure in their playoff spot, Washington now heads into their first-round matchup against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, April 21st, carrying the unexpected sting of this final regular-season loss.

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Koivunen – Crosby – Rust
Heinen – Malkin – Rakell
Dewar – Koppanen – Tomasino
Poulin – Ponomarev – Puustinen

Grzelcyk – Karlsson
Shea – Timmins
Graves – Kolyachonok

Nedeljkovic
Jarry

Washington Capitals Lineup:

Ovechkin – Strome – Beauvillier
McMichael – Dubois – Wilson
Mangiapane – Eller – Leonard
Duhaime – Dowd – Raddysh
Frank

Sandin – van Riemsdyk
Chychrun – Mcilrath
Alexeyev

Stevenson
Lindgren

Early in the first period, Connor McMichael scored on the Capitals’ second shot on goal to put them ahead 1-0. A shot from Tom Wilson, who drove toward the net, was denied by Alex Nedeljkovic. On the rebound of Wilson’s shot, McMichael put a wrister into the Penguins’ net for his 26th of the season at 15:53. Bryan Rust quickly answered with his 30th goal of the season, tying it up 1-1 after Ville Koivunen deflected a slap shot from Matt Grzelcyk, who shot from near the blue line off a pass from Sidney Crosby, and Rust scored on the rebound.

Rust struck again, picking up his second of the night and his 31st of the season to put Pittsburgh in a 2-1 lead to break the tie. He received an incredible behind-the-back pass by Crosby through the crease for a wrist shot past Clay Stevenson with 12:41 on the clock in the middle frame after there had been some passing back and forth between Grzelcyk, Koivunen, and Crosby on the power play. It appeared that Dylan Strome tied it back up not long after the second Penguins’ tally. However, Ovechkin was ruled offside after Pittsburgh challenged. Crosby found the back of the net to make it 3-1 for his 33rd of the season and his 91st point of the year when he dropped to one knee for a one-timer off a pass from Philip Tomasino at 8:04 of the second. On a power play with 3:04 left to play in the second, Alex Ovechkin scored on a one-timer on a power play for his 897th goal, cutting it to 3-2.

Koivunen appeared to score his first NHL goal early in the third period, but he had used his glove to knock in the puck past Stevenson. 15 seconds apart, Danton Heinen and Tomasino each found the back of the net for Pittsburgh. On a breakaway at 11:14, Heinen made it 4-2, putting in his ninth goal of the season after Ovechkin’s pass down in the Penguins’ zone was broken by him. Tomasino put home his 11th of the season with a wrister from the slot past Stevenson with 10:59 left to play for the 5-2 final.

Bryan Rust on what the 30-goal mark means to him, and if their victories at the end of the season lighten the load or mood heading into the offseason: “It’s really cool. I’m obviously really proud of that. I can’t tell you I ever thought I’d score 30 goals. I thought maybe 30 over my career when I first got in the league. It’s cool, and it’s a little proof that I’ve been working hard. Hopefully, I can keep doing it and get to the next milestone,” – “We might do the opposite because we kind of know that we should have probably won a lot more games earlier in the year, which is kind of a tougher pill to swallow that we would have played a little bit more like this through the first large part of the year. Maybe we’d be playing Saturday, Sunday, Monday, whatever it is, but unfortunately, we didn’t.”

Game Notes:

– Alex Nedeljokovic made a total of 18 saves for Pittsburgh.

– The Penguins miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season.

– Both Sidney Crosby and Philip Tomasino recorded one goal and one assist. …Matt Grzelcyk and Ville Koivunen each picked up a pair of assists.

– Crosby surpassed the 90-point mark with 1-1–2 through the first two frames, and can lead the Penguins for the 15th time in his career, which makes him tie Anze Kopitar (15) for the third most in NHL history. They sit behind both Wayne Gretzky (19) and Gordie Howe (17). Crosby is also the sixth player in League history to have at least 90 points at age 37, and is the first since Joe Sakic for the Colorado Avalanche in 2006-07 (100 points; 36 goals, 64 assists).

– Rickard Rakell hit a single-season career-high 70 points, and became the sixth Penguin skater to record these 70 points in a single season since 2005-06. He joins Crosby (15x), Evgeni Malkin (12x), Jake Guentzel (3x), Phil Kessel (1x), and James Neal (1x).

– Bryan Rust is a 30-goal scorer. The Penguins have three 30-goal scorers for the first time since 2000-01, and are the fifth team this season to have three players with 30 goals.

– Kris Letang was not in the lineup due to having surgery this week to close a small hole in the wall of his heart, and is expected to recover in 4-6 weeks.

– In his first eight games, Koivunen has seven assists.

– In his NHL debut, Clay Stevenson made a total of 33 saves for Washington.

– Alex Ovechkin scored his 293rd second-period goal, making him pass Gordie Howe (292) for the second most in NHL history behind Gretzky (315).

– John Carlson missed a third straight game for maintenance.

– The Washington Capitals used 13 forwards and five defensemen.

– PIT: 34-36-12, WA: 51-22-9