Penguins send off Ovechkin, spirited but goalless in DC

This article originally appeared on PGHHockeyNOW.

It felt like old times. A raucous Washington Capitals (42-30-9) crowd greeted Alex Ovechkin, and a back-and-forth game had agonizingly close moments, especially to the detriment of the Pittsburgh Penguins (41-24-16). But the game was anything but ordinary, as evidenced by Penguins winger Evgeni Malkin shoving Ovechkin toward the faceoff dot to take the opening draw against Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

In a fitting script for what was likely the final brawl between Crosby’s Penguins and Ovechkin’s Capitals, it was a controversial goal in the second period that changed the game. Washington defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was perilously close to pitchforking a goal from under Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner’s pad into the net at 12:22 of the second period.

Washington winger Connor McMichael put the icing on Ovechkin’s retirement cake when he finished a two-on-one at 15:50 of the third period, and then scored the empty netter at 17:16 and Washington completed the weekend sweep that was essential to them and largely meaningless to the Penguins, 3-0 at Capital One Arena Sunday.

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