What if the Capitals have finally found their Pittsburgh antidote?
Meaning, you know, a goaltender who stops pucks when the games count?
With 6:31 remaining in the third period of the Penguins' 3-1 loss in these teams' latest blood-boiler Sunday night, Philipp Grubauer flung himself across his crease to somehow get a glove on this Sidney Crosby one-timer from zero distance:
Sorry, but that's just gorgeous.
And you know what had to be even prettier from the Washington perspective?
Dude had no idea who he was stopping:
"I didn't even know it was him, honestly," the man explained. "If you would ask me anything about the game, I'd have no clue. It's just a mindset of keeping the puck out."
Imagine that. Didn't care who he was facing or where he was playing.
You thinking what I'm thinking?
Grubauer's 26, and he's a career backup. A half-dozen seasons in the NHL, and he's seen a total of 101 starts, with only one of those having come in the Stanley Cup playoffs, way back in 2015. But this season alone, he's made 34 starts. And nine in the team's past 13 games. And three in a row last week.
And now, here at PPG Paints Arena, where the Capitals have been "knocked out by these guys two years in a row," as Grubauer would describe the Penguins' perennial path to a championship, he again got the nod over Vezina Trophy-winning franchise goaltender Braden Holtby in a game that could -- and did -- clinch the Metro title.
Hm.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOThis was Barry Trotz's explanation after the morning skate: “Philipp hasn’t had a start here. I think it’s a good opportunity. He’s played well, and Holts is in tomorrow."
Grubauer had never been allowed to start in Pittsburgh. That always went to Holtby and ... you know. But now, Holtby's been relegated to starting a comparatively meaningless game Monday night in St. Louis.
"With the injuries that we’ve had, we feel we can get both guys going," Trotz continued. "There hasn’t been much of a difference between the two of them, so we’re going that way."
Not much of a difference?
That's debatable, given Grubauer's .925 save percentage to Holtby's .907, but here's betting that's got zippo to do with this.
The Capitals are sick and tired of losing to the Penguins in the playoffs. That's it, and nothing else. And if their $30 million prize can't make that happen, then they're clearly going to try Plan B. And this, Grubauer's outstanding 36-save performance that included all 12 shots on the Penguins' five power plays, was the dress rehearsal.
If only subliminally.
That was Trotz's assessment of Grubauer after the game: "He played well in this building."
Ouch. And those were legitimately the first words from his mouth.
Never in our collective lifetime, my friends, will we ever see another Pittsburgh opponent in any sport that is more spooked by all things Pittsburgh than this one.
• The pace of this game, aside from the requisite rough stuff, was almost entirely dictated by Grubauer. The more the Penguins peppered him, the more visibly frustrated they'd become. Identically, the Capitals would only get stronger from it, as I'd confirm with both Alexander Ovechkin and Matt Niskanen:
Mad props, by the way, to Niskanen for using 'energy-suck' as a noun, as you might have heard me commend him up there. That's just got to find its way into our lexicon.
• Meanwhile, at the other end ... Matt Murray needed to make big saves in this game, and I'm not sure he made one. He'll be better, but this would have been a fine time to not get shown up by a journeyman counterpart.
• I'd honestly felt the Capitals were due for a real, if not harsh, regression this year. Losing Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams in the offseason, signing T.J. Oshie to an insane eight-year, $46 million extension, having negligible cap room after that, and the continued presence of Trotz behind the bench were going to be too much to overcome.
Wrong.
Ovechkin's early-season rampage set the tone, Evgeny Kuznetsov found an extra gear, and most of their roster performed up to their capabilities as individuals, if you look across the board. All that, and Trotz never allowed the doomsday thinking to penetrate.
Asked afterward about the division title, Trotz, like his players, basically shrugged and replied, "It's good. It's a nice reward. We had a tough summer. I'm sure there are a lot of people who didn't think this could happen."
They're legit. Highly skilled, smart, maybe even a little faster than in the past.
• I should mention, too, that they're as dogged defensively, as ever. Even Kuznetsov, one of their top talents, shifted into an extra gear for this penalty-free pokecheck on Jake Guentzel in the third:
• I mean, I still think the Lightning's the top threat to unseat the Penguins in the East, at least in terms of talent. But the Bruins are right there, and the Capitals are all of what I just mentioned and maybe belong in the same conversation.
The conference wasn't this strong, never mind being three or four deep, in either of the past two Cup runs.
• Angry Geno is best Geno.
And don't overthink what set him off there in the third period. As Malkin tried to explain to reporters afterward -- and probably fell way short with most -- while he and Oshie had tangled up, Kuznetsov was taunting him in Russian from the bench.
As Malkin put it, “He spoke Russian when I fought Oshie. I don’t know why he’s speaking to me in Russian."
That's a big nyet-nyet.
NHL loyalty is one thing. National loyalty is another. And the two are never to mix, whether it's here for their professional teams or when representing their homeland in international competition. That goes for most European countries, but it really goes for the Russians. Thus, if you're snapping at Malkin in Russian during an NHL game, you're crossing the line into going after him as a comrade.
• Don't blink, but the Blue Jackets and Flyers are both two points back:
That makes Thursday's meeting in Columbus suddenly really big, whereas originally on the schedule it might have looked like a timewaster in advance of the playoffs. The Penguins aren't a good road team -- 16-20-4 -- and we're well past the point of that being some mirage.
This is all good, though. This is a much healthier way, if you ask me, for this particular edition of the Penguins to enter the playoffs as opposed to all those hollow games they'd played the previous two years. These guys can't operate without a challenge right in front of their collective face.
As Justin Schultz told me afterward ...
• Speaking of the Flyers, Claude Giroux isn't now and never was the best player in the world, but major marks to Philadelphia's captain for coming up with his career-best season -- 29 goals, 66 assists, tied with Malkin for fourth in the NHL at 95 points -- at age 30. That's not common.
Also not common, maybe unprecedented, was this wicked move he whipped up earlier Sunday to beat the Bruins in overtime:
Watch it carefully. He fakes one of those between-his-own-legs moves only to pull it forward and utterly unravel Anton Khudobin. That's hockey as art.
• So, um ... happy opening day, Pittsburgh?
Look, the Tigers are terrible, but take nothing away from the Pirates coming home from Detroit at 3-0. Not everything went right over the weekend but, as I wrote up there, they're showing early that maybe they come with a welcome edge. I know intangibles bring a roll of the eyes from some, but for anyone who thinks they don't matter, I can cite at least 25 who will disagree passionately.
Proving people wrong can be a powerful motivator at all levels of sports, and these guys clearly don't expect to be an exception.
Good for them. Remember, they're not the ones who don't care.
• Trevor Williams' six no-hit innings Sunday earned a hook from Clint Hurdle because of his 85-pitch count, his five walks and his 42 strikes against 43 balls.
No discussion. No debate. Certainly not at this natal stage of the season.
• Remember what Felipe Rivero told me after that blown save in the opener?
“Today, my teammates picked me up,” he'd said. “Tomorrow, I pick them up.”
He might not have had in mind that he'd fire up two saves in a single day, the first of those highlighted by three straight fastballs blown through the swinging bat of Miguel Cabrera, for crying out loud. But that speaks volumes not just for his arm, but also his mind and heart.
• Not to be that guy, but Gerrit Cole was nothing shy of spectacular Sunday in his debut with the Astros, an 8-2 rout of the Rangers. Try seven innings, one run, two hits, 11 strikeouts.
He won't be an 'ace' in Houston, either, but here's guessing no one there wastes anyone's time repeating that meaningless term. He'll just be the best pitcher he can be, without being unfairly dogged for some outlandish playoff pitching matchups early in his career.
• Now that it's finally here, I've heard from a good many people planning to protest Bob Nutting's ownership in some form today, one group in particular. I'll believe it when I see it, especially since the team's 3-0. It just never really takes hold around here. We complain. We don't act.
• Kudos to the Penguins' management for acting -- aggressively, I might add -- to pursue whoever in the crowd shouted a flagrantly racist remark at the Capitals' Devante Smith-Pelly during the game. They found out by reading our live file and this entry from our photographer, Matt Sunday:
"8:17: From Sunday at ice level: 'Get that monkey off the ice.' If I end up being thrown out, you guys know why."
If you're attending a local sporting event and you ever hear something like that, don't stay silent about it. Let someone of authority know at the first opportunity.
Staying silent about filth like that -- and by filth I mean both the remark and the individual who hurled it -- hurts all of us as Pittsburghers.